On Friday, California police released a disturbing video of Sonoma County Sheriff’s Deputy Charlie Blount wrongly accusing a man of stealing his own vehicle before slamming the man’s head into his own car and placing him in a sleeper hold.
Frustrated by the lack of communication between parents and educators, Shani Dowell created a platform that helps parents stay connected to their child’s teachers and school administrators. In 2017, the mother and former math teacher launched Possip, an app that prompts parents to text weekly feedback on how schools and teachers are doing. In turn, the schools use the parents’ feedback as data to track trends and solve problems. The goal is to help school officials quickly identify an issue that a child or parent may have before it reaches a boiling point.
Today, Possip, which is short for “positive gossip,” can be found in 100 schools across 16 states, including Tennessee, Ohio, Oregon, and Florida. According to a press release, the schools working with Possip experience as much as a tenfold increase in family-teacher engagement.
In addition to its 50,000 users, Possip recently hit another milestone. On Dec. 17, the company announced that it raised $1,020,000 in venture funding, making Dowell the first black female founder in the state of Tennessee to raise $1 million in capital. She’s also one of the less than 40 black women in the entire country to ever reach this benchmark.
Investors in the startup’s new funding round include the Launch TN Impact Fund, a public-private partnership that supports entrepreneurs, along with angel investors. The former teacher-turned-tech-founder says the funding will be used to expand school and district partnerships, enhance customer experience, and refine product features and analytics.
“We are seeing the impact that Possip has on our schools, our district partners, and the families they serve,” said Dowell in a statement. “Possip is transformational, enabling schools to become stronger and students more successful by incorporating the insights and perspectives of families. This funding allows us to grow our team, our technology, and ultimately our impact.”
Launch TN also released a statement praising Possip for creating strong and timely feedback loops between educators and families.
“Possip is changing the landscape for schools by enabling streamlined communication among families, teachers, and administrators,” said LaunchTN President and CEO Margaret Dolan. “We are confident that Shani’s success as the first black woman in Tennessee to reach the $1 million investment mark is the first of many as the company grows to serve more schools and students.”
Although black women are the fastest-growing group of entrepreneurs in the U.S., they receive less than 1% of venture funding. According to ProjectDiane, less than 2% of all venture funding goes to companies led by women, while just a mere .006% is allocated to companies led by black women. As a result, Dowell says the statistics point to a larger problem that female founders of color face.
“The fact that we are still able to keep track of the number of black women who have raised over $1 million speaks to the continued barriers,” she told BLACK ENTERPRISE in an email. “It is up to those who hold money and resources to think differently about how they invest in the future. That’s going to require them to expand their networks, learn about companies outside of the Coasts, and learn about ideas that may not speak to their personal and lived experiences but can still be great ideas.”
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Cory Booker may have Rosario Dawson in his corner, but another candidate has one-upped him! According to Complex, Andrew Yang has hired rapper and actor Donald Glover as a creative consultant for his presidential campaign.
Prior to the last Democratic primary debate at Loyola Marymount University, Yang and Glover teamed up to launch a one-time pop-up store in Downtown Los Angeles. The candidate posted after the event via his Twitter account, “Had a blast with Donald Glover today! Big thanks to everyone who came out in L.A.!”
Glover, who performs under the stage name Childish Gambino, was brought on to design merchandise, including sweatshirts, hats, and posters for Yang’s political campaign. “At the pop-up store in downtown Los Angeles, supporters were able to purchase limited and signed editions of Yang2020 merchandise designed by Glover’s team, including sweatshirts, hats, and posters,” Yang’s campaign said in a statement to Rolling Stone. “The specialized merchandise embodies the core policies and values of Andrew Yang’s Humanity First platform and future collaborations are expected.” Proceeds from the items went toward the campaign.
Limited-edition products Glover created, were all signed by Yang and had a price range from $25 to $1,000.
“Donald Glover is one of the most talented and forward-thinking artists on the planet,” said Yang’s campaign manager, Zach Graumann, in a statement to Fast Company. “He sees the same problems that we do—that we need to rewrite the rules to the economy so it works for people. We’re hopeful and excited to have him continue collaborating with our campaign to take our message to more Americans.”
Glover gained popularity as a rapper using the name Childish Gambino before embarking in a successful acting career with his popular TV show Atlanta, which was just renewed by FX for a fourth season. The rapper recently won four Grammy Awards, including Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Rap/Sung Performance and Best Music Video for his song and music video “This Is America,” which also debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Eddie Murphy appeared to have the best time of his life during his return to Saturday Night Live—his first as host since 1984—and naturally, his appearance was not without controversy.
If it was not already apparent that Donald Trump was out for payback, then confirmation from a former insider should make it more obvious.
On Sunday, former Trump White House official Omarosa Manigault Newman talked with MSNBC host Kendis Gibson about the president’s recent impeachment, as well as his thirst to get even. When Gibson asked Manigault Newman if Trump was a “revengeful person,” she gave a disturbingly vivid picture of how the president liked to operate from her experience.
READ MORE: Omarosa, not one to stay on the sidelines, emerges as Michael Cohen advisor
“You know, he tweeted back when we were doing Celebrity Apprentice that ‘revenge was sweet not fattening,” Manigault Newman remembered. “He actually loves the idea of getting even. In fact, he writes about it in many of his books about getting even with anybody that crosses him.”
Manigault Newman, who was fired by White House Chief of Staff John Kelly in December 2017, went on to claim that Trump has a list of people he wants to seek vengeance against.
“I even remember talking with him during transition,” she continued, “he has kept a list of people who he believes has wronged him. And recently as you know with impeachment, that list has grown and he is going through that list, and he trying to figure out ways to undermine them whether that’s through policy, whether that’s through calling them names or trying to attack them publicly, but Donald Trump will find a way, in his mind, even fighting with people who are deceased, to get even.”
With Trump’s impeachment in full swing, Manigault Newman said she believed there was “no question” Nancy Pelosi would be at the top of Trump’s hit-list.
“He has a very special type of venom that he reserves for women in power, in particularly this woman who has one-up’d him, who has beat him at his game. I mean, no one has played Donald Trump quite the way she has in such a public way that will forever kind of tattoo a mark on him. And so, he is trying to plot a way, somehow, someway to get even with Speaker Pelosi.”
There is no doubt that Pelosi has been the leading voice in the fight to impeach Trump, which inevitably happened on Dec. 18 when the Democrat-led House voted in favor of impeachment. Though the Republican-controlled Senate has passionately declared that they will not vote to impeach, Pelosi is still claiming a win.
”He just got impeached. He’ll be impeached forever. No matter what the Senate does. He’s impeached forever because he violated our Constitution,” Pelosi told the Associated Press.
Trump has been beyond vocal about his disdain for the Speaker.
READ MORE: Omarosa Manigault-Newman slapped with lawsuit from DOJ for not coming clean about her coins
“They are violating the Constitution,” Trump said, calling Pelosi “crazy Nancy,” days after the announcement Reuters reported.
With all of the madness happening in Washington regarding impeachment, Manigualt Newman warned that the people around Trump at this time are “feeding his worst instincts.”
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