---South Africa Partners honors Archbishop Desmond Tutu
South Africa Partners has announced the Desmond Tutu Award, which will be presented to 2002 recipient, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu. In subsequent years, the award will be given to an individual who best exemplifies the Archbishop's devotion to peace, justice, and a human rights culture. The Honorary co-chairs, to be in attendance, includes: Sheila Sisulu, South Africa's Ambassador to the United States, Harry Belafonte, Actor and Ms. Kerry Kennedy Cuomo, Author. South Africa Partners (SA Partners) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the establishment of mutually beneficial partnerships between the United States and South Africa, in the areas of health, education, and economic development. For more information, contact Mary Tiseo: 617/482-1317.

---Juneteenth: United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta African American Initiative --- The United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta African American Initiative has announced its Juneteenth Celebration to be held on Saturday, June 15, 2002 (Noon to 6 pm) at MLK Park, 450 Auburn Ave. (behind Ebenezer Baptist Church). FYI -- Slaves in Galveston, Texas, did not know they were free until June 19th, 2 ½ years after the Emancipation Proclamation. Since then, they've been celebrating freedom on June 19 (Juneteenth). Juneteenth is a national holiday in Texas and Oklahoma. It's considered the Independence Day for all African Americans. There's a movement to make Juneteenth a national holiday. For more information, call 404-527-7234. Stay tuned for more 'Juneteenth' information on www.unityfirst.com. And also send in your Juneteenth announcements.

---Schomburg Center Adds to Its Slavery- Era Research Materials---New York Life Insurance Company and The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture jointly announced the donation to Schomburg of New York Life's original, 155-year-old archival records of insurance policies sold to owners of slaves."We are grateful to New York Life for understanding the importance of its archival material to all those who wish to gain a greater understanding of slavery in America," said Howard Dodson, chief of the Schomburg Center, a Manhattan-based affiliate of The New York Public Library. "The company's openness about this history is laudable, and now in partnership with the Schomburg Center this material will be available to genealogists, historians and the general public. This is another step forward for research of an important period in our nation's history."Sy Sternberg, chairman, president and chief executive officer of New York Life, said, "While we profoundly regret that our predecessor company, Nautilus Insurance Company, was associated in any way with the institution of slavery, we understand the historical value of our archives. It is only through scholarly research and education that all Americans can begin to understand the effects of slavery on American society, and New York Life appreciates the opportunity to work with the Schomburg Center to ensure that these documents are accessible to all who wish to study this period of history."New York Life's archives show that Nautilus wrote policies on the lives of slaves in 1846 and 1847. The trustees of Nautilus voted to end the practice of writing those policies in 1848, more than a dozen years before the Civil War.The Schomburg Center is located on Malcolm X Boulevard and 135th Street in New York City.

---Unitrin reaches agreements to settle race-based underwriting issue---Unitrin, Inc. has announced an agreement to resolve issues relating to the use of race decades ago as a factor in the underwriting and pricing of life insurance by certain Unitrin subsidiaries. The agreement will provide additional benefits to African-American and other minority policyholders with racially-underwritten policies and will resolve all pending class action lawsuits on this issue, as well as other issues in the litigation unrelated to race-based underwriting. The settlement provides a minimum of $33 million in benefits to class members. The agreement was reached with attorneys representing affected policyholders and is subject to approval by an Alabama state court. The Unitrin subsidiaries covered by the settlement are United Insurance Company of America, The Reliable Life Insurance Company and Union National Life Insurance Company.The long-abandoned industry practice of using race as an underwriting factor meant that African Americans and other minorities with affected policies paid higher premium rates than whites. This practice was based on decades-old actuarial tables that indicated a shorter life expectancy for African Americans as a group.If policyholders believe they may be affected and have questions, they can contact the United Insurance Settlement Administration Center at 1-877-347-4719. Unitrin's family of insurance and finance companies serves the basic financial needs of more than 6 million policyholders and consumer finance customers in select markets throughout the United States. Unitrin is one of America's leading financial services providers, specializing in property and casualty, life, health and accident insurance, as well as a variety of consumer finance products.

---New Study of high cost home lending reveals widespread racial disparities---"Risk or Race," the first comprehensive report to rank all 331 metropolitan areas in the nation based on differences in subprime lending between whites, blacks and other minorities, uncovers widespread racial disparities nationwide. The California Reinvestment Committee (CRC), the state's largest CRA advocacy coalition, points to the study's California findings as confirmation of its own analysis of the dual lending system. In Stolen Wealth: Inequities in California's Subprime Mortgage Market, CRC documented the two-tier lending system that provides higher cost credit to low-income, senior, and of color borrowers. The advocacy group cites CCC's latest findings as further evidence of the need to push for strong federal, state and local legislative measures to restrict predatory practices, and to encourage community groups to develop partnerships with financial institutions to proactively fight these wealth-stealing practices. The newly completed Center for Community Change study contains some startling statistics: 1) The six cities in the nation with the highest disparity ratios for subprime refinance loans between upper-income Hispanics and lower-income whites were all in California. #1 is Salinas, where upper-income Hispanic homeowners were 2.21 times more likely to receive subprime refinance loans than whites.2) African-American homeowners in San Francisco were 2.34 times more likely to receive a subprime loan when they refinanced their homes in 2000 than lower-income white borrowers. This was the highest disparity ratio in the nation for upper-income Blacks as compared to lower-income whites. San Diego ranked #3 nationwide on this measure. For more information about the CCC study, please contact Leila McDowell at 202 339-9329.

---Third annual R&B/Hip Hop Conference---
American Urban Radio Networks (AURN) has announced an exciting new alliance with Billboard Magazine to present the Third Annual Billboard/AURN R&B Hip Hop Conference and Awards, August 7-9, 2002 at the Eden Roc Resort in Miami Beach. This extraordinary conference will include the biggest, and the hottest names in the business in exciting panel discussions, artist showcases, and live performances.

---Lupus report--
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a report on May 2, 2002 that shows a 60 percent increase in deaths over a twenty-year period resulting from systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), a disease affecting at least 1.4 million Americans that causes the immune system to attack the body's own cells and organs. The report's most disturbing findings were that the death rate among black women ages 45-64 years increased 69.7 percent and that more than one-third of all deaths resulting from SLE occurred among persons less than 45 years of age. Approximately 80 percent of new cases of SLE develop among women in their childbearing years, and lupus is up to three times more common among African-American women than among Caucasian women.

---Radio One, Inc. acquires WHTA-FM in Atlanta---
Radio One, Inc. announced today that it has completed the acquisition of WHTA-FM (formerly WPEZ-FM). Commenting on this acquisition, Radio One CEO and President Alfred C. Liggins, III said, "This LMA and subsequent acquisition have given us a very significant presence in one of the largest and fastest growing markets in the U.S. Atlanta is a great urban radio market and our four station cluster allows us to deliver diverse programming to our listeners and a wide cross- section of consumers to advertisers. Furthermore, the recent ratings gains on these stations have been nothing short of amazing. With our ratings share almost three times that of our revenue share, our prospects in Atlanta are phenomenal!"

---Job Opportunity of the Week---
The Wellesley College Center for Women in Wellesley, MA has two open positions: Research Associate and Research Administrator. If interested, send an email to working@wellesley.edu.

--Resource search---
Do you know of undergraduate nursing program that may have full or partial scholarships available for college-bound , Black women who have graduated with honors from their high schools? If you know of a resource, send it to: editors@unityfirst.com.

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