NFL Unveils ‘NFL Source’ In League-Wide Effort to Empower Underrepresented Entrepreneurs In Communities They Serve
The NFL announced the rollout of NFL Source, geared toward setting a standard of how the NFL and its partners support underrepresented businesses year-round, locally and nationally.
The National Football League (NFL) is expanding its current initiative to provide businesses led by individuals from underserved communities with access to tools and resources that would allow them to benefit from games hosted by teams within the sports franchise.
In a news release shared with BLACK ENTERPRISE, the league announced the rollout of NFL Source, an evolution of the league’s supplier diversity commitments geared toward setting a standard for how the NFL and its partners support working alongside underrepresented businesses year-round, locally and nationally.
“NFL Source provides the league with an opportunity to reinvest funds into the communities that our clubs and offices reside in and gain exposure to an increased number of businesses,” said NFL Senior Vice President and Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer Jonathan Beane. “Doing business with the NFL can provide unparalleled exposure for businesses and boost local economic mobility.”
For more than a decade, the league has consciously decided to focus on inclusive event-based suppliers, working alongside the Super Bowl Host Committee through programs like Emerging Business and Business Connect, both of which focus on subcontracting spending opportunities for tentpole events.
“The adoption of expanding the NFL’s supplier diversity program aligns with our vision to continue to uplift and provide opportunities to local and diverse businesses,” said Atlanta Falcons Owner and Chairman Arthur M. Blank. “The Falcons have and will continue to work diligently, alongside the league, as we all work toward the official launch of NFL Source.”
The NFL also revealed a new partnership with U.S. Black Chambers, Inc. to help businesses nationwide obtain the necessary certifications to conduct business alongside the league.
“Supplier Diversity is about recognizing the value of local supply chains and small businesses, which are the backbone of the American economy,” said Talisha Bekavac, executive vice president of the United States Black Chambers, Inc. (USBC). “USBC remains energized to partner with entities like the NFL to continue creating wealth and economic mobility in Black communities through entrepreneurship.”
NFL Source will pledge its support of the aforementioned businesses by serving as a pathway to visibility and access to NFL procurement groups. By providing league procurement stakeholders at the club and front office levels, the program equips them with the tools, processes, and guidance for how to run equitable procurement programs.
The multiphase rollout of NFL source includes training sessions and adoption by all procurement leads within the league beginning in June 2024, distributing a supplier diversity playbook for all clubs that decide to opt-in to the program by September 2024, and the mandatory adoption of the program for NFL tentpole events by participating host clubs and local organizing committees.
Kendric is being treated at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C. By next year, he may become the first person cured of sickle cell disease with gene therapy. Kendrick suffers daily debilitating pain, which leads to frequent hospital stays.
“We see the light at the end of the tunnel and know that our child is the first to experience it outside of research—to know that it’s safe and the doctors here believe in it,” Deb Cromer, Kendric’s mother, told NBC News Washington. “I would go to the end of the earth to make sure he was cured. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for my son, but this makes me proud.”
The FDA approved Bluebird Bio’s Lovo-Cel Gene Therapy last year. Before the gene therapy, Kendric had to have his bone marrow stem cells extracted, a process that took six to eight hours. If they didn’t retrieve enough cells in the first collection, the company had to try again. Those cells will be genetically modified and, after three months, infused back into his body.
The process is so cumbersome that Bluebird estimates it can only treat 85 to 105 patients each year.
“This is a big effort,” Dr. David Jacobsohn, chief of the medical center’s division of blood and marrow transplantation, toldThe New York Times.
Jacobsohn said at least 20 patients were eligible and interested at Children’s National. The decision of who would be treated first was based on who was the sickest and whose insurance would cover the costs.
Walmart continues to help American entrepreneurs get their products on its shelves.
The company has announced its annual Open Call, which provides businesses of all sizes with a chance to have their items available for sale at the retailer’s stores.
“At Walmart, we believe in making a difference on the issues our customers and communities care about,” the company said on its website. “We believe we can create more American jobs by supporting more American manufacturing. By making production more affordable and feasible in the United States, we can bring our customers more products made, grown or assembled in the U.S., and manufacturers can create more jobs in America.”
Through Open Call, Walmart aims to help entrepreneurs grow not only their businesses but also their manufacturing footprint in the United States. Powered by ECRM and RangeMe, Walmart Open Call is open to small- or medium-sized businesses to partner with the company, which could expand an entrepreneur’s reach to millions of customers.
“We have built the Walmart Marketplace platform so you can easily integrate your catalog, manage orders, and provide customer care,” the company said. “Once approved to sell on Marketplace, you will tap into an ecosystem of innovative solutions designed to help you sell with confidence and grow a successful business on Walmart.com.”
To be considered and potentially approved to sell, eligible business owners must have a history of marketplace or eCommerce success as well as the ability to manage their catalog and have access to an assortment of products with standard product identifiers, including Global Trade Item Numbers (GITNs) or a Universal Product Codes (UPCs).
Pregnant Women Left Jobless Due To Layoffs At Tech Companies
No specific legal protection supports pregnant or postpartum workers from mass layoffs driven by business necessities.
Amidst widespread tech industry layoffs over the past year, a concerning trend has emerged: pregnant women and those on parental leave among the ranks of the dismissed.
Numerous accounts have surfaced across social media detailing the plight of expectant or postpartum workers impacted by job cuts. However, as Fast Company reported, there are no explicit legal safeguards shielding pregnant or new parent workers from layoffs driven by business necessities.
Employment lawyer Jack Tuckner, who specializes in gender discrimination cases, said he has received calls from impacted workers nationwide.
“I believe that new moms and pregnant women are certainly vulnerable and do get terminated more,” Tuckner said. “But it’s kind of the same analysis as it always is: You [can] be fired when pregnant, just not because you’re pregnant. The bigger problem is when you have a massive layoff of a thousand or more folks, where the positions are being eliminated—how do you prove that sex, pregnancy, and perceived disability was a factor?”
Nichole Foley, who was laid off from Google during maternity leave, revealed she was prompted to hire a lawyer to push back on the terms of her layoff, which Google claimed was due to performance issues. Former Google employee Brittany Lappano, terminated in 2023, launched the Discord group Labor Club, which now has over 400 members, offers counsel to laid-off workers.
The magnitude of tech industry layoffs impacting pregnant employees and new parents is staggering. Giants like Google, Amazon, and Meta have collectively terminated tens of thousands of workers over the past year and a half amid widespread downsizing efforts. Most recently, Tesla joined the fray, elminating over 14,000 positions.
Derek Chauvin Accused of Putting Knee Into Woman’s Back Months Before George Floyd Murder
Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin is accused of putting his knee to the back of a woman just months before he did the same thing to George Floyd.
On Tuesday, May 21, a lawsuit was filed in Minnesota federal court on behalf of Patty Day, a Minneapolis resident who accuses Chauvin and his former partner Ellen Jensen of using excessive force in January 2020 during an arrest that she was not resisting, NBC News reports.
The suit, filed against both officers and the city of Minneapolis, alleges Day’s Fourth and 14th Amendment rights were violated along with her civil rights.
Day, who worked as the communications and public outreach director for the Minneapolis Department of Public Works at the time, alleges to have been “violently” yanked from her car and thrown to the snow-filled ground with Chauvin pressing his knee into her back. As a result of the violent arrest, she suffered a fractured tooth and bruises across her body.
The arrest took place on January 17, 2020. Day, who was depressed and going through a divorce at the time, left her home intoxicated to pick up her children from daycare, the lawsuit states. After driving a few blocks during the snowfall, Day pulled over into a snowbank after realizing she shouldn’t be driving.
While parked outside someone’s property, the owner called the police. They arrived at the vehicle at 8:50 p.m. and saw Day talking to two people who told the officers she “has a bad situation at home and pulled over to rest.”
Day’s keys were not in the ignition—she had thrown them in the backseat to avoid driving. She also mistakenly left her cell phone at home. While talking to Jensen through the window, Chauvin approached, unlocked the car door from the outside, and “violently grabbed Patty’s left and right arms, respectively, and began pulling her out of the vehicle,” according to the lawsuit.
The officers never informed Day that she was under arrest before physically removing her from the minivan, the complaint said. Day cracked her tooth upon being thrown to the ground and suffered bruises and pain to her arms, shoulder, face, hands, chest, ankle, and legs.
She says she was handcuffed and ordered to stand up and walk to the police car. “I was not resisting. I was not being belligerent … I was simply trying to show them that there were no keys in the ignition of my car,” Day told KARE of Minneapolis.
Chauvin and Jensen’s police reports failed to mention their use of force. They claimed to have ordered Day to exit the vehicle. Hennepin County District Judge Julie Allyn viewed body camera video footage and concluded that Day was not given any orders before being pulled out, the lawsuit claims.
Day was charged with two gross misdemeanor counts of third-degree DWI and her driver’s license was temporarily revoked. A hearing was held in February 2021 while Chauvin was awaiting trial on murder charges in the death of George Floyd; Day’s criminal charges were dismissed over a lack of evidence. The prosecution acknowledged that the city attorney’s office didn’t “condone the way that the interaction went down in this particular case,” Day’s suit states.
The lawsuit cites Chauvin’s “documented pattern of misconduct,” which was reportedly ignored by the Minneapolis Police Department. It also names Chauvin’s other excessive force victims John Pope and Zoya Code, as well as the millions the city has paid in excessive force settlements.
“The city has paid nearly $80,000,000 in the last two decades as a result of the unconstitutional use of force by MPD officers.”
Day is currently seeking a trial by jury along with compensatory and punitive damages.
A recent social media post garnered attention with its misinformation about the creator of a futuristic Cybertruck it assumed belonged to Ye’s Yeezy brand.
“Kanye West – Yeezy CyberTruck. Fire 🔥? Or Trash 🗑️?” a meme-based page shared on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The video showed the shiny black Cybertruck pulling out of a garage and driving off.
“Kanye previews his new Yeezy Cyber Truck going for $1.2m. Only 3 made in the US,” a caption over the video read.
Fans started sounding off in the comments, likening the vehicle to other tech gadgets and dissing his design.
“Looks like a Sony Blue Ray player,” one person wrote.
“Why is it so wobbly,” another person asked.
But as soon as the comments started rolling in, a community note was added to inform fans and critics that the truck doesn’t belong to Ye’s Yeezy brand or Elon Musk’s Tesla. It’s actually the Lo-Res Car, a promotional vehicle the footwear company United Nude sold at an auction on October 15, 2021, for $111,111.
The shiny black triangular-shaped vehicle was modeled after an abstract, low-resolution version of the Lamborghini Countach. The car gets its angled shape from the 12 tinted, clear polycarbonate panels placed on the body and its steel-tube frame mount powered by a 5-kilowatt electric motor.
Only four versions of the car were created for promotional purposes and somehow a video of one took three years to make its way across social media as a Yeezy product. Ye has yet to announce any plans to enter the car industry.
His latest business venture takes a more X-rated approach as he’s preparing for the launch of his Yeezy Porn imprint. The transition has reportedly resulted in the exit of his company’s chief of staff, who recently shared the resignation letter he submitted following Ye’s move to take on the porn industry.
Tracked By Tech: Colorado Man’s iPhone Vendetta Leads To Blaze Killing Senegalese Family
One Colorado adult is now facing the consequences of a crime that he committed as a teen after he sought revenge for a stolen iPhone.
One Colorado man is now facing the consequences of a crime that he committed as a teen after he sought revenge for a stolen iPhone.
Kevin Bui, now 20, pleaded guilty to committing arson in a Denver neighborhood in August 2020 after he used the “Find my iPhone” app to track down his stolen device, the New York Post reports.
Bui, who was 16 at the time of the act, was described as the ringleader among three friends who came up with the plot to burn down the home of a Senegalese family inside. Three adults, aged 23, 25, and 29, died at the scene of the fire, along with two children, a 22-month-old and a 6-month-old baby girl. Three people managed to escape with broken bones after jumping from the second floor of the home in the middle of the night.
Thanks to video surveillance, police identified Bui and two friends, who were seen setting fire to the home while wearing dark hoodies and full face masks.
What’s more, Bui and his friends became direct suspects in the case after police obtained a search warrant from Google to investigate the IP addresses responsible for searching the home’s address within 15 days of the fire. The teens were then arrested roughly five months afterward.
Dillon Siebert, who was 14 at the time, was sentenced to three years in juvenile detention along with seven years in a state prison program for young inmates after he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in 2023. Gavin Seymour, 19, received a 40-year prison sentence in March 2024 after pleading guilty to one count of second-degree murder.
Bui, who was prosecuted as an adult, faced 60 charges, including first-degree murder, attempted murder, arson, and burglary. All were dropped by prosecutors under his plea deal. After pleading guilty to two counts of second-degree murder in the deal, it was proposed that Bui serve a sentence of 60 years in prison, 30 years for each count.
The data from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives found police guns have turned up at the scene of crimes since 2006. While that alarming number includes firearms that were lost or stolen, a number of them were sent back into the market by the same public safety agencies that promised to protect and serve the public.
Records from hundreds of law enforcement agencies across state lines found several guns were resold or traded in, an issue that has put guns in the hands of thousands of criminals. Guns were resold guns to dealers for discounted rates for new equipment or, on a case-by-case basis, sold directly to officers within the agency. Those guns would later be used in shootings, domestic violence cases, and more.
One case involved 19-year-old Cameron Brown, who was shot four times and killed in September 2021 outside his apartment in Indianapolis. His mother, Candace Leslie, received the call from Brown’s girlfriend, who kept yelling, “Cameron! Cameron! …, while leaving church. He won’t get up. He won’t get up!'” Leslie remembers feeling “numb” and “kind of disoriented” when she got to the crime scene, covered with yellow caution tape.
The Glock pistol investigators found at the scene was later discovered to have once belonged to a sheriff’s deputy in California, more than 2,000 miles away.
In the same mid-western city in the same year as Brown’s murder, police seized an old, fully loaded Iowa State Patrol pistol from a man arrested for allegedly choking a woman.
Surveyed data from state and local law enforcement agencies revealed that 145 who admitted to reselling guns had done so at least once between 2006 and 2024 — 90 percent of the 160 agencies that responded.
Former ATF division chief Scot Thomasson feels police departments who resell weapons violate the promise to protect the citizens they serve. “Taxpayers are buying firearms that are then resold for pennies on the dollar and ultimately ending up in criminals’ hands,” Thomasson, who is now a consultant for SafeGunLock, said.
“It is absolutely ridiculous.”
Data spotlights several departments in Tennessee, including Metro Police in Nashville and sheriff’s offices in Hickman, Sumner, and Rutherford counties. According to News Channel 5, all had one gun traced to crime scenes between 2013 and 2017. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office had two guns traced to crimes.
But some agents feel where the guns land after resale isn’t their issue. “It’s a legal transaction,” Stanislaus County, California, Sheriff Jeff Dirkse said. “So, if I legally sold my old used patrol car and somebody uses that in the commission of a crime, is that our responsibility? I would say no.”
Several departments resold their weapons while holding buyback events, an event used to get guns off the street. Philadelphia City Council celebrates having collected 825 guns during its program since 2021. However, records show Philly police resold guns over that number — at least 886 guns in the past 20 years — including 85 firearms between 2021 and 2022.
In 2021, the Newark Police Department in New Jersey hosted a buyback, offering up to $250 for each firearm handed in, resulting in 146 guns. While the city’s public safety director said, “146 fewer firearms on our streets means less gun violence, fewer gun violence victims, and less risk of suicide or death,” years earlier, the same department resold close to 1,000 guns — one even being seized in Pittsburgh from a convicted felon who allegedly shot off more than a dozen rounds in a neighborhood and led officers on a chase.
A department spokesperson said the firearms were traded in under past leadership as a cost-saving effort and that the department currently “has no plans to upgrade its service weapons.”
San Francisco Family Home Set On Fire After Receiving Racist Packages
After receiving two racist packages within the last month, the San Francisco home of Terry Williams was set on fire.
An investigation is underway after the home of a San Francisco Black man, who was recently peppered with racist taunts, was set on fire.
According to The San Francisco Standard, the parents of Terry Williams, who are 79 and 81 years old, were rescued after Williams’ residence was allegedly set on fire on the morning of May 21. The couple was sent to the hospital after firefighters arrived on the scene. San Francisco Fire Capt. Jonathan Baxter said officials responded to the residence just after 11:30 a.m.
The parents were “essentially trapped upstairs,” according to the firefighters. One tried to escape the flames but was “overcome by the heat and smoke” and had to be helped out of the fire. Both are expected to fully recover.
When the fire was set, Williams was talking to the Mayor’s Office about racist incidents that had occurred at his residence when he received a phone call about the fire. The mayor’s chief officer of criminal justice and public safety, James Caldwell, confirmed that Williams received the call in his presence. Caldwell drove Williams to the scene after the notification.
“I’m at a loss for words,” Williams said at the home. “I didn’t even know what happened. I wasn’t here.”
The Standard reported that Williams, a dog walker, received two packages in the last month that included a blackface doll with a noose around its neck with racist slurs written on it. The first one appeared at his front door on April 26; the next arrived on May 5. Police started an investigation to find out who was involved, but no suspect has been identified yet.
“Any investigation—even if there weren’t the issues that are attached to this house—takes [time],” Baxter said. “We’re aware of the items that are attached to the address, but we address every fire the same: with tenacity to find the origin and the cause of the fire.”
A GoFundMe campaign was startedafter the racist packages were delivered to help the family install security cameras on their property. The goal of $100,000 was surpassed, with more than 1,500 people donated.
New Orleans Bounce Group Sues Beyoncé, Big Freedia For Copyright Infringement
Da Showstoppaz claim Beyoncé's "Break My Soul" infringes on the title phrase from their track, "Release a Wiggle."
Beyoncé faces a new lawsuit over hit single, “Break My Soul.” Showstoppaz, a New Orleans-based group, claims Beyoncé infringed their 2002 song, “Release a Wiggle,” for her single, “Break My Soul” by legally sampling Big Freedia’s 2014 song, “Explode.”
Big Freedia, who is legally known as Freddie Ross, is also named in the lawsuit.
Band members Tessa Avie, Keva Bourgeois, Henri Braggs, and Brian Clark filed a complaint in Louisiana federal court on May 22. The now-defunct band alleges that Big Freedia illegally used key lyrics from their song to create “Explode.”
“While Mrs. Carter…and others have received many accolades and substantial profits…Da Showstoppaz has received nothing—no acknowledgment, no credit, no remuneration of any kind,” the group’s attorneys wrote in an email to Billboard. “Any reasonable person listening to ‘Release A Wiggle’ and ‘Explode’ would conclude that the songs are substantially similar.”
Copyright law doesn’t typically doesn’t protect “short, simple phrases,” which means a judge could easily dismiss the case. However, Da Showstoppaz’ lawyers are confident in their case, stating that the band has a copyright to their “distinctive lyrics.”
“The coined term and phrase ‘release a/yo wiggle’ has now become closely synonymous with Big Freedia, thereby contributing to Big Freedia’s fame,” however, Big Freedia did not compose or write the phrase, and Big Freedia never credited Da Showstoppaz as the source, the lawsuit says.
Also named in the suit are Sony Music, Parkwood Entertainment, and Beyoncé’s husband, Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter, who is credited as a writer on the song.
The plaintiffs claim they first learned about Big Freedia’s “Explode” through Beyoncé’s 2022 single. They claim they tried to contact Beyoncé’s camp but received no response.
“Break My Soul” was the lead single for Beyoncé’s 2022 album, Renaissance. The song, which also samples Robin S.’s “Show Me Love,” topped Billboard’s Hot 100 chart for two weeks.
