Caribbean Impact Awards: Renee Hastick-Motes Renee Hastick-Motes has carried the mantle of selfless service since she was born in Brooklyn to Grenadian parents. Currently, Hastick-Motes leads a team of marketers and government liaisons as the Vice President of External Affairs at Episcopal Health — a Rockaways-based hospital serving 44,000 patients a year. Comment

Guyana: Three Counties Foundation - Guyana Oozing Oil Movement, was launched with grand fanfare on Dec. 7, in Brooklyn, with an aim to mobilize Guyanese across the world to ensure everyone has a voice at the table, in Guyana’s developing oil and gas sector. Comment

Barbados: Barbados’ lone electricity supplier will be shipping in a standby generator this month to back-up its grid in event of equipment malfunction as happened weeks ago, and it has announced plans to buy a brand-new system next year. Comment

Trinidad and Tobago: Trinidad and Tobago’s New York Consul General J. André Laveau has saluted the Brooklyn-based Trinidad and Tobago Alliance (North America), Inc., applauding the group’s “efforts and successes in the education of many young people for development.” Comment

St Vincent: St. Vincent and the Grenadines Opposition Leader, Dr. Godwin Friday Sunday night lamented what he describes as “a rape and sexual violence crisis” in the country. Comment

Brooklyn: Brooklyn Council Member Dr. Mathieu Eugene, in partnership with the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (OATH), on Tuesday hosted a Community forum on “How to Respond to Summonses from NYC Enforcement Agencies.” Comment

Music: Several artistes were incorporated into the program Sunday night in rendering their voices to the opposition cause in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Comment

Brooklyn Sen. Roxanne J. Persaud will on Saturday, Dec. 14, host a coding event for girls, the “Holiday Tynker-ing Workshop”, at the Mill Basin Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library. Comment

National: United States Attorney General William P. Barr and law enforcement partners have announced what they describe as “a concentrated effort across the country and around the world,” including the Caribbean, to halt “money mule” activity. Comment

National: Brooklyn Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke’s legislation to protect Americans from exposure to synthetic opioids, like fentanyl, passed in the US House of Representatives on Monday. Comment

Sports: West Indies Limited Overs Captain, Kieron Pollard wants to ensure the region’s young cricketers are protected from “vultures” and that they are properly nurtured for the future. Comment

Music: The St. John’s United Methodist Church (UMC) Chancel Choir in Elmont on Dec. 1 took its annual Advent Christmas Concert to the next level, according to congregant Stacy-Ann Ellis. Comment

Sports: West Indies leveled the T20 three-match series against India on Sunday to trounce the hosts by eight wickets in 18.3 overs. Comment

Sports: Cricket West Indies (CWI) has appointed little known former Canada head coach, Indian-born Monty Desai as the new West Indies Men’s Batting Coach on a two-year contract. Comment

Sports: Stafanie Taylor and Deandra Dottin have become the first West Indies players to sign up for the Women’s Hundred, joining Australians Jess Jonassen and Rachael Haynes and South Africa’s Mignon de Preez as each of the competition’s eight teams which will be played in London. Comment

Music: Singer Pluto Shervington along with a parade of Jonkanoos are the main headline attractions in Brooklyn and the Bronx on two consecutive days when the BRAATA Production team entreat entire families with their brand of Caribbean Ole Time Grand Market. Comment

The United States Department of State said on Friday that the US and co-host Jamaica have completed an historic three-day cyber capacity-building workshop with participation from 12 countries in the Caribbean and Latin America. Comment

Antigua: Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne said on Tuesday that the president of the prestigious Harvard University in Massachusetts, Dr. Lawrence Bacow, has responded to his advocacy for a program of cooperation between the university and the Five Islands Campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI) in Antigua. Comment

Arts & Theater: The Queens-based Conch Shell Productions has called for submissions of new plays by Caribbean American female writers for its production, “Hear Her Call,” a Caribbean-American Women’s Theater Festival. Comment

Sports: MUMBAI, India (AP) — India beat West Indies by 67 runs in the third and final Twenty20 on Wednesday after getting three half-centuries from Lokesh Rahul, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. Comment

Trinidad and Tobago: With the 2019 murder rate topping a staggering 500 for the second consecutive year, security officials in Trinidad have in the past week taken two major steps to reduce violent and organized crime, outlawing the current $100 bill and hiring a former FBI officer to help them reduce gangland violence. Comment

New York: The Public Advocate’s office on Monday called for additional funding for the City University of New York (CUNY) and a reduction in student costs. Comment

Guyana: Commemorating, its 30thAnniversary, since offering a gift of a million acres of rainforest, put forward to the Commonwealth by the Government of Guyana, and commonwealth partnership, commissioned by late President of Guyana, Desmond Hoyte in 1989, the Iwokrama International Centre for Rain Forest Conservation and Development in Guyana, continues to be at the forefront of conservation. Comment

Andrés Hueso is Senior Policy Analyst – Sanitation, WaterAid. LONDON, Dec. 10, 2019 (IPS) - This year’s Human Rights Day advocates for everyone to stand up for their rights and those of others. Yet this will feel like a distant reality for the millions of sanitation workers in developing countries who are forced to work in conditions that endanger their health and even their lives. Comment

Barbados: Barbados ‘number one Squash seeds in the male, Khamal Cumberbatch, and female, Meagan Best, junior divisions performed as expected and captured the island’s Open Under-19 titles last weekend. Comment

Brooklyn: Brooklyn legislators Assemblywoman Diana Richardson and Sen. Zellnor Myrie say they will be collaborating this Saturday, Dec. 14, with New York State Attorney General Letitia James in raising awareness about rampant deed theft in Brooklyn. Comment

Viewpoints: During her time in Congress, Shirley Chisholm introduced more than 50 pieces of legislation and played a critical role in the expansion of SNAP and the creation of WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) funding. Comment

Haiti: Port-au-Prince (AP) — The flaming barricades are mostly gone, protesters have largely dissipated and traffic is once again clogging the streets of Haiti’s capital, but hundreds of thousands of people are now suffering deep economic aftershocks after more than two months of demonstrations. Comment

Trinidad and Tobago: Trinidad and Tobago Alliance (North America), Inc. on Sunday awarded $1,500.00 scholarships to six deserving students during its 43rd Annual Scholarship Awards Luncheon at El Caribe Country Club on Strickland Avenue in Brooklyn. Comment

St Vincent: St. Vincent and the Grenadines Opposition Leader, Dr. Godwin Friday Sunday evening painted a very bleak picture of the nation’s economy, claiming that it is in “terrible shape and getting worse.” Comment

Books: You’re going to just be quiet now. You have things to say, but you’re not going to say them. Nope, not opening your mouth. Not a peep. Not a word. It’s not your time to talk, and even if it was, you’ll keep your thoughts to yourself. Although, as in the new novel “Right Beside You” by Mary Monroe, staying quiet might mean staying alone. Comment

Arts & Theater: With more than 600 superlative dancers auditioning each year to join the prestigious line of hoofers renowned for being Radio City Music Hall Rockettes, the incentive of a relentless pursuit to be chosen after placing number 460 on the initial try becomes heightened for future efforts. Comment

Trinidad and Tobago: Caribbean Progress has been made in reducing new infections and AIDS-related deaths, but these gains appear weak. This is according to a new report titled “Communities at the Center-The response to HIV in the Caribbean”, which was released ahead of World Aids Day 2019 on December 1 with the theme “Communities make the difference. Comment

Brooklyn: With thousands of fairy lights, animated skaters, a petting zoo, Santa’s workshop, a carousel displaying Caribbean flags, and a new Pinocchio window display, Frank Seddio, once again, transformed the corner of Flatlands Ave. and 93rd Street into a Christmas spectacle. Comment

Barbados: Barbados is among the first countries regionwide to halt mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS, and moving along with this remarkable achievement are public education and free medical treatment to reduce the threat, but health authorities still have reason to sound alarm bells. Comment

Brooklyn: Ten years ago, when Negesti Pinnock, proprietor of ButterMEssentials, began blending ingredients in her kitchen to create a moisturizer for her daughter’s hair, she, not being a chemist, never imagined that she would find the right formulation to produce her first creation “Creamy Delight,” a fusion that became one of her top-selling beauty items. Comment