Thursday, May 14, 2026 | Vol 40 No 9

SAN BERNARDINO, CA-Ali- sha James, Senior High Teacher at San Bernardino City Unified School District (SBCUSD), will receive a Black Rose Award at the 34th Annual Black Rose Award Celebration Saturday, September 12, at Cal State San Bernardino.

James is a Spanish teacher at San Bernardino High School. She and a team of Black educators at the school have gone above and be- yond to create opportunities for students to see themselves in ex- cellence and to support students in being their best selves. Most recently, Alisha's team held a Ca- reer Day featuring all-black ven- dors, employers, and presenters for black students on campus.

James had this to say when she learned she had gotten the award: "This means so much to me be- cause I love my students and the population I serve, but a very small percentage is Black so everything I've done with my colleagues to support our Black students has been voluntary, doing additional tasks to support our Black scholars. "It's a work in progress, but I can see the improvements. I'm so hap- py to be part of an amazing team of Black professionals as well. Thank you!"

With more than 15 years of teach- ing experience, she has built trust and generated support for high- profile, often complex projects. James led a team of Black scholars at San Bernardino High School to form the first Black Student Union

WESTSIDESTORY NEWSPAPER

The Black Culture Foundation Awards

Alisha James a Black Rose

"This means so much to me because I love my students and the popula- tion I serve,"

said Black Rose Award Winner

Alisha James, Senior High Teacher at San

Bernardino City Unified School District (SB- CUSD).

there. This has resulted in Black students receiving recognition for what they do. Black students are a small population at the school, so creating this organization helps them gain recognition for their achievements.

She and her team organized the upcoming All Black Scholar Awards, which will be given out at a special event on April 30, 2026. They have also put together a Black Student Professional Devel- opment program in which students learn about Black history and cul- ture and participate in a Q&A fo- rum with prominent Black leaders.

The Black Rose Awards gala takes place on Saturday, Febru- ary 1, at 5:30 p.m. at Cal State San Bernardino, in the Santos Manuel Student Union, located at 5500 University Parkway in San Ber- nardino. For tickets to the gala, visit the Black Culture Founda- tion website: https://sbbcfoundation.org/events/2024-black-roseawards/.

This year's recipients include: The Jim King Founders Award re- cipient is the J.W. Vines Medical Society. The recipient of the Dr. Juanita Scott Humanitarian of the Year Award is Carl M. Dameron. Other Black Rose Award winners include Alisha James, Alton Gar- rett Jr., Anthony Morris, Chache Wright, Dr. Keith Moses, Jonathan Beauregard, Marcelino "Mars" Serna, and Tawon Green. (please check the image below and make sure I included everyone.)

THURSDAY, MAY 14, 2026

More and More, Black Californians Are Worried About Rising

Costs of Housing, Energy, Food and Gas

By Antonio Ray Harvey | California Black Media

HIGH COST OF LIVING

Housing, energy, food and gas are four essential household expenses, and their rising costs are forcing residents especially lower-in- come households to make diffi- cult trade-offs, Assemblymember Rhodesia Ransom (D-Stockton) said at a conference on affordabil- ity last week in Sacramento.

Ransom, a member of the Cali- fornia Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC), noted a shift in consumer behavior, stating, "Before people used to choose between things that they wanted and things that they needed."

"Now, what we're hearing from constituents is they are prioritizing their needs differently," she said. "Because of the affordability cri- sis, it's no longer about choosing between other needs. Our constitu- ents are now saying 'what needs to be prioritized?' Gas and food are at the top of the list."

Ransom made the comments about affordability at Capitol Weekly's informational conference titled "Affordability: The Cost of Living in California," which was held on April 30 at the University of California's Student and Policy Center.

Co-hosted with the University of California Student and Policy Center, the political conversations focused on identifying policy solu- tions to the state's extremely high prices for energy, food, and essen- tials.

The keynote speakers at the con- ference were former Assembly- member Lorena Gonzalez, presi- dent of the California Federation of Labor Unions, and Mike Ma- drid, a political strategist, author, and senior fellow at UC Irvine.

Conversations about affordability are taking on greater urgency as the election season kicks in, speak- ers said.

According to an April 2024 report by the Greenlining Institute, low- income Black Californians are struggling with affordability due to a combination of historical system- ic barriers and modern economic pressures. The Greenlining Insti- tute is a California-based policy, research, and advocacy nonprofit founded in 1993 to fight systemic racism and economic injustice.

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