Official uVu Blog

Traditional Peruvian Dance

Traditional Peruvian Dance - uVuSouthFlorida Video 

Timely Help for Homeowners - June 30, 2009

Hope For Homeowners

This past Friday, the US department of Treasury along with the US Department of Housing and Urban Development held a news conference to kick off a 10 city tour promoting the Making Homes Affordable initiative.

Florida Memorial University was the backdrop and mayors from Miami Gardens and the City of Miami along with representatives from the Treasury and HUD spoke about the program.  The first speaker though is a friend of WPBT2, uVu and more specifically our Facing The Mortgage Crisis project, Arden Shank.  Arden is the CEO of Neighborhood Housing Services of South Florida and his organization along with dozens of others will be taking part in a workshop on Tuesday, June 30 at the James L. Knight Center.

For those who need help head to the James L. Knight International Center, 400 S.E. Second Ave., from 2-8 p.m Tuesday. Bring financial documents, and you will meet with housing counselors or maybe even your lender to discuss getting a modification. 

Look for the entire news conference on uVu next week and you can find some other helpful advice on the Facing the Mortgage Crisis site

Issues: FCATS and Accountability in Education

State Senator Dan Gelber joins us on the program to discuss FCATs and whether or not they should be used as a sole measure of competence or improvement in education

P.O.V. | New Muslim Cool

Puerto Rican-American rapper Hamza Pérez pulled himself out of drug dealing and street life 12 years ago and became a Muslim. Now he's moved to Pittsburgh's tough North Side to start a new religious community, rebuild his shattered family and take his message of faith to other young people through hard-hitting hip-hop music.

"New Muslim Cool" by Jennifer Maytorena Taylor. When the FBI raids his mosque, Hamza must confront the realities of the post-9/11 world, and himself. "New Muslim Cool" takes viewers on Hamza's ride through streets, slums and jail cells — following his spiritual journey to some surprising places in an America that never stops changing.

Parents and Leadership

This week, uVu got to meet the 2009 class of The Parent Leadership Training Institute.  Again, armed with great ideas and determination, the class presented thier projects aimed at building a better community in south Florida.

You can see all the presentations here

The Parent Leadership Training Institute (PLTI) seeks to enable parents and other adults concerned with child well-being to become leading advocates for children.

What do parents and child advocates learn?
PLTI teaches those who want to improve the lifelong health, safety and learning of children how to become change agents for the next generation. The program integrates child development, leadership and democracy skills into a parent leadership curriculum. The curriculum is divided into two ten-week phases (20 weeks total) which include a community civics project experience. PLTI uses a dynamic combination of experiential activities and group process to model community building for parents.

For further information or to request an application, please contact Gina Ha, PLTI Coordinator, at:
(305) 576-5001 x. 41 or ginah@hscdade.org.

Tips From H.U.D.

One of the many resources available to homeowners in distress is the new government initiative Making Homes Affordable.  Armando Fana who is the Field Office Director for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in the Miami office explains how the program works and how homeowners can determine if they qualify.
In this clip from uVu and featured on the "Facing The Mortgage Crisis" website

Visiting Little Haiti in pictures

uVu TV visits Little Haiti for the next program.

MOCA Madness

Culture Shock organized a museum hunt at MOCA in North Miami on June 20th, 2009

Issues: 2010 State Race Match-Ups

Former State Senator Steven Geller joins us to assess the U.S. Senate race between democrat Kendrick Meek versus republicans Charlie Crist and Marco Rubio, and announces City of Miami Mayor Manny Diaz’s possible run for the CFO seat.