Charles Rivers and Karen Loftin oversee $95,000 grant to reunite families By lunch time one day last year, Charles Rivers had gone from being a supervised parolee to a welcomed professional in the same office building where hours before one individual held the power to revoke his freedom. “As a parolee, you look at parole as an adversary,” Rivers said. …

Single mothers agree that being a parent is a tough, but rewarding job

So long.

The Stand’s April print issue visits family-owned Dunk & Bright, examining  the generations of Brights who have run the  store and introduces Joe Bright, a fourth generation set to take the helm in the coming years. Hear from the city’s new Deputy Mayor Sharon Owens and the director of Greater Syracuse H.O.P.E. Ocesa Keaton in two separate Q&As. Both women …

Residents, city employees and nonprofits wait for release of five-year plan The South Side neighborhood finally has a comprehensive plan to look to for its future — though it has yet to be released. Southern Compass, a five-year plan for the South Side, examines the individual character and charm of the area’s six neighborhoods by providing a unique look at …

South African high school students learn importance of HIV testing The Raphael Centre hosted a “prize giving” gig at Khutliso Daniels Secondary School in February. Different from a school’s typical awards days, which honour academic achievements, the Raphael Centre event encouraged pupils to know their status and get tested for HIV, with those who were tested entering a raffle for …

Frank Malfitano, founder and executive director, discusses the future of Jazz Fest For the past 35 summers except for maybe a few, the folks around Syracuse have been treated to a weekend of free top-quality entertainment. We’ve grown to anticipate it every year and await it like students waiting for the last day of school. It marks the season and …

Local label gives opportunity to musical artists with uplifting messages to share Once a young rapper himself, A.J. Williams picked up his production equipment back in 2016 and left his business partners to take a leap and launch his own studio. That’s how Unorthodoxed Studios got its start. “We did a lot of good work,” Williams said, referring to his …

Joshua King targets teens using a realistic approach to sex education Joshua Michael King will sometimes pause, looking dazed, while having an eerie, out-of-body moment. “Just talking to God,” he explains after shaking out of it. His faith-fueled mission over the past 18 years has been to educate Syracuse to take the path he is on now, not the one …

New minority officer preps body and mind to be the person he used to fear: a cop Brandon Hanks had a hard week. A timid 24-year-old whose eyes always seem to have a faint hint of a smile, Hanks sat in an empty gymnasium — hands clasped tightly together, foot nervously tapping the ground, the shimmer in his eyes now …