Jackson Free Press

BRAVO! Italian Restaurant & Bar (4500 Interstate 55 N., Suite 244) launched a new online ordering platform on Monday, July 1.

The new service at bravobuzz.com allows customers to order all currently available lunch and dinner items, including vegan menu options. BRAVO!'s online menu also includes special menu items only available on the website, such as the "Quattro Formaggio" four-cheese pizza and classic pizza-crust dough customers can prepare for themselves at home.

Customers can create an online profile with BRAVO! for ordering or can check out as a guest. Users can also see the estimated preparation time for their food after placing their order.

"We're hoping that this new service will help us bring the BRAVO! experience to our customers in a way that's more convenient for them in our fast-paced world," Susan Farris, marketing manager for Mangia Bene Restaurant group, of which BRAVO! is part, told the Jackson Free Press. "We look forward to being better able to meet the needs of our customers wherever they are."

For more information, call 601-982-8111 or visit bravobuzz.com.

Mississippi Urban League Youth Golf Program

The Mississippi Urban League, a nonprofit organization that advocates for civil rights on behalf of African Americans, is partnering with youth development organization First Tee of Central Mississippi with funding from mentoring group 100 Black Men of Jackson and the Mississippi State Department of health to teach inner-city youth to play golf.

MUL's golf program is part of its annual summer enrichment program for children ages 8-17, which it first launched in 2014 with support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. The program provides children with healthy meals for breakfast and lunch, as well as academic and cultural activities to prevent summer learning loss such as visits to the Two Mississippi Museums and the Medgar Evers home, MUL President and Chief Executive Officer Beneta Burt told the Jackson Free Press.

The golf program will take place at the Grove Park Golf Course (1800 Walter Dutch Welch Drive) in Jackson. With the financial support of 100 Black Men the Department of Health, MUL was able to increase the number of children who can take part in the program from 20 to 50, Burt says. First Tee provides supplies and instructors for children taking part in the program.

"Teaching these children about golf will help them to understand core values like respect, responsibility and team spirit," Burt says. "With these skills, they'll be better able to do things like mediate conflicts and work together to resolve issues at their schools."

MUL also conducts a year-round afterschool program for elementary students at Jackson Public Schools. For more information, call 601-987-6783 or visit the organization's Facebook page.

Southeast Tourism Society Names Mississippi Science Fest as Top 20 Event

The Southeast Tourism Society, a nonprofit organization that promotes tourism across the Southeast, recently named the Lefleur Museum District's Mississippi Science Fest as a "STS Top 20 Event" in honor of the festival drawing more than 4,500 visitors in 2018. STS chooses what it considers to be the 20 best events in the region for each month of the year and announces the winners quarterly, the organization's website says.

The museum district includes the Mississippi Agriculture & Forestry Museum, the Mississippi Children's Museum, the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science and the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame & Museum. In April 2019, the STS gave the district its Shining Example Partnership Award for joint marketing and other efforts to cooperatively promote tourism in Jackson.

Lefleur's signature event, the Mississippi Science Fest, takes place over three days each September and includes joint tickets for customers to visit all four museums. The festival includes a C Spire-sponsored coding challenge for elementary-school students, a "Field Trip Friday" event for students and hands-on activities that focus on STEM subjects, or science, technology, engineering and mathematics, at all four locations.

This 2019 Mississippi Science Fest will take place from Sept. 19-21. For more information, visit mschildrensmuseum.org, msfame.com, msagmuseum.org, mdwfp.com/museum or msscincefest.org.

The deadlines for upcoming STS Top 20 Events are Friday, July 12, for events that take place in January through March 2020; Friday, Oct. 18, for events from April through June 2020; Friday, Jan. 17, 2020, for events from July through September 2020; and Friday, April 17, 2020, for events from October through December 2020. For more information, visit southeasttourism.org/top-20-events/.