Tag: stephanie gaines-bryant

Black Girls Code CEO strives to help girls of color break into the tech space – WTOP News

Black Girls Code CEO Cristina Mancini said her organization aims to prepare the next generation of tech creators, innovators, designers and decision makers.

This is part of WTOP’s continuing coverage of people making a difference in our community, reported by Stephanie Gaines-Bryant. Read more of that coverage.

When Cristina Mancini attended a technology conference in San Francisco nearly a decade ago, she said she looked around the room and realized she was the only Black woman in it. That’s when she knew she had to do something to help Black women get a seat at the technology table.

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE: Cristina Mancini is the CEO of Black Girls Code. (Courtesy Cristina Mancini)

Mancini, a former Salesforce executive, is the CEO of Black Girls Code, a nonprofit organization founded in 2011 dedicated to preparing girls and gender-expansive youth of color to be the next generation of tech creators, innovators, designers and decision makers. Mancini said the group is helping millions of girls of color become part of the tech industry.

Less than 2% of all STEM jobs are held by Black women, according to Mancini.

“As we sit here talking about AI and technology touching all things and being part of many industries, there’s an entire demographic missing from the rooms where some of these technologies are being developed, where they’re being funded and even to an certain extent — a large extent — where they’re being marketed,” Mancini told WTOP.

Black Girls Code has a Code Along program on YouTube, a free video-based coding academy that gives step-by-step lessons and equips girls with tech skills and confidence.

The organization partners with local schools and community organizations to offer Code Clubs, weekly after-school programs, and it launched eight summer camps across the U.S. this summer. The summer camp program focused on computer vision through AI. Mancini said it used a curriculum that was developed by Responsible AI for Computational Action from MIT.

Mancini called communities of color “super users” of technology.

“So when you give the girls an opportunity to get behind the technology, to understand how to develop the technology, in ways that make sense to them, in ways they want to see it used, it’s really inspirational to see what they develop on the other side,” she said.

Since the inception of the organization, Black Girls Code has engaged with 30,000 girls. She said the current Code Along programming has reached over 4 million people on YouTube. Over the last six months, the group has engaged with over 2,500 girls live and 300 girls in summer camps.

Summer campers were ages 11 to 13. A D.C.-area camp was held at the Mastercard Tech Hub in Arlington, Virginia.

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© 2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

Stephanie Gaines-Bryant

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August 12, 2024
Prince George’s Co. helping students get school supplies for the new year – WTOP News

Prince George’s County, Maryland, is hosting a drive to collect new backpacks and essential classroom supplies to support its students.

This is part of WTOP’s continuing coverage of people making a difference in our community, reported by Stephanie Gaines-Bryant. Read more of that coverage.

Buying school supplies can be difficult for some families, especially if they’re already struggling to put food on the table. That’s why Prince George’s County is back with its annual Stuff TheBus Back to School Supply Drive.

As a part of the program, the Prince George’s County Department of Public Works and Transportation will be collecting new backpacks and essential classroom supplies to support students in the county.

The opening event is Monday, July 15 at 10 a.m. at the Department of Public Works and Transportation’s headquarters in Largo, Md. The drive will run through Friday, August 16.

“The Stuff TheBus Back to School Supply Drive is one of our premiere events of the year. We are Prince George’s Proud to provide families with opportunities to receive backpacks and school supplies during these financially challenging times,” Michael D. Johnson, director of the Department of Public Works and Transportation, said in a news release.

Since the Stuff TheBus program began, they have collected and distributed tens of thousands of backpacks and other school supplies.

“We encourage residents to visit [the Prince George’s County Department of Public Works and Transportation] office in Largo and donate school supplies to help our students get ready for the upcoming school year,” Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks said on her Instagram page.

The school year for students in Prince George’s County begins on August 26.

For students outside of Prince George’s County, Operation Backpack, run by the Volunteers of America’s Chesapeake & Carolinas chapter, continues to collect school supplies for D.C.-area students in need.

For more information on how to participate in Prince George’s Stuff TheBus program, visit their website or contact Angela Rouson, spokesperson for the Department of Public Works and Transportation, at AJRouson@co.pg.md.us.

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© 2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

Stephanie Gaines-Bryant

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July 14, 2024
‘Making swimming lessons fun and engaging’ at DC-area YMCAs – WTOP News
One D.C.-area swim instructor shares how swimmers young and old can go from scared to confident in pools, beaches and lakes.
This is part of WTOP’s continuing coverage of people making a difference in our community, reported by Stephanie Gaines-Bryant. Read more of that coverage.

CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE: Peter Lord is among the swim instructors at Alexandria, Virginia’s YMCA location. (Courtesy Peter Lord)

Imagine your family is all ready to head to the pool, the beach or the lake for vacation or a day trip, but you have a child who is afraid of water. He or she cries, screams or runs every time they get near water.

How do you help that child overcome their fears?

Before canceling your plans, consider giving your child swimming lessons.

“Having a safe and a fun environment is usually one of the better ways to help kids get over the fear and enjoy the water instead of being terrified of it,” said Peter Lord, the aquatic director at the YMCA of Metropolitan Washington in Alexandria, Virginia.

Lord said part of the way you can improve a kid’s relationship with water is by making learning at the pool or beach a more exciting process.

“We really work on making swimming lessons fun and engaging so that the kids feel comfortable and that they know they are safe,” he told WTOP.

Lord said he’s been swimming since he was 5 years old and teaches kids to respect the water.

CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE: Peter Lord is among the swim instructors at Alexandria, Virginia’s YMCA, teaching swimmers of all ages. (Courtesy Peter Lord)

“If you treat water with the respect it’s due, you can be safe in it,” Lord said. “You can have a great time, you can play sports, you can exercise in it.”

But you should do so safely, Lord said, by making sure your kids are not getting in the water without an adult.

“The main thing is always swimming around a lifeguard. Always having a buddy with you, especially if you’re talking about swimming in a lake or ocean that’s not as regulated as a pool,” he said.

The instructor also discouraged buying blue swimsuits for your child, since blue blends into the water, making it very difficult to see where you are. Instead, purchase a red, yellow or orange swimsuit for kids.

Also, on Lord’s list of tips for young swimmers:
- Do not run on a pool deck
- Do not dive in water that’s too shallow
- If you need to help someone, throw in a lifesaving buoy to prevent drowning. Don’t go in after the person, if you can help it
- Know your confidence and ability level in the water
Lord said now is the best time to start swimming lessons. The YMCA starts swim lessons for children 6 months old or older, but swim lessons are not just for kids.

“We have students in their 80s,” Lord told WTOP.

More information on the YMCA’s swim lessons and other opportunities is available on the organization’s website.

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© 2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.
Stephanie Gaines-Bryant

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July 8, 2024
How a community garden is helping DC residents get fresh produce – WTOP News

A community farm and wellness space in the heart of Southeast D.C. is making fresh produce available to everyone in the community.

This is part of WTOP’s continuing coverage of people making a difference in our community, reported by Stephanie Gaines-Bryant. Read more of that coverage.

A community farm and wellness space in the heart of Southeast D.C. is making fresh produce available to everyone in the community. It offers delicious summer fruits and veggies, including tomatoes, squash and watermelon.

At The Well at Oxon Run, powered by D.C. Greens, program manager Charles Rominiyi, said they work to promote health equity by building a just and resilient food system. The farm does that in a number of ways through community engagement, advocacy and programs such as its produce prescription program that helps people who are chronically ill gain access to fresh produce.

The Well at Oxon Run program manager Charles Rominiyi. (Courtesy The Well at Oxon Run)

The Well at Oxon Run is a one-acre community farm and wellness space in Ward 8 where they grow crops and distribute produce. The space is located in the middle of Oxon Run Park.

“Walking into the Well is like walking into an oasis,” Rominiyi said, adding that there are flowers blooming, wildlife, fruit trees and berry bushes.

He said there are many ways to experience the space, “getting reconnected to nature, just being in green space.” That includes planting and harvesting.

“We encourage our volunteers to come and get their hands dirty,” Rominiyi said.

He said you can work with their farm team and learn how to plant crops and learn how to manage a small garden. Their volunteer days are on Tuesdays and Thursdays and volunteers learn good agricultural practices.

“You’ll learn how to keep plants alive and how to keep the ecosystem safe,” Rominiyi said.

Greens at The Well at Oxon Run. (Courtesy The Well at Oxon Run)

Wednesdays and Fridays are their community harvest days, which he said, are an opportunity to share in the harvest with the community. Community members can come and harvest up to two pounds of produce.

“That process of harvesting and being connected with your food really does help with healthy eating and a healthy lifestyle,” Rominiyi said.

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© 2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

Stephanie Gaines-Bryant

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July 1, 2024
How victims of LGBTQ hate crimes can get help in DC – WTOP News

“Continue to be brave, continue to be smart and continue to be safe,” is the advice shared with LGBTQ people by one D.C. official.

This is part of WTOP’s continuing coverage of people making a difference in our community, reported by Stephanie Gaines-Bryant. Read more of that coverage.

“Continue to be brave, continue to be smart and continue to be safe,” is the advice shared with LGBTQ people trying to navigate through life’s challenges by Monroe Poston, a D.C. native and transgender woman.

Poston is the workforce development and outreach specialist for the D.C. Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs. She’s also been the victim of a hate crime.

“It’s something that you don’t foresee coming, something you don’t expect,” Poston said. “It’s something that you don’t easily recover from.”

Poston said programs like the District’s Violence Prevention and Response Team (VPART) make the path easier for people in their community who have been through the trauma of a hate crime.

While growing up in the D.C. area, Poston recalled a lot of crimes taking place against the LGBTQ community. But she added that times are changing with the help of programs like VPART, which provides resources, including trauma-informed therapy, legal assistance, mental health services, shelter assistance and other essential support services.

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE: Monroe Poston (left) is the workforce development and outreach specialist for the D.C. Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs, and Japer Bowles (right) is office’s director. (Courtesy Monroe Poston, Japer Bowles)

Programs like VPART did not exist for Japer Bowles, director of the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs, when he was growing up in southwest Missouri. Bowles said there were not a lot of openly gay people in his area, nor access to resources for LGBTQ people.

Bowles said his interest in advocacy and community work brought him to D.C. after he completed his education and had a few campaigns under his belt.

Bowles told WTOP that the program brings together community organizations and government agencies, such as D.C. police’s LGBTQ Liaison Unit and the Office of Human Rights to address, reduce and prevent crime — particularly hate-bias incidents within the LGBTQ+ community.

They meet regularly to review hate bias report data and also to make sure that their community members are directly connected to the services they need, Bowles said.

Their dedicated service providers include the D.C. LGBTQ+ Community Center, Latin American Youth Center and D.C. SAFE.

“I’m just glad that we have a mayor and a D.C. Council that hears us and wants to address these causes and concerns for our community,” Bowles said.

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© 2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

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June 24, 2024
‘Truly a man for others’: A DC-area father remembers his son’s legacy as a Navy SEAL – WTOP News

Lt. Cmdr. Erik Kristensen will be remembered through the special Run to Honor 1 Mile Walk and Run event at the Naval Academy Cemetery.

WTOP’s Stephanie Gaines-Bryant speaks to Retired Navy Rear Adm. Edward Kristensen about his son, Lt. Cmdr. Erik Kristensen, and his enduring legacy.

Lt. Cmdr. Erik Kristensen graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis in 1995. (Courtesy Edward Kristensen.)

Lt. Cmdr. Erik Kristensen was more than a military man for his father.

Retired Navy Rear Adm. Edward Kristensen described his son to WTOP as “truly a man for others.”

“He would do anything to help anyone, friend, foe, whatever,” Edward said. adding that his son had “a sense of humor that was unbelievable.”

In honor of Memorial Day, Edward Kristensen shares his family’s story of service.

Family history of service

Edward Kristensen graduated from the Naval Academy in 1965, who also majored in English and minored in French. He wanted to join the SEAL community at that time, but was not selected.

Despite receiving multiple awards for his leadership and service to the Navy, the elder Kristensen said the most notable thing in his career was supervising the Navy’s portion of the TWA Flight 800 recovery operation in 1996. The mission happened after a plane exploded and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near East Moriches, New York in July of 1996.

When he retired, Edward settled down in D.C. with his wife Suzanne and their only son Erik. The younger son soon began following his father’s footsteps, graduating from Gonzaga College High School in 1990 and soon attending the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. He graduated in 1995 and became a surface warfare officer.

Erik Kristensen was assigned to come back to the Naval Academy to teach English while working on his master’s degree at St. John’s in Annapolis. However, at 27 years old, he decided to leave his teaching and graduate studies to to pursue an opportunity as a Navy Seal, becoming the oldest in his class to graduate from the program.

Erik Kristensen became a task unit commander for the SEAL Team 10, when he was killed on June 28, 2005, during Operation Red Wings. He volunteered to lead a mission to retrieve four SEALs who were on the ground and under heavy attack by Taliban forces. The Chinook helicopter that he was in was shot down in eastern Afghanistan and 16 people onboard were killed.

Navy Petty Officer Marcus Luttrell was the only one to make it out of the attack alive. He went on to write a book, titled “Lone Survivor,” which became a movie in 2013. Australian actor Eric Bana played the role of Erik Kristensen.

From left to right, Erik Kristensen embraces his father Edward Kristensen. (Courtesy Edward Kristensen)

Remembering Erik Kristensen’s legacy

“He could bring people out of the doldrums and make them smile,” Edward Kristensen said about his son.

Erik Kristensen was a member of the crew team while studying at the Academy, where he is currently buried. His grave site is in view of Hubbard Hall, the home of the crew team.

The former SEAL was honored on May 17 in The Kristensen Klassic, a golf tournament in support of a scholarship program at Gonzaga College High School, at the Club at P.B. Dye in Ijamsville, Maryland.

On Memorial Day, he and others will be remembered through a special Run to Honor 1 Mile Walk and Run event at the USNA Cemetery, which is by Erik Kristensen’s grave site. Visitors without access to the base can walk onto the base through Gate 1.

E-Day, a day created by family members to honor the life of Erik Kristensen, will be held on Saturday, June 29, at White Marsh in Bowie, Maryland.

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© 2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

Stephanie Gaines-Bryant

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May 27, 2024
Virginia heart transplant recipient creates ‘Heartbeat Foundation’ to support others – WTOP News

Renee Gibbs, founder and CEO of The Heart Beat Foundation, helps support pre- and post-transplant patients nationwide.

This is part of WTOP’s continuing coverage of people making a difference in our community, reported by Stephanie Gaines-Bryant. Read more of that coverage.

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE: Renee Gibbs, founder and CEO of The Heartbeat Foundation. (Courtesy Renee Gibbs)

After receiving two lungs and a heart, a Front Royal, Virginia, native said she realized why she was diagnosed with lung disease in 2018: “It happened so that I could help other people.”

Before becoming ill, Renee Gibbs had a successful real estate career. Now she is the founder and CEO of The Heartbeat Foundation, which helps support pre- and post-transplant patients nationwide.

“This disease and this transplant has made me realize what my purpose is in life,” she told WTOP.

Gibbs had the surgery in January of 2019, receiving two lungs and a heart. She was living in Maryland in May of 2018 when she was diagnosed with interstitial lung disease. Gibbs was hospitalized in 2018 after her lung capacity significantly decreased.

She says her two lungs and heart came from a 54-year-old woman, the same age as Gibbs, transported from Duke University.

On Oct. 31, 2018, after Gibbs moved to Alabama with her husband and two sons, she was hospitalized for five months.

Between that day and March 29, 2019, the day she was released from the hospital, Gibbs said she valued the support of family and friends.

“They gave me everything I needed,” she told WTOP. “They were there for me every day. They had a prayer chain going for me.”

Gibbs said support also came from a Facebook group she joined for pre- and post-op transplant recipients, where she found similarities between what she and others experienced while hospitalized.

The wife and mother of two sons said family members made sure she got her hair done, had manicures and even brought her special foods.

Meanwhile, many of the patients around her going through a similar experience didn’t have that type of support.

Without support, Gibbs said, your request for a transplant can be denied. She said doctors weigh many factors when it comes to receiving a transplant, including your emotional well-being and “if you’re being supported.”

Although the transplant was a success, the recovery was the difficult part. It took three years before Gibbs said she looked and felt like herself again.

“I literally cried every day for six months to a year,” she said, adding that her husband was relentless in his support.

When she noticed how many people on the transplant list had been approved for transplants but didn’t have support, she moved to start her foundation. The organization formally started in April of 2023, helping counsel patients, providing emotional support and things like manicures and hair care to help with their self-esteem.

More information is available at TheHeartbeatFoundation.com.

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© 2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

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May 6, 2024
Thursday Network centers young professionals, increasing membership in DC area – WTOP News

They’re a group of young professionals in the D.C. area who have aligned themselves with the mission of a historic civil rights organization.

This is part of WTOP’s continuing coverage of people making a difference from our community authored by Stephanie Gaines-Bryant. Read more of that coverage.

Thursday Network President Derin Oduye (left) and membership chair Autumn Moody (right) pictured in front of the network’s logo. (Courtesy, Thursday Network composite via Canva)

They are a group of young professionals in the D.C. area who have aligned themselves with the mission of a historic civil rights organization.

Thursday Network President Derin Oduye says the network was started in February of 1992 by Maudine Cooper, the late former president and CEO of the Greater Washington Urban League who passed away last November at the age of 82.

Oduye said Cooper wanted to get more young people involved in the organization, “and not just in a symbolic gesture.” Instead, she said Cooper wanted to put young people on the ground to help make change in the D.C. area and that, wherever there was an issue, they go to that place.

Oduye said they work toward LGBTQIA forward initiatives, voting rights advocacy, environmental justice and food insecurity — she said they’re showing this generation and the next that “we do deserve a place at the table.”

When asked what issues most concern young black professionals today, Thursday Network Membership Chair Autumn Moody told WTOP the first is centered on growth and development.

“Young professionals are looking for a holistic experience on how we can continue to grow personally and professionally while also making sure we’re doing everything we can to give back,” Moody said.

She said another concern for young professionals in our area is money.

“We’re thinking about our financial and economic wellness,” Moody said. “I think we’re really trying to figure out how to use our voices to make an impact on a global scale.”

The Thursday Network logo is seen above. (Courtesy, Thursday Network)

This month, the group comprised of over 200 professionals is focusing on how to increase membership. Moody said they are looking for people who have a heart of service and want to support them in their goals.

The Thursday Network is an affiliate of the Greater Washington Urban League, one of the region’s largest Civil Rights Organizations founded in 1938 as the Washington Chapter of the National Urban League, a nonprofit dedicated to civil rights and social service.

If you want to learn more about the organization and discounted memberships, you can visit their website here.

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© 2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

Stephanie Gaines-Bryant

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February 12, 2024