YONKERS, NY: The Charter School Of Educational Excellence (CSEE) has celebrated Black History Month with many activities during the month of February.
Bokandage live performance of West Africa drumming and dancing with the students interactive dancing and drumming.
#CSEE Students asked for them to return next year.
The Wax Museum was an amazing project with parents being asked to participate as the children dressed in the outfits worn by many civil rights leaders, entertainment, sports and heroes in the African American Communities.
Parents pushed a button and the students represented Rosa Parks, Michael Jackson, Michael Jordan, Serena Williams, Maya Angelou, Beyonce just to name a few. Lots of fun at this event.
Today, we have community leaders shedding light on their African American history, contributions and achievements.
The Speakers Are:
AJ Woodson is the Editor-In-Chief of Black Westchester and Co-Owner of Urban Soul Media Group, the parent company, Host & Producer of the People Before Politics Radio Show. AJ is a Father, Brother, An Author, Journalism Fellow (Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism), Hip-Hop Artist – one third of the legendary underground rap group JVC FORCE known for the single Strong Island, Radio Personality, Hip-Hop Historian, Documentarian, Activist, Criminal Justice Advocate and Freelance Journalist whose byline has appeared in several print publications and online sites including The Source, Vibe, the Village Voice, Upscale, Sonicnet.com, Launch.com, Rolling Out Newspaper, Daily Challenge Newspaper, Spiritual Minded Magazine, Word Up! Magazine, On The Go Magazine and several others.
Tasha Diaz, a proud lifelong resident of #Yonkers, is a wife, a mother of two children, and a product of the Yonkers Public School System. Diaz is the first woman of color to represent District 3. She ran for City Council in 2019 because she saw the need to help people in her community and could not ignore the problems they were experiencing. She now serves as the Majority Leader of the City Council and chairs both the Education Committee and the Environmental Policy and Protection Committee.
Tasha Diaz has deep family connections within the community as her family has held membership in the Community Baptist Church on North Broadway for many years. Diaz is also a former Girl Scout and Co- Founder of the Jefferson Terrace Cooking Academy. She has served as the President of her tenant’s association and has helped many other communities start their own tenant’s associations as well. Diaz is also a proud pageant mom.
As an active member of her community, Tasha Diaz runs a weekly food drive to distribute nutritious meals to those in need and then personally delivers food items to those who are unable to attend the distribution. She has also worked hard to keep her constituents safe during the Covid-19 pandemic, having established testing sites, vaccination sign-ups, and free transportation to medical appointments. Diaz has also allocated millions of dollars in capital monies to improve parks around the city to ensure the residents and children have the best quality of life.
Majority Leader Tasha Diaz is a proud graduate of Saunders High School where she earned a license in Cosmetology. She also studied Early Childhood Education at the Stratford Career Institute. Her Early Childhood Education enabled her to work as an Assistant Teacher at the TimberRidge Family Center. She is also a former member of County Executive George Latimer’s Women’s Advisory Board.
Tasha Diaz comes from a family of service and giving back to the community, which is her number one driver for getting things done. That background has given her the foundation to advocate passionately for those she represents. Diaz has dedicated herself to her community by working full-time in her position at the Yonkers City Council. She has made it her mission to be a true public servant and encourages her constituents to reach out to her with any concerns they may have.
Appointed to the Yonkers City Council on January 1, 2018 and subsequently elected to the Council in 2019, Shanae Verice Williams proudly represents the First Council District in the City of Yonkers. Councilmember Williams holds a Bachelor of Science from the State University of New York at Albany and holds the highest GPA Award for the Class of 2011 in the Department of Sociology.
Shanae Verice Williams interned and then served in the New York State Assembly. Upon graduating undergrad, she then worked fulltime at the Office of the Mayor in Yonkers, New York. Williams obtained her Master of Business Administration with a focus in Leadership from Walden University in 2015.
Born in Jamaica and immigrated to Yonkers as a child, Councilmember Shanae Verice Williams is the younger of two siblings. She has a very large extended family, as her mother is one of 13 children, she is proud to have a very close knit, God-fearing family in Yonkers. Williams is a product of the NYS public school system having attended Dodson Elementary and Mark Twain Middle School in Yonkers, and Hastings High School in Hastings-on-Hudson. Williams has been a resident of the First Council District for over 20 years.
Shanae Verice Williams is the City Council’s liaison for the Yonkers Human Rights Commission, a Yonkers Democratic Committee District Leader, a member of the Westchester Black Women Political Caucus, Hudson River Community Association, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Young Elected Officials Network, Aquehung Women’s Democratic Club, and the National Council of Negro Women. She is a former board member of the Municipal Housing Authority of the City of Yonkers and served as the liaison to Mayor Mike Spano’s African American Advisory Board. Williams is a board member of Yonkers Paddling and Rowing Club/ Hudson River Riders, and an honorary board member of the Yonkers Downtown Business Improvement District and the YWCA of Yonkers.
Councilwoman Shanae Verice Williams is the first Jamaican-born American elected to the Yonkers City Council and currently the youngest Councilmember in Yonkers. Williams chairs the Community and Mental Health Committee, Women and Children Committee, and is the former chair of Legislation and Codes Committee.
Shanae Verice Williams has been a leader in advocating for more affordable housing in Yonkers and a strong advocate for the homeless community in downtown Yonkers. Williams is passionate about serving her constituents and ensuring that the quality of life is improved by providing record numbers in funds for all students in the Yonkers Public School District, funds to repair the parks in her district and re-pave neglected streets, funds for various initiatives for the arts and programs to benefit the youth in the community amongst other things.
https://www.facebook.com/CharterSchoolofEducationalExcellence/videos/753070096134108