Serena Williams is helping renters to score better in the credit game.

Esusu, which allows renters to build credit through reporting rent data to the credit bureaus, according to the company’s Twitter account, teamed up with the tennis star to pursue a substantial business opportunity.

Through her venture capital firm called Serena Ventures, Williams “committed” to investing “an undisclosed amount,” according to CNBC.

http://

Scoop 🍦: Details on the latest investment by @serenawilliams through her @SerenaVentures Venture capital firm. Story on @cnbc on Friday 💻 pic.twitter.com/Ug5LUFJuEE

— Frank Holland, MBA (@FrankCNBC) July 16, 2021

New York City-headquartered Esusu “has raised more than $14 million.” Abbey Wemimo and Samir Goel started the company in 2018 because they observed how “immigrant families struggle to pay for rent and build credit after moving to the United States.”

“We exist in 2 million households across all 50 states. We want to grow that to cover 5 million households within the next year,” Wemimo said in the CNBC interview. “This Series A financing enables Esusu to double down on growth through product innovation, top talent recruitment, and building the most comprehensive financial health platform in the market for low-to-medium-income families.”

Esusu utilizes its platform to record and report rental payments to Equifax, TransUnion and Experian, per CNBC.

As odd as it may sound to some, “26 million Americans, are credit invisible,” according to an older study published by the Consumer Protection Financial Bureau (CFPB). Also, “one in every 10 adults do not have any credit history with a nationwide consumer reporting agency.”

“A limited credit history can create real barriers for consumers looking to access the credit that is often so essential to meaningful opportunity—to get an education, start a business, or buy a house. Further, some of the most economically vulnerable consumers are more likely to be credit invisible,” CFPB Director Richard Cordray said in 2015.

There’s plenty of reason to rejoice if you’re a student at Virginia State University because the HBCU just announced that all student balances will be cleared thanks to the CARES Act.

On Friday, VSU announced that it will clear unpaid student balances for those enrolled during the pandemic using CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) Act dollars, Yahoo News reports. The payoff applies to all students who took classes from March 13, 2020, to the spring semester of 2021.

The cleared balances only apply to balances at VSU and do not apply to outside loans any of the students took out.

“We care about our students and their academic success and want to provide them the privilege of moving forward with a zero balance,” provost and senior vice president of academic and student affairs Donald Palm said in a press release.

“We believe that relieving them from these balances will provide much-needed relief that will allow our scholars to focus more intently on their academics and degree completion.”

The bold move was made in an effort for the HBCU to continue providing access to transformative education, the school says. VSU will clear all unpaid tuition and fee balances and will pay the balances owed to the University for students who attended classes during the spring, summer, fall, winter 2020 and spring 2021 semesters.

The University is expected to clear the remaining balances after all federal, state, and private awards are applied, they announced.

University officials credited the CARES Act funding for being “critical to helping students continue to pursue their academic dreams” as COVID-19 has “severely affected financial resources for thousands of families nationwide.”

VSU spoke with WTVR and explained how students will be informed that their balances were paid off.

“Students whose balances are paid off will receive an email indicating such, as well as a billing statement that reflects the current balance is zero,” they said. “That should happen within the next seven days.”

It’s a good time to be a VSU student. Let’s see if other HBCUs and schools across the country follow their lead.

• News

by Jeroslyn JoVonn

July 19, 2021

The Shade is Real: Nikole Hannah-Jones and Megyn Kelly Throw Insults On Twitter

---

Nikole Hannah-Jones and Megyn Kelly put on a show for the Twitter community over the weekend while throwing insults back and forth at each other.

The drama started on Saturday after Kelly expressed her support for a recent U.S. Dept. of Education announcement that pulls back ongoing efforts to teach the race-related curriculum in schools.

“This is great! The ppl pushed back against the feds rewarding schools that teach Kendi & the 1619 project and it worked,” Kelly tweeted. “Remember: the loudest voices on Twitter (which is far-Left)/the news (which is “woke”) do not represent the majority of Americans. Your voice matters.”

This is great! The ppl pushed back against the feds rewarding schools that teach Kendi & the 1619 project and it worked! Remember: the loudest voices on Twitter (which is far-Left)/the news (which is “woke”) do not represent the majority of Americans. Your voice matters. https://t.co/1GeJ5oUlJr

— Megyn Kelly (@megynkelly) July 17, 2021

With Hannah-Jones being the NY Times writer behind The 1619 Project, it was only appropriate for her to respond to Kelly’s social media shade.

“I guess it’s good you no longer pretend to be a journalist anymore. Be well,” Hannah-Jones tweeted in response.

I guess it’s good you no longer pretend to be a journalist anymore. Be well.

— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) July 17, 2021

But Kelly wasn’t ready to back down from the public fight. She shot back at Hannah-Jones and questioned the Howard University professor’s journalism.

“Says the woman who quietly tried to cleanse her dishonest “reporting” without even having the spine to own her shameful errors,” Kelly said. “This is why scholars from the L and R have panned your work as anti-historical & dangerous. It belongs nowhere near K-12 education.”

But Hannah-Jones issued out the final blow making reference to Kelly’s controversial 2013 Fox News report where she claimed that both Jesus and Santa Clause were white.

“If only I’d done penetrating journalism like, Special Report: Santa is White,” Hannah-Jones said in response.

Kelly’s former Fox News show was canceled in 2018 after she comments she defending blackface. The conservative news pundit now appears to be entering into the debate about race-related curriculum in schools in an attempt to bring some attention to her endeavors.

Meanwhile, Hannah-Jones is getting comfortable in her new position at Howard University that came after she turned down UNC-Chapel Hill’s late tenure offer. There was a conservative board member who petitioned against Hannah-Jones receiving tenure and it ultimately resulted in her walking away from their offer altogether.

• Women

by Derek Major

July 19, 2021

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms To Create Office Tasked With Reducing Crime

---

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced last Friday she will create an office of violence reduction to develop and implement strategies to make a safer city.

Bottoms made the announcement at City Hall, sharing recommendations that were submitted by the Anti-Violence Advisory Council she convened in May according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The council, composed of community members and partners, has advised Bottoms to pursue a $70 million investment into the recommendations. $50 million will be provided public funding through transfers from other departments. The other $20 million will come from philanthropic and nonprofit partners.

The funds will go toward the hiring of 250 city policve officers, an expansion of the city’s camera system and license plate readers on police cruisers and the addition of 10,000 streetlights by the end of 2022. The Atlanta City Council would have to approve the spending.

According to the AJC, Atlanta police have investigated 64 homicides so far this year, a 58% increase from this time last year. Last year, Atlanta Police investigated 157 homicides, the most in 20 years.

Bottoms said during the announcement, the rise in crime correlates with the coronavirus pandemic.

“Because our state was open, and there were many people coming into our city, we were starting to see an uptick in crime before many other major cities, and unfortunately what we saw was just not something happening in Atlanta,” Bottoms said Friday according to the Associated Press.

The plan also includes expanding the efforts of Cure Violence citywide, a group that works to prevent retaliatory shootings by meeting people on the street and in hospitals. The group also encourages Atlanta residents prone to violence to change their behaviors and encourage non-violent norms in the entire community.

Crime has become a hot topic in Atlanta which will vote for its city leaders this fall. Buckhead, an affluent neighborhood in Atlanta, announced plans to secede from Atlanta due to the spike in crime and lack of resources.

Mayor Bottoms will not be seeking reelection this fall.

• News

by Jeroslyn JoVonn

July 19, 2021

Viral Video Shows NYPD Tase Black Man After Helping Someone Skip On Paying Subway Fare

---

The NYPD is facing criticism after a now-viral video shows a group of officers work to bring down a Black man they accused of helping someone else skip out on paying the subway fare.

On Wednesday, NYPD released body camera footage of the July 6 arrest of 29-year-old David Crowell, after a clip showing more than a half dozen officers surrounding the suspect and tasing him went viral on social media, NY Post reports.

“A short video has been circulating that describes an arrest that occurred on July 6 inside the 116 St. subway station,” the NYPD said in a July 14 tweet. @NYPD28Pct officers stopped an individual who opened an exit gate for an acquaintance to enter the subway, evading the fare.”

“Body-worn camera footage shows the man cursing at officers, refusing to exit the train, & threatening them,” the NYPD added. “With additional officers on scene, the man continued to resist arrest, prompting the use of a taser. He was subsequently taken into custody.”

Body-worn camera footage shows the man cursing at officers, refusing to exit the train, & threatening them. With additional officers on scene, the man continued to resist arrest, prompting the use of a taser. He was subsequently taken into custody. (2/2) @NYPDTransit @NYCTSubway pic.twitter.com/etjeTp9kKY

— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) July 15, 2021

On Thursday, NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio said the situation needed to be “looked at carefully,” and acknowledged that “we did not end up with a de-escalated situation.”

Crowell was on the train when he was heard telling officers on the platform multiple times, “I paid,” the footage shows.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

A gang of @NYPDnews officers swarmed onto a train, jumped on and tased a young Black Man. They accused him of fare evasion and many witnesses on the train, tried to explain to the cops that he did pay his fare. pic.twitter.com/2DPXwPFwVR

— District Leader Anthony Beckford (@AnthonyBNYC) July 14, 2021

But then Crowell was heard shouting profanities at the cops including “f—k the police,” while lifting up his shirt to apparently reveal an anti-cop tattoo, NBC News reports. At one point, Crowell even threatens the officers.

“You bust that s—t, I’m going to run you. I promise you,” the suspect said.

de Blasio says Crowell acted aggressively, but officers could have done a better job at deescalating the encounter.

The man that Crowell let into the station for free eventually did pay his fare after being confronted by officers, police said. However, the department declined to release the name of the officer who was seen using his stun gun against Crowell.

• Leadership

by Derek Major

July 19, 2021

Haiti Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph To Resign, Step Down This Week

---

Reuters – Claude Joseph, who has nominally led Haiti as acting prime minister since the July 7 assassination of President Jovenel Moise, will hand power to a challenger backed by the international community possibly as soon as Tuesday, a Haitian official said.

The announcement appears to end a power struggle in the Caribbean nation between Joseph and Ariel Henry, the 71-year old neurosurgeon who was appointed prime minister by Moise two days before the killing but had yet to be sworn in.

Haiti foreign ministry senior official Israel Jacky Cantave said that Joseph took charge following Moise’s assassination to help ensure continuity of state but would hand over power to Henry now that there is a consensus on the future of the country and protests have calmed.

Cantave said that Haiti’s Council of Ministers would meet on Monday and that if all goes well, Joseph could hand over power to Henry in a ceremony on Tuesday.

Reuters was unable to immediately reach Joseph by phone for comment.

Moise was shot dead when attackers armed with assault rifles stormed his private residence in the hills above Port-au-Prince. The assassination has pitched the poorest country in the Americas into political uncertainty at a time of surging gang violence that has displaced thousands of people and hampered economic activity.

Joseph told the Washington Post in an interview published Monday that he and Henry had met privately over the past week, and that he had agreed on Sunday to step down “for the good of the nation” and was willing to transfer power “as quickly as possible.”

Haiti, a country of about 11 million people, has struggled to achieve stability since the fall of the Duvalier dynastic dictatorship in 1986, and has grappled with a series of coups and foreign interventions.

On Saturday, the ‘Core Group’ of international ambassadors and representatives urged https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/martine-moise-widow-assassinated-president-returns-haiti-2021-07-18 “the formation of a consensual and inclusive government.”

“To this end, we strongly encourage the designated Prime Minister Ariel Henry to continue the mission entrusted to him to form such a government,” the group said.

The Core Group is made up of ambassadors from Germany, Brazil, Canada, Spain, the United States, France, and the European Union and special representatives from the United Nations and the Organization of American States.

The group also called for the organization of “free, fair, transparent and credible legislative and presidential elections as quickly as possible.”

The U.S. State Department and the White House National Security Council did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Monday.

Henry told Reuters on July 9 that he considered Joseph to be not interim prime minister but a foreign minister who had taken on the office.

“My installation should be done as soon as possible. I’m working on the formation of a government, I am consulting, and I should speed up my consultations,” he said in the interview.

A Colombian police chief said on Friday https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/haiti-justice-min-ex-official-could-have-ordered-moise-killing-colombia-police-2021-07-16 the assassination may have been ordered by a former Haitian justice ministry official, citing a preliminary investigation that has implicated Haitian Americans and former Colombian soldiers.

Martine Moise, the assassinated president’s widow, returned to Haiti on Saturday for his funeral after she was treated in a Miami hospital for injuries sustained during the attack.

(Reporting by Andre Paultre in Port-au-Prince and Daphne Psaledakis, Matt Spetalnick and Jan Wolfe in Washington; writing by Daphne Psaledakis; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Rosalba O’Brien)