Erin Williams

When Jackie Robinson became the first African American to play major league baseball in 1947, he laid a framework of courage and social justice for all Americans that would continue to help shape the future of the country both on and off the field.

At the age of seven, it’s safe to say that most kids want to be just like their parents – walk like them, act like them, work like them. For Diamond Shakoor, that meant being intrigued by her dad Abdul, who at the time was teaching older kids on how to play chess. “I asked him one day if I could play and he was like ‘Sure, if you stop getting in trouble in school.’ And so that’s how the journey started," she says. 

Teach her he did, and now, after playing in nearly 250 tournaments, she’s unstoppable.

With signs in neon lights, fire hydrants that resemble anything but, and murals and metal sculptures abound, it’s a safe bet to say that The Grove neighborhood is one that thrives heavily on appearance. Much of its open and colorful aesthetic can be attributed to Grace McCammond, an artist who has been creating murals and adding color to fire hydrants and signal boxes in the neighborhood for the past nine years.

“If it holds still pretty much I’ll paint it,” she says.

Students at Roosevelt High School were recognized for their participation in the Regional Bank Financial Scholars program. The students completed a web course that taught the basics of money management, and received certificates in an assembly that included remarks made by State Treasurer Clint Zweifel.

Zweifel, who hails from North County, feels that the program helps to not only lay a financial foundation for the present, but also teaches the benefits of making good choices for the future: