10-Year Old Grief Advocate and Author Helps Adults to Care For Grieving Children

10-Year Old Grief Advocate and Author Helps Adults to Care For Grieving Children

Author, children’s grief advocate, and fourth-grader Bryce Fields gives voice to grieving children with his new book, What This Kid Wants Adults to Know About Grief – a guidebook for adults who are caring for “little hurting hearts.”

How adults can better connect with and help grieving kids is a question that has plagued many parents, teachers, and other adults. Many other books have attempted to help answer this important question, but what has been glaringly absent from the dialogue is a child’s perspective — until now.

What This Kid Wants Adults to Know About Grief contains candid insights and an array of talking points to open up a dialogue between adults and kids so that the care and healing process can be more collaborative.

One in 29 children have been bereaved by the loss of a parent or sibling and this one-of-a-kind book gives insight directly from the heart of one of those children.

“When Bryce approached me to help grieving children over a year ago, I had no idea it would turn into this,” says Bradley Vinson, Bryce’s grandfather, affectionally known as PawPaw. “We (adults) have to realize if they’re old enough to love, they’re old enough to grieve, and they have a voice that needs to be heard when it comes to helping them heal.”

Vinson has been working with the grieving community through seminars and training on grief and bereavement topics since late 2016 after his granddaughter and Bryce’s sister, Alanna, died tragically at the age of four.

“I was doing weekly Facebook lives about healing in a healthy way and Bryce said to me one day, ‘PawPaw why isn’t somebody doing that for kids?’ So, we did a series of videos during children’s grief awareness month and it grew from there,” Vinson said.

Bryce and his PawPaw present together, giving insight on how to care for “little hurting hearts” to both the grieving community and those that serve them.

“Alanna helped other people before I did and her passing away fueled my desire to help people. PawPaw nourishes it and keeps it going. I want to help people like my PawPaw does,” says Fields.

For more information about the author and/or to purchase his book, visit www.ThisKidsGrief.com

For more information about his speaking, training or consulting services, go to www.BradleyVinson.com

Original article was published here.

Web Site Launched to Connect Potential Homeowners With Black Realtors

Web Site Launched to Connect Potential Homeowners With Black Realtors

RealBlackAgents.com has been launched to connect home buyers and sellers with the best Black realtors in every city across the country. 

Buying a home will probably be the biggest financial investment of someone’s life so it’s important to have an agent on their side that they can trust to help them navigate the complex home buying process.

Someone who is great at what they do and is a proven professional, but is also trustworthy and has their best interests at heart so that they fight for our people in every way possible.

That’s where RealBlackAgents.com can help. Real Black Agents, a website run by an agent at the Stafford Realty Group, is a Black-owned brokerage that has partnered with some of the best black real estate agents in every city across the country.

If you’re buying a home, their partner agents know the neighborhoods from an African American perspective, so they may better understand your requirements to ensure we find a home in the perfect location. Moreover, they can connect us with local lenders to ensure that you’re treated fairly.

If you’re selling a home, their partner agents will negotiate to ensure that you get a fair price for your property.

Home ownership is the key to generational wealth. Whether you believe in helping keeping the Black dollar in Black communities, or simply feel more comfortable working with someone from a similar background, Real Black Agents can help. Visit RealBlackAgents.com today to help find a top Black realtor in your city today.

Original article was published here.

‘Hair Love’ went from a Kickstarter to an Oscar winner

‘Hair Love’ went from a Kickstarter to an Oscar winner

By Lisa Respers France,

It was videos of black fathers lovingly styling their daughters’ hair that inspired Matthew Cherry to launch a Kickstarter campaign in 2017 fund the short film, “Hair Love.

“On Sunday, Cherry and Karen Rupert Toliver accepted the Academy Award for best animated short film for the project.The story of a dad struggling to do his daughter’s hair not only charmed those who saw it, but resulted in a children’s book and plenty of conversations about the importance of hair and heritage in the black community.

“Hair Love was done because we wanted to see more representation in animation,” Cherry said during his acceptance speech. “We wanted to normalize black hair. There’s a very important issue that’s out there, the CROWN Act, and if we can’t help to get this passed in all 50 states it will help stories like DeAndre Arnold’s who’s our special guest tonight.”

Arnold, a senior at Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu, Texas, and his mother, Sandy, were invited to attend the Oscars as the guests of Cherry and Rupert Toliver.

“It’s truly an honor to have the platform to be able to invite Deandre and his family as our guest to the Oscars next Sunday,” Cherry told CNN after extending the invitation. “Deandre is such a good kid, and he shouldn’t be punished for his hair. And we love that he didn’t bend to the pressure to cut it.

“”We think his hair is beautiful and this is the least we could do to support him and show him love,” Cherry added. The CROWN Act would ban discrimination against people based on their hair.

“Hair Love’s” win was celebrated Sunday night on Twitter.Actress/writer Dani Fernandez pointed out that “Hair Love” was funded by the masses when Hollywood wouldn’t step in.

“As @VictoriaMahoney reminded everyone, Hair Love had to do crowdsourced funding on Kickstarter in order to be made, because conventional studios and execs didn’t believe in it’s importance,” she tweeted. “It was funded by yall. And I hope all these studios are listening now.”

Cherry predicted both his nomination and win.

“I’m gonna be nominated for an Oscar one day,” he tweeted in 2012. “Already claiming it.”

“Any 3D artists follow me? I got an Oscar worthy short film idea to go with this image. Get at me,” he tweeted in 2016.

With the win, Cherry became the second former athlete to win an Oscar for best animated short.

He paid tribute to the first, Kobe Bryant, who in 2018 won for best animated short for “Dear Basketball,” which was based on a poem he wrote.”May we all have a second act as great as his was,” Cherry said of Bryant, who died in a helicopter crash with eight others, including his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, last month.

Original article was published here.

This 5-Year-Old Girl Dressed Up as 28 Iconic Women for Black History Month

This 5-Year-Old Girl Dressed Up as 28 Iconic Women for Black History Month

By Hollee Actman Becker,

In celebration of Black History Month, Seattle mom Cristi Smith-Jones has been posting pictures to Twitter and Facebook of her daughter Lola dressed up as a different famous black woman. The result? One seriously epic photo series.

Just check out this shot of her 5-year-old (on the left) dressed up as infamous changemaker Rosa Parks:

According to Cristi, it all started back in January when Lola came home from school and told her parents she had learned about Martin Luther King Jr.

“She seemed to understand where we were coming from,” Cristi told CNN, then added: “Since it’s a heavy topic, we wanted to find a way to make learning about black history fun for her.”

So the creative mama compiled a list of women in history and showed their pictures to Lola so she could choose the ones she wanted to dress up as. Cristi then shot most of the pics on her phone—her photog friend Kayleigh Stefanko also lent a hand—with Lola tricked out in various wigs and old family clothes and accessories.

The project may have started out as a way to add some levity to a heady topic, but the result is a poignant and empowering celebration of 28 iconic black women. In fact, Cristi’s education-through-art is probably one of the most effective methods of teaching about Black History Month we’ve ever seen. Way to go, Mama—you and that brilliant little muse of yours are truly inspiring!

Check out the rest of the incredible images on Cristi’s Twitter feed.

Original article was published hereArticle from 2017.