Scheduled in August each year to coincide with the birthday of Richard “Sonny” Driver, the founding publisher and owner of Scoop, community day is a celebration of not just the founder of Scoop but of his legacy, the community that he loved and served over his lifetime, following his service to his country.
Publisher and Owner Sherri Horsey-Darden said, “This is a legacy of love, and Scoop is here to share the community’s narrative. Mr. Driver always stressed the importance of having Black-owned media. These are our stories, and we should have Black-owned media sharing the narratives of our people.”
Following the opening prayer by Reverend Rocky Brown, the Clef Club Youth Jazz Band performed live music with trumpet, guitar, drum, and keyboard solos from the phenomenally amazing young talent from right here in the City of Brotherly Love. “We take them from 6 years old if they have half an hour attention span; we take them if they can remember the words to a Beyonce song; we take them if they’re banging on something at home there’s rhythm there, and if you think they have the talent we take them. We support talent,” said Lovette Hines, Jazz musician and Music Education Director at the Clef Club.
Later in the afternoon, dancers from Llevate Dance Troup from Llevate Studio performed some spellbinding numbers that were crowd pleasers.
Lifetime Achievement Awards were presented to Joan Myers Brown, Founder of PhilaDanco; Lovette Hines, Executive Director of The Philadelphia Clef Club; City Council President Darrell Clarke; Ducky Birts, Founder of the Ducky Birts Foundation, and Carla Washington, Dance Educator, The Philadelphia Clef Club.
Community Service Awardees were Attorney Michael Coard, Esq., Jahzir Davis, Councilman William Morgan, Reverend Tom Merrill, and Marlisa Brown-Swint, Assistant to the Director of Philadelphia School of Dance Arts
Women’s History Month Awardees for the years 2020 through 2023 were presented on Community Day due to the constraints imposed by the pandemic and the abundance of caution after the fact. Women’s History Awardees for 2020 were State Representative Speaker Joanna McClinton, Judge Caldwell Hughes, and Keir Bradford Grey; awardees for 2021 were Mama Akosua Ali Sabree (posthumously), Dr. Lisa Dennis, Dr. Lucille Ijoy, Tiffany Beauford, State Senator Shirley M. Kitchen ,…
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