Livingstone College

President to throw out ceremonial first pitch  SALISBURY – It’s HBCU Night with the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers this weekend. Join Livingstone College and other HBCUs at the Atrium Health Ball Park, located at 210 Oak Avenue, Kannapolis, on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. The Kannapolis Cannon Ballers, a minor league baseball team based in Kannapolis, will take on Fredericksburg with post game fireworks. Livingstone College’s Blue Thunder Marching Band will perform pre-game and play the National Anthem. The college’s admissions team will be on hand ready to admit students to college on the spot. Livingstone’s Divine 9 will participate as well. Livingstone President Dr. Jimmy R. Jenkins will throw out the ceremonial first pitch at about 6:15 p.m. The first 100 fans wearing any HBCU gear or swag will receive a free, gift bag. High school students who bring their transcripts will receive free admission into the game. HBCU Night is a part of the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers’ community-focused nights’ series for the 2022 season. The night will highlight the impact of Historically Black Colleges and Universities. High school students will also have the opportunity to meet with admissions representatives from Johnson C. Smith University and Winston-Salem State University. “We are leveraging America’s favorite pastime – baseball – to promote diversity in Rowan County and the region,” said Dr. Anthony J. Davis, Livingstone College’s senior vice president and chief operating officer. A limited amount of complimentary tickets is available to faculty, staff and students. Faculty and staff may pick up tickets …

SALISBURY – The Livingstone College Golf Team cinched the CIAA 2022 Golf Championship over the weekend, culminating a stellar season that has the ingredients of a made-for-TV movie. The Blue Bears maintained their position atop the leaderboard at Chicora Golf Club in Dunn, finishing the two-round championship tournament with a team score of 582 (+14) to capture its first title since 2018. Livingstone finished 19 strokes ahead of second place Virginia Union, who finished a score of 601 (+33). Fayetteville State finished third with a team score of 609 (+41). Joel Basalaine of Livingstone College finished atop the individual leaderboard at 141 (-1) to claim the low medalist award. Basalaine shot a 71 (E) in round two and needed a playoff hole to overtake his teammate and roommate Xavier Proctor, who came into the day as the individual leader. Basalaine and Proctor were named to the All-Tournament team for their efforts. Proctor of Livingstone College was also named 2022 CIAA Player of the Year. Following the championship event, the 2022 All-CIAA Golf team, which featured the top five players from both the CIAA Northern and Southern Division based on average scores during regular season CIAA events, was also recognized. Those selections included Xavier Proctor (Livingstone), Ronald Otile (Livingstone), Emmanuel Jakisa (Livingstone), Joel Basalaine (Livingstone) and Brandon Jones (Fayetteville State) from the Southern Division. Livingstone College Head Coach Andre Springs was named 2022 CIAA Coach of the Year after leading the Blue Bears to four first-place finishes in CIAA Southern Division …

Livingstone will host some of the leading voices of criminal justice reform on Wednesday during a town hall meeting in partnership with the national group, Reform Alliance. The meeting, titled “Criminal Justice Reform: A Critical Conversation,” will begin at 3 p.m. at Varick Auditorium and is open to the public. The panelists will include Robert Rooks, CEO of Reform Alliance; Daryl Atkinson, co-director and co-founder of Forward Justice; Stephen Bishop, associate director for probation and system transformation with the Annie E. Casey Foundation; Bishop W. Darin Moore, Mid-Atlantic Episcopal District, AME Zion Church; and Livingstone SGA President Justin Wade. Karen Boykin-Towns, vice chair of the NAACP National Board of Directors, will bring greetings. Reform Alliance is launching its partnerships with HBCUs at Livingstone College. The nonprofit organization was founded by recording artist Meek Mill alongside Michael Rubin, a co-owner of the Philadelphia 76ers; Grammy award-winner Jay Z; and Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots, among other world-class philanthropists. The organization’s start began with what it calls the unjust re-imprisonment of Meek and the shocking two-to-four year sentence he received for popping a wheelie that spurred the international #FreeMeek movement. Meek served five months before being released. Though he had the resources and public platform to fight his case, he decided to use his power to help the millions more who are trapped by the system. Reform’s mission is to transform probation and parole by changing laws, systems and culture to create real pathways to work and wellbeing. In …

Criminal Justice Reform: A Critical Conversation Town Hall Meeting | 3:00 p.m., March 23, 2022 Panelists Robert Rooks Robert Rooks is one of the nation’s premier criminal justice reformers with more than two decades of experience as a grassroots organizer, strategist and movement leader. He is an expert in building and scaling social justice organizations and has been instrumental in winning groundbreaking criminal justice reforms across the country. Under his leadership, REFORM is promoting smart reforms that reduce unnecessary supervision and create pathways to work and wellbeing. REFORM has won major legislative reforms to transform probation and parole systems in states as diverse as California, Georgia and Mississippi and lifted up the experiences of people on supervision to educate the public and build support for broader change. Prior to REFORM, he co-founded and served as the CEO of Alliance for Safety and Justice (ASJ), the largest state-by-state public safety reform organization in the nation; and served as Criminal Justice Director for the NAACP, where he launched the “Misplaced Priorities – Educate Not Incarcerate” campaign, partnering conservatives and liberals to reduce state prison populations. In 2019, he was recognized for his pioneering work with a Champion of Justice Award by the Bipartisan Justice Center. Louis Reed Louis L. Reed is the Sr. Director of Membership and Partnerships for the REFORM Alliance. He brings to the REFORM Alliance years of experience in government, criminal justice expertise, policy advocacy, public health, and personal impact, serving nearly 14 years in federal prison and several …

National NAACP, criminal justice reform leaders to participate The nation’s prisons are filled with people who violated probation or parole by visiting a loved one, attending a family barbecue or for picking up their children from daycare. For recording artist Meek Mill, it was popping a wheelie that caused a judge to sentence him to up to four years in prison, sparking the popular #FreeMeek movement and docuseries on Amazon Prime by the same name. Mill, who served five months before being released, has decided to use his power to take action for the millions more who are incarcerated for technical probation violations. He, along with Michael Rubin, a co-owner of the Philadelphia 76ers, Grammy award-winner Jay Z and Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots, among other world-class philanthropists, founded Reform Alliance, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to transform probation and parole by changing laws and systems. The group will hold a Criminal Justice Reform Day on the campus of Livingstone College on March 23, signaling the launch of its partnerships with historically black colleges and universities across the country. The all-day event will include breakfast with key stakeholders; lunch on the lawn with students, featuring recording artist 2KBaby; and a town hall meeting open to the public. During lunch on the lawn, members of Reform Alliance and 2KBaby will interact with students and bring their attention to Reform’s efforts. Rooks; Louis Reed, senior director of membership and partnerships; Britton Smith, senior organizing strategist; and 2KBaby will …