The NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) New York State Conference will hold its 77th annual convention at the Crowne Plaza Syracuse hotel at 701 E. Genesee St.  The convention starts at noon Friday and ends this Sunday, Oct. 13. This year’s convention will focus on the topic “Health Care, Education, Jobs & Gun Violence.”  New York …

Syracuse will hold its first-ever “Get Your Kids Rally” at the Kirk Park Pavilion this Sunday, Oct. 13.  The rally will run from 3 p.m. – 6 p.m. The goal: to bring the community together in a stand against street violence in Syracuse. Organizer Mary Nelson, of the Mary Nelson Youth Center, created the event  in response to the slaying …

Local Starlight Band brings new energy to well-recognized songs As many of you may already know, I play in a band. For those of you who don’t, the name of my band is the Soft Spoken Band, or SSB. The SSB has been in existence without pause since 1984. Being around for almost 30 years, we’ve seen a few changes. …

Brighton Bakery maintains and improves family tradition for 85 years The air smells of freshly baked bread, chocolate chip cookies and buttered Italian rolls. There are startling sounds of metal clanging as Rob, one of the bakers, transfers 250 bread loaves out of the oven and into metal racks where they will cool before being packaged. It is the oven …

Baltimore Woods brings science alive for elementary students This school year, the environmental education organization Baltimore Woods Nature Center will expand its programs to every South Side elementary school. The Dr. King Elementary School and McKinley-Brighton Elementary are among the eight new schools to host the program, called Nature in the City, which takes students out of the classroom and …

Food co-op encourages community collaboration, healthy living South Side resident Howie Hawkins has long considered his neighborhood a “food desert” — largely lacking grocery stores that carry fresh produce and other healthy food. But that’s about to change. After years of planning, the Eat To Live Food Cooperative is scheduled to open Oct. 15.

When was your last mammogram? Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer detected among women in the United States, other than skin cancer. The chance of a woman developing invasive breast cancer some time in her life is about 1 in 8. Routine screening is an important step in the early detection of breast cancer.

Our November cover story highlights the work of Vanessa Johnson  — the founder of Syracuse Africa Bound, an organization that strives to educate youth about African culture. This issue also features a piece on the South Side Innovation Center, which recently received a $75,000 grant from an international financial services company, a look at the Festival of Nations at Onondaga …

Event to feature tour of new Eat to Live Food Co-op The New York Cooperative Network is coming to Syracuse Sept. 28th to put on its second annual business summit. It will be located at the South Side Innovation Center, at 2610 S. Salina St., and will be featuring nationally renowned speakers Professor Richard Wolff, author of “Democracy at Work;” …

Next public meeting set for Nov. 13 at OnCenter The future of Interstate 81 is uncertain, and according to the project director, Deb Nelson, no decisions have been made. Nelson made it clear that this is just the beginning of a long process to come during a community meeting on the future of the I-81 Viaduct held Wednesday, Sept. 25, …