Opera Creole Celebrates Women’s History Month
Opera Creole will celebrate Women’s History Month in partnership with the New Orleans Opera and Amistad Research Center with a special program from that spotlights the contributions of African-American women in classical music and civil rights.
The program takes place at 3 p.m. Sunday, March 6, at Laurenia, 234 Loyola Ave.
It will features songs by Florence Price, Margaret Bonds, Regina King, and Camille Nickerson, with opera arias from Freedom Ride by Dan Shore, Les Lions by Givonna Joseph, Harriet Tubman by Nkieru Okoye, Adea by Cynthia Cozette Lee, and Pathway to Freedom by Joyce Solomon Moorman.
The event will include a special guest interview with Michele Duster, great-granddaughter of Ida B. Wells!
Tickets are $30 and $10 for students.
District Attorney’s Office Gets $2.3 Million in DOJ Grants
Congressman Troy Carter recently joined District Attorney Jason Williams to announce more than $2.3 million in federal grant funding from the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA).
“I am proud to have played a role in securing over $2.3 million in federal grants for New Orleans that will help us achieve our goals of building safer communities, advancing justice, and holding wrongdoers accountable within our criminal justice system,” Carter said. “These grants will advance the District Attorney’s office’s ability to protect the public and deliver justice by increasing DNA testing, reviving cold case investigations and more. “I am also so proud that these grants will aid people as they re-enter society after incarceration having served their sentence.”
Managed by the Bureau of Justice, the grants were awarded from four different funding programs. A breakdown of the grants is as follows:
Post-Conviction DNA Testing of Evidence Program: Totaling $574,636, this three-year grant from the Post-conviction Testing of DNA Evidence program will support the office’s work around DNA testing in post-conviction review of violent felony offenses and ascertaining accurate evidence to secure the correct conviction.
Emmett Till Cold Case Investigations and Training and Technical Assistance: Totaling $500,000, this grant funds will assist the DA’s office in efforts to review, investigate and prosecute unsolved homicide cold case murders, occurring before 1980 and suspected of having been racially motivated, while also providing support for victims’ families and stakeholders impacted by these cases.
Upholding the Rule of Law and Preventing Wrongful Convictions Site-Based and Training and Technical Assistance: Totaling $300,000, The DA’s office received a two-year grant from the Upholding The Rule Of Law And Preventing Wrongful Convictions Site-Based And Training And Technical Assistance program.
Innovations in Reentry Initiative/Building System Capacity & Testing Strategies to Reduce Recidivism: Totaling $1 million, the DA’s office received a four-year grant from the BJA’s Innovations In Reentry Initiative: Building System Capacity & Testing Strategies To Reduce Recidivism program. In partnership with the First 72+ and the Louisiana Parole Project, this grant will support the creation a task force that will help serve a population of reentrants who have typically spent more time incarcerated than the average reentry client and will be in need of enhanced services to address specific needs.
U.S. Rep Carter Holds Black History Month Essay Contest
In honor of Black History Month, U.S. Rep. Troy A. Carter Sr. is launching his first annual Black History Essay Contest, a chance for high school students in the Congressman’s district to share their dreams for a stronger, more inclusive America.
“This Black History Month, I am asking students to learn from the past to formulate their vision for an even brighter future,” Carter says. “I encourage every 10th and 11th-grade student who resides in the second congressional district to submit an essay to this contest and take some time to consider what their hopes and dreams are for our shared community.”
The prompt for the essay contest is as follows:
At the March on Washington, Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. shared his dream for the future of America. Fifty-nine years later, our nation today still faces enormous challenges as we strive to become a more perfect union. In 500 words or less, share your dream for our nation and your vision of actions to make that “Dream” a reality.
The Congressman Troy Carter Black History Essay Contest is open to high school sophomores and junior whose official residence lies within Louisiana’s Second Congressional District. The contest will close at 6 p.m. on March 8.
The essay contest winner will receive a certificate of recognition, their essay will be highlighted on the Congressman’s online platforms, and they will be offered the opportunity for the student and a guardian to attend an unveiling ceremony celebrating their essay in Washington, D.C. The winning essay will also be reprinted in The New Orleans Tribune.
To determine eligibility and answer other questions about the contest, visit the Frequently Asked Questions page on Congressman Carter’s website.
