Results will help identify candidates who will advance city’s unique vision of school reform that includes a promise for all students to attend college The Syracuse City School District Board of Education, in collaboration with Say Yes to Education and Cascade Consulting, have been conducting focus group meetings and community forums recently. A great deal of important information has been provided …

Story and photos by Olivia Harrison There was nothing but good times, happiness, and feelings of pure fabulousness to be held at Payton Memorial Church during the Miss Payton Memorial Temple Pageant held Saturday, Dec. 18, 2010 in the church located on Midland Avenue. Three beautiful young ladies participated in the event, and all three were well deserving of the …

Kwanzaa Community Health Fair and Let’s Move! Campaign to be held Dec. 30, at Beauchamp Branch Library OnDance at Beauchamp Library is holding its first Kwanzaa Community Health Fair and Let’s Move! Campaign, sponsored in part by SUNY Upstate Medical University, Thursday, Dec. 30 at the library located at 2111 S. Salina St. in Syracuse. The Kwanzaa Community Health Fair …

Ma’Dear’s salon aims to teach customers how to maintain their total image, starting with hair A blue flash blazes into the salon. A short woman with slight wrinkles wearing white bedroom slippers and blue sweatshirt power walks into Ma’Dear’s Total Image Body Salon and Day Spa. Her shoulder-length, gold-highlighted, black hair flies behind her, a small piece of it tied …

South Side community organizer, Geneva Hayden, will receive the Syracuse Community Choir’s 2010 People’s Peace Award at upcoming concert The Syracuse Community Choir has selected community organizer Geneva Hayden for the 2010 People’s Peace Award for her dedication to education and work with South Side youth. The Syracuse Community Choir will recognize Hayden at the choir’s 25th anniversary Winter Solstice …

Each Christmas season, Tony Wade uses donations, annual “Bowl-a-thon” to help families in need When postal officer Tony Wade ventures out into his neighborhoods in mid-December, he might not always be delivering mail, and he might not always be recognizable. That’s because once a year, the 33-year veteran of the United States Postal Service trades his uniform for a different …

Winter Issue To view the entire edition of The Stand’s Winter issue, click on the cover image to download an electronic version. If you want the actual newspaper, you can pick up a copy of the Winter  issue at these distribution sites.  

Atonement Lutheran Church takes an alternative approach to God At various times, you can find women huddled in masses, sobbing, or men breaking out into complicated tap dancing. There are musical instruments and feathered boas strewn about the closets. But this isn’t some bizarre ritual — the congregation of this South Side church is spreading the word of God through …

South Side men maintain their friendship through Sunday night trips to the bar A group of six casually dressed men in their 50s and 60s cluster around a dimly lit bar, watching the football game on TV. The men calmly drink beers, and eat cheddar cheese and crackers with homemade Hungarian peppers prepared especially for this gathering. For the past …

The Rev. Colette Matthews stands out in a male-dominated ministry Purses in the pulpit, stilettos stomping to the beat of drums, lipstick-laden lips singing praises to God and skirts draped at the knee with handkerchiefs. These are the sights and sounds of New Covenant Baptist Church on the South Side of Syracuse under the leadership of the Rev. Colette Matthews. …