TSU to launch Environmental Justice Screening tool
Dr. Robert Bullard of Texas Southern University’s Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice and Dr. Beverly Wright of the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice are moving to implement President Joe Biden’s Justice40 Initiative with the launch of the HBCU Climate and Environmental Justice Screening Tool. The Bullard Center convened an HBCU team of data and GIS experts to develop the HCEJST to supplement the government screening tool that excludes race. This team will be conducting training on the government CEJST and the HCEJST with 21 Justice40 hubs from 10 states to help them better understand how environmental data is collected.
Program connecting students to STEAM coming to H-Town
A nationally recognized STEM-focused non-profit dedicated to extending STEM opportunities to underserved teens of color, is coming to Houston this month. The program, iUrban Teen, will kick off locally on March 25 with a STEM+Arts Summit on March 25 from 9a.m. to 2:30p.m., where attendees will participate in four hands-on workshops: “Think Like an Engineer” hosted by Blue Origin, “Lunar Lander” hosted by Intel, and “Immersive Artificial Reality” and “Paper Circuitry: Electrifying Art” both organized by Seismique, a new experiential art museum. This expansion will afford Houston Metro area teens of color a wide range of unique opportunities in STEM and Arts enrichment. To sign up, visit https://iurbanhoustonvolunteers.eventbrite.com.
UH temporarily closes building in wake of two student deaths
In the wake of multiple student deaths this semester, the University of Houston is temporarily closing Agnes Arnold Hall. UH said it is considering whether to continue using the hall in both the short and long term. On Monday, a student died in what university officials believe to be a suicide. The university has not identified the person, but said there is no threat to campus safety. It’s the second apparent suicide involving the building in the spring 2023 semester. Another student was found dead on Feb. 15. The university said it will be planning additional outreach to the community once more information becomes available.
Rodeo attendance back to pre-pandemic numbers
Attendance at this year’s Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo largely returned to pre-pandemic levels, with the 23-day event drawing nearly 2.5 million visitors to NRG Park. Twenty rodeo performances and corresponding concerts, along with a related daily carnival and the three-day World’s Championship Bar-B-Que Contest that serves as an event kickoff, drew a total of 2,479,004 visitors, according to rodeo officials. That was the most since 2019, the year before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the rodeo schedule having been abbreviated in 2020 and scrapped altogether in 2021. The paid attendance of 1,355,367 for this year’s rodeo performances and concerts was the highest since 2017.