Words Beats & Life

Hip-hop is leading the charge when it comes to fighting poverty. Donney Rose writes for The Counterbalance about how many of hip-hop's most prominent names like Kendrick Lamar, Eminem, and Jay-Z are giving back to the communities that helped build them up.

Read more at https://www.thecounterbalance.org/articles/on-national-poverty-in-america-awareness-month-and-hip-hop-as-a-tool-of-philanthropy

Hip-Hop, Poverty and Philanthropy in America — The Counterbalance During National Poverty in America Awareness Month, this article examines how hip-hop’s relationship to wealth, visibility and giving reflects deeper economic realities.

Free summer workshops

Summer is just around the corner and so is the Know Your Power workshop series! Looking to level up your artistry? Attend one of our graffiti art or music workshops this June at select DC Public Library locations!

📍 Parklands-Turner | Fri 6/12 @ 3:30 PM — Graffiti Art
📍 MLK Teens | Mon 6/22 @ 4:00 PM — Graffiti Art
📍 Georgetown | Tue 6/23 @ 4:00 PM — Music
📍 Palisades | Sat 6/27 @ 12:00 PM — Graffiti Art

Learn more at dclibrary.org/knowyourpower

Brought to you by DC Public Library PepcoConnect DC Public Library Foundation

New York City has a new mayor and for the first time in 25 years, Mikal Amin Lee has genuine hope. Writing for The Counterbalance, he traces his experience living under four NYC mayors and explains why Zohran Mamdani's vision feels like a real turning point for the city.

Read this article at https://buff.ly/aT0jgj0

Why Zohran Mamdani Signals a Break From New York City’s Status Quo — The Counterbalance After 25 years under four mayors, a longtime New Yorker explains why Zohran Mamdani represents a real shift toward working-class priorities.

At 16, Reginald Dwayne Betts was sentenced to prison for carjacking. Most people saw a teenager who had thrown his future away, but inside a prison cell, books helped him imagine a life beyond those walls.

Those same books would eventually help transform him into an award-winning poet, a lawyer, and one of the most powerful voices in criminal justice reform today. His story is a powerful reminder that sometimes, one book can change everything.

Read more: https://magazine.1000libraries.com/former-teen-prisoner-becomes-acclaimed-poet-and-builds-500-prison-libraries/

Who will stand up to ICE? As cities across the U.S. continue to be occupied by a hostile force, voices in the hip hop community are making a stand.

Donney Rose shares how big names like Chance The Rapper and Ice Cube have been standing up for their communities.

Read the article at: https://buff.ly/Z6BR4TL

How Hip-Hop Is Resisting ICE Raids and Defending Immigrant Communities — The Counterbalance As ICE raids intensify across U.S. cities, hip-hop artists and activists are using culture, organizing, and protest to defend immigrant communities.

Our Executive Director Mazi Mutafa addressed the DC Council this May to advocate against budget cuts to critical arts funding in DC.

The DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities funds the programs, spaces, and resources that develop young artists, strengthen communities, and fuel the local economy. Investing in the arts is investing in DC.

Watch the full testimony 🔗 https://www.thecounterbalance.org/articles/dc-arts-community-vs-dc-city-council

DC Arts Funding Under Threat: Arts Leaders Urge DC Council to Stop Budget Cuts — The Counterbalance Words Beats and Life's Executive Director Mazi Mutafa joins arts and culture leaders to testify before the DC Council, calling for an end to cuts threatening the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities and the communities it serves.

As the Trump administration tightens its grip on the country, a new target is in their sights. Public broadcasting.

For decades the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) has provided citizens with the essential local programming their communities rely on. Mikal Amin Lee writes for The Counterbalance about the far-reaching consequences funding cuts to the CPB are having on regional and local broadcasting.

Read the full piece at https://buff.ly/bRNFbam

The End of Public Broadcasting: How Defunding the CPB Threatens Democracy — The Counterbalance Congress’s decision to defund the Corporation of Public Broadcasting threatens local media, public education and democratic discourse across the U.S.