Newspaper:  Los Angeles Sentinel

The Brotherhood Crusade will be presenting Cathy Hughes, founder and chairwoman of Radio One and TV One with its 2007 Walter Bremond Pioneer of African American Achievement Award on November 2, 2007, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. The award is named after the founder of the Brotherhood Crusade, Walter Bremond, and it is presented annually to an African American individual whose life exemplifies the ideals for which the Brotherhood stands.

She has been chosen because of her accomplishments as a Black woman are those that we need to showcase for our young people to understand that they can be all that they want to be. She is a role model and an inspiration that warrants duplication in the lives of many. Hughes began her career in radio at Howard University in 1975. “Ms. Hughes is an entrepreneur with concrete experience in radio and television. She epitomizes our award with her dedication to positively represent the African American community,” beams President and CEO Charisse Bremond Weaver, adding, “over three decades later, Ms. Hughes has emerged at the top of the broadcast food chain, with more than 65 radio stations in nine major markets, 67 million listeners and a cable and satellite network, TV-One. I am so proud she is one of our own.”

The annual dinner is one of the invaluable fund-raising tools the Crusade uses to insure vital and continuous funding for programs and services to under-served communities in the Southern California area. For the past 37 years, the Brotherhood Crusade has given over $60,000,000 to more than 1000 projects, agencies and organizations. Organizations like Challengers’ Boys & Girls Club, Jenesse Center, Bridgeback, the Shelter for Battered Women, Mothers in Action, Chinatown Senior Citizens’ Center and the African American Unity Center have all been recipients of the Brotherhood Crusade’s funding.

Each year, the Brotherhood Crusade confers this award upon an individual of exceptional achievement in his or her field, one whose image we can hold up as a role model that our children can appreciate and strive to emulate. Past award recipients include Berry Gordy, Muhammad Ali, Quincy Jones, Tavis Smiley, Rosa Parks, Magic Johnson, Stevie Wonder and “our own” Institution Builder, Danny Bakewell, Sr., who is presently the chairman of the board of trustees of the Brotherhood Crusade.

The Brotherhood Crusade is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit institution founded in 1968 to provide necessary resources, program services and a voice of advocacy to traditionally underserved communities. Our mission is to remove and/or help individuals overcome the barriers that deter their pursuit of success and facilitate opportunities for a better quality of life, by promoting health and wellness, enhancing educational opportunities, cultivating economic growth and building community agencies and institutions. This gala affair is one of the most highly anticipated events in the Los Angeles community and it attracts the stars in all their splendor, elected officials, public officials, professionals, business-people, clergy and community folks. It also celebrates self-help, dignity and respect while working to improve the quality of life and provide meaningful economic and social change in society.

If you would like to make a contribution to the Brotherhood Crusade, please send your tax-deductible gift to: Brotherhood Crusade, 200 E. Slauson Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90011. Visit the website at www.brotherhood
crusade.org.