Business

Apr 21 2011

Urban League declares war on unemployment

Economists say the recession is over. Recent national job reports illustrate an upward climb to the recovery. Yet these accomplishments have not effectively reached the urban communities of color—neither Black nor Hispanic.

This is according to the National Urban League’s 2011 “State of Black America” (SOBA) released recently. To combat this painful State of Black America in 2011, the NUL has declared a war on unemployment.

Apr 14 2011

Advantage Initiatives target start-ups and growing firms

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has unveiled two new initiatives to increase lending opportunities for small business owners in inner cities and underserved communities.

Under the two initiatives, known as the Small Loan Advantage and the Community Advantage, community banks will be able to offer loans of up to $250,000. Those loans, which are part of the agency’s 7(a) program, come with the government guarantee of 75 percent guarantee while anything under $150,000 comes with the 85 percent guarantee.

Apr 7 2011

Borrower debt doubles amount recommended by FDIC

In the latest of a series of research reports, the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) has found that payday loan customers remain indebted double the time that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation recommends.

Mar 24 2011

Mediocrity Makes Excuses

At the beginning of the year, we set our resolutions, goals and started moving to accomplish them. Then, life happens and the momentum builds with “busyness.” All of the distractions, good and bad, may make it challenging for us to stay on track towards our accomplishments.

Mar 17 2011

In the face of wealth loss

There they go again. Don’t they know any better?

African Americans continue to be battered worse than any other minority group by the nation’s three-year-long, and-counting, economic crisis. In both stand-alone and comparative terms, from the top to the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder, they’ve suffered a severe loss of the little wealth they possessed, and have almost no protection against a future economic shock.

Across Black America

Here’s a look at African American people and issues making headlines throughout the country.
 

Alabama
Freeman A. Hrabowski, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, will address the annual African American Business Council luncheon on June 28. Hrabowski, who is chairman of President Barack Obama’s Advisory Commission on Education Excellence for African Americans, has a national reputation for his work studying the performance of minority students in math and science. Hrabowski, named one of the 10 best college presidents in the country by Time magazine, was a child leader in the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham in the 1960s.
 

Arkansas
The Liberty Counsel filed a motion and a brief in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas seeking to intervene on behalf of a Concepts of Life crisis pregnancy center to defend against a suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Reproductive Rights. The groups seek to impose a permanent injunction before the Human Heartbeat Protection Act goes into effect July 18. Liberty Counsel also filed a brief opposing the ACLU’s request for an injunction. The “Heartbeat” bill states that when a woman seeks an abortion at or after the 12th week, doctors must test for a fetal heartbeat before an abortion is performed and inform the pregnant mother that the child in her womb has a heartbeat. If a heartbeat is detected, a woman cannot have an abortion, except in cases of rape, incest, and if a mother’s life is in danger. “As we promised when the legislation was introduced, Liberty Counsel will defend this law without reservation for the people of Arkansas, born and pre-born,” said Matt Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel. “No right is more foundational than the right to life. Without life, all other rights are irrelevant,” concluded Staver.