Chicago, IL – The YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago recently announced a partnership with the Chicago Bulls to combat childhood obesity and create EnergizaBulls Fitness Learning Centers in YMCA community schools.

On Wednesday, March 3, Mayor Daley, CPS president Ron Huberman, Alderman Walter Burnett, and YMCA president Richard H. Malone joined Bulls players Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah, Jannero Pargo and James Johnson to officially unveil the first of 25 EnergizaBulls Fitness Centers. The new fitness center is located at the Morton School of Excellence, a YMCA Community School, on the city’s west side.

The collaboration between the YMCA and the Bulls began in 2009 when the Bulls charity organization, CharitaBulls, was awarded approximately $1.475 million from the U.S. Department of Education to help enhance physical education programs within Chicago Public Schools (CPS).

“Childhood obesity has increased 60 percent in the last 10 years; diabetes has become a significant concern; and even high cholesterol is affecting children. Issues that we used to associate with adults are now affecting children. These statistics are sounding an alarm to us,” said Richard H. Malone, president and CEO of the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago.

The EnergizaBulls Fitness Centers are permanent, sustainable wellness health centers located within the school’s building. Each fitness center will include cardiovascular machines such as bikes, elliptical, HOPSports, and exergaming equipment. The goal of the fitness centers is to help children develop the knowledge, attitudes, and skills they need to adopt and maintain a physically active and healthy lifestyle.

Through this collaboration, the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago developed programs that get children moving in a fun and interactive way. Additionally, the YMCA will track student’s daily activity, monitor their progress and help them reach the recommended level of activity.

The YMCA is committed to help students make healthier lifestyle decisions and address the national childhood obesity epidemic. It was recently reported that Illinois has the fourth highest rate of childhood obesity in the nation.

Five other Chicago Public Schools chosen to receive fitness centers this year include Ryerson Community School, Lawrence Elementary School, Oglesby Elementary School, Orozco Community Academy and Whistler Elementary School.

Washington insider Mark Kirk released a grossly misleading “fact check” this afternoon that distorts Senate nominee Alexi Giannoulias‘ record. Below, the Alexi for Illinois campaign sets the record straight.

For more information, visit TruthAboutAlexi.com.

KIRK SPIN: On January 26, 2010, the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation and the FDIC ordered Broadway Bank to “cease and desist from engaging in unsafe and unsound banking practices.”

THE TRUTH: This is boilerplate language in consent decrees entered into by the FDIC and banks.

KIRK SPIN: From 2002 to 2006, Alexi Giannoulias increased Construction & Development loans from $80 million to $356 million – expanding such risky investments from 25 percent to 46 percent of the bank’s total loan portfolio.

THE TRUTH: Real estate has historically been one of the safest investments, and it was on this belief that Alexi’s father built Broadway Bank. While Broadway was capitalized to weather a significant drop in the real estate market and was diversified in different geographical regions, few would have predicted the economic mess caused by bad policy on Wall Street and in Washington that resulted in a 30 to 40 percent fall in the commercial real estate market. Alexi’s family business received none of the bailout money that Mark Kirk pushed for his Wall Street contributors, but is bearing the brunt of the disastrous economic policies created by Mark Kirk and his friends on Wall Street.

KIRK SPIN: From 2002 to 2006, Alexi Giannoulias increased the bank’s brokered deposits (also known as “hot money“) fourfold to $640 million. The typical bank at this point was growing brokered deposits at about 9 percent a year.

THE TRUTH: Small- and mid-sized banks operate differently than large Wall Street firms. They don’t have the advertising budget or the retail locations to attract depositors and sell CDs, so many community banks acquire deposits through a market-based process called brokered deposits, which is often less expensive and more stable than other instruments that small banks could use. This is real money, not like some of the derivatives and other shady instruments that brought down Wall Street firms. It allows community banks to raise deposits efficiently and use that money to lend to small businesses.

KIRK SPIN: When Alexi Giannoulias left the bank, the ratio of brokered deposits to total assets at Broadway was 68 percent, according to FDIC records. The average for all federally insured banks nationwide was 4.5 percent.

THE TRUTH: There are numerous instruments that small and mid-sized banks use to fund their loans. Broadway managed the use of brokered deposits as it grew, and the problems it is currently facing have nothing to do with these deposits.

KIRK SPIN: From 2006 through 2009, the Giannoulias family took over $100 million in dividend payments out of the bank – money that could have been used to shore up capital reserves.

THE TRUTH: When Mark Kirk ends his three-decade stint in Washington, DC, he needs to take a course in Accounting 101. As with any S corporation, all profit or losses pass through to the shareholders as income. Taxes are not paid by the bank, but by the individual shareholders as income taxes in the following fiscal year. As with most S corporations, the bank pays dividends to its shareholders to cover those state and federal taxes, which average 40 percent of total income. Nearly all dividend payments made by the bank were to cover these tax payments. Alexi provided the press with a full accounting of annual income and dividends from the bank – information that is readily available on FDIC.gov if the Republican attack machine would like to review the facts.

Even when the final dividends were paid out in June 2008, the bank was capitalized at levels nearly twice as high as what the FDIC recommends, and above its peer group. These dividends are reviewed annually by regulators.

KIRK SPIN: In 2006, the bank set aside $2.2 million as a provision against loan losses, a safety measure that federal regulators require banks to take. Despite its large increase in risky loans, Broadway only doubled its bad-loan reserve in the time Mr. Giannoulias was there.

THE TRUTH: Every year, Broadway Bank put most of its profits back into the bank rather than paying them out to shareholders as profit. This recapitalization made the bank stronger and helped it to grow. The technical set-aside known as “loan loss reserves” is based on a complicated formula as per FASB accounting rules and is then certified by the Bank’s accountants and auditors. At the time Alexi left the bank there was absolutely no question that the allowance for loans and leases was adequate.

KIRK SPIN: But, Giannoulias said, he did his due diligence on those loans and never knowingly gave loans to people linked to organized crime.

THE TRUTH: Most banks do not do criminal background checks on their loan applicants but rather lend based on credit worthiness, collateral and property valuation. Because of banking regulations that were strictly followed by the bank, all of these loans were legal and reviewed by state and federal regulators. Any suggestion that these few loans had any relationship to the banks current problems is a lie.

The real problem is Mark Kirk taking millions of contributions from Wall Street, and then voting for the bail out and voting repeatedly to protect outrageous executive bonuses financed by taxpayers. That’s what Washington insiders like Mark Kirk do.

Clever Apps and Popular Content Create Ultimate Social Networking for Minorities

Nationwide (BlackNews.com) — In the world of social networking, Facebook and Twitter are tops. But in a slow economy where small businesses are struggling, professionals are losing their jobs and college students are faced with uncertainty, many minorities are realizing that these sites were never designed to help people find a job or grow a company. GoBlackbook.com or the “Blackbook” takes social media to the next level by designing a site that not only has the functionality of social networking, but adds a “Professional Information” section when creating a user profile and an exclusive “Classifieds” app that gives newspapers, magazines, radio stations, small business owners and entrepreneurs the ability to list their business, services, rates, jobs, etc. for thousands to view all over the world.

James Parker, Founder of the Chicago-based tech start-up is quick to point out that Blackbook is in no way comparing itself to Facebook. “We did not design Blackbook to be an alternative for minorities to other sites. But we did design the site to be used as a tool to truly network with each other, find and support minority and women-owned businesses, and potentially find employment.” GoBlackbook.com is the first social networking site with a “classified app” and “section” that’s free to use and search. “It’s very easy to set up,” says Valerie Battiest-Danzy, Soul Purpose entrepreneur, Chanel Ballard, Marketing Manager for H.A.S. Magazine, and Nicole Jones, owner of Sensual Steps Shoes. Each say they have already seen success by creating a business profile page and using the classified app to promote their businesses and services.

Professionals and college students can use the Professional Information” section when creating their profile to list their career objectives, skills, education, and more. Think LinkedIn, but not as complicated. “Most social networking sites only allow you to list your contact and personal information. We added this section so that a user’s skills stand out on its own.” And with Blackbook already in talks with Fortune 500 companies interested in using the site to find minority professionals and college graduates, Blackbook can soon be the number one site for employers to find the sharpest employees and job hunters looking for employment.

There is much excitement about GoBlackbook.org coming later this Fall. It will serve as the social conscience and awareness’ arm of the site to provide scholarships for students interested in the field of technology and angel investments for minority and women-owned tech start-ups. “Our goal is to set aside 5% of Blackbook’s revenue to help get more minorities in the tech industry. Now someone setting up a profile page on Blackbook can help send the next Mark Dean or Mae Jemison to school. So if you have a Facebook page, we’d love for you to have a Blackbook page too,” Parker jokes. Keeping with his belief, African-American owned web development firm, Incite Graphics was recruited to create Blackbook.

Kirk stays silent while Washington Republicans obstruct unemployment insurance extension

CHICAGO – Following Congressman Mark Kirk’s continued silence on extending unemployment benefits for almost 15,000 Illinois families, U.S. Representative Luis Gutierrez denounced Kirk’s obstructionist record on unemployment and urged him to stand up for the people of Illinois during the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

“As Republican Senator Jim Bunning keeps America from extending unemployment benefits again, Mark Kirk stays silent,” Rep. Gutierrez said. “This is Mark Kirk’s most recent example in a long record of obstructing support for Illinois’ working families. Last fall, when we voted to extend unemployment benefits in America, Congressman Kirk did not even bother to show up, and he has also voted against President Obama’s Recovery Act and jobs bill.”

Currently, as Illinois’ unemployment rate sits above 11 percent, Republicans are holding up a bill extending unemployment benefits that would help almost 15,000 Illinois families. While this bill stalls in the Senate, Republican Mark Kirk has stayed silent, failing to demand members of his own party ensure its passage.

Kirk has a history of obstructing support for unemployment benefits. In addition to skipping the vote on extending unemployment benefits in September and voting against the jobs bill in December, Kirk also voted against extending unemployment benefits in 2008 and he voted against the Recovery Act, which included substantial unemployment benefit relief.

“Mark Kirk made his position on unemployment clear when he said that it’s not a big issue,” Gutierrez said. “Maybe unemployment is not a big issue to Mark Kirk, but then again, Mark Kirk has a job. It’s too bad the 700,000 people without work in Illinois can’t count on him to stand up for them.”

…and Start Answering for His Reckless Lending Practices

Responds to U.S. Senate Candidate Alexi Giannoulias March 1 Press Release 

The Illinois Republican Party outlines “False Giannoulias Attack”

“Kirk stays silent while Washington Republicans obstruct unemployment insurance extension” (Giannoulias Press Release, March 1, 2010)

Fact Check: Far from silent, Mark Kirk just voted FOR the bill in question last week.  On February 25, 2010, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 4691, the Temporary Extension Act of 2010, by voice vote.  Congressman Kirk joined every member of the House in supporting this bill.

Why would Alexi Giannoulias mislead the voters so blatantly?  Maybe he wants to talk about anything but his questionable banking practices…

“I think there’s no question that Alexi Giannoulias bears direct personal responsibility for reckless loans that could bankrupt the Broadway Bank,” Kirk said of the Democratic U.S. Senate nominee. “I also worry that the possible collapse of the Broadway Bank will leave taxpayers left paying for Alexi’s reckless loans.”  (Chicago Tribune, “Kirk says fate of Giannoulias family bank will be issue for Senate voters,” March 1, 2010)

Kirk, a five-term congressman, accused Democrat Alexi Giannoulias on Monday of engaging in the “reckless lending that brought our U.S. economy to its knees.” (Associated Press, “Kirk talks tough about Giannoulias bank,” March 1, 2010)

KIRK: “I think there’s no question that Alexi Giannoulias bears direct, personal responsibility for reckless loans that could bankrupt the Broadway Bank.” (Chicago Public Radio, “Mark Kirk Continues to Blame Giannoulias for Broadway Bank Problems,” March 1, 2010)

Kirk says, “Ya know, it’s one thing to issue a loan to someone and say in the first year the recipient repaid the loan. But in the case of Michael “Jaws” Giorango, the recipient failed to pay the loan. And it’s loans like that are imperiling the Broadway bank, made under Alexi Giannoulias’ signature when he was an officer of the bank.”