West Coast Expo

May 9 2013

Works with more than 30 financial institutions

Pacific Coast Regional is an economic development corporation that offers small business loans to start up operations, as well provide assistance and advice to existing small businesses.

Based in Los Angeles for the past 36 years, Pacific Coast Regional offers financial and educational services to entrepreneurs who require professional guidance in establishing and/or maintaining a small business, when larger banks may not offer a loan because of a lack of business experience.

Apr 11 2013

Fostering economic revitalization

U.S. Bank provides products and services that meet the needs of increasingly diverse communities like South Los Angeles and South Pasadena. The financial institution offers an innovative mortgage program for first-time home buyers and assists in providing a social and economic foundation for achieving affordable housing, productive small businesses and enhancement of culturally vibrant communities.
 

Apr 4 2013

Entrepreneurs figure ways to survive and thrive in down economy

The statistics speak for themselves. According to a 2007 Survey of Business Ownership conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, African American businesses grew at more than triple the rate of national business growth in the United States from 2002-2007.

That year, the Census counted 1.9 million Black firms, which represented a 60.5 percent increase from 2002. Additionally, the report found that Black-owned firms increased their hiring by 20.6 percent, employing more than 900,000 people. These companies also posted total receipts of $137.5 billion.

Mar 21 2013

Continues to provide needed services

The Watts Labor Community Action Committee (WLCAC) continues to provide needed services to a changing demographic in South Los Angeles.

Founded by the late Ted Watkins shortly before the 1965 Watts Riots, the organization has focused on quality-of-life issues in the community which has, for more than 50 years, been mired in poverty, unemployment, inadequate housing and violent crime.

Mar 7 2013

The only R&B station with a continous live local air staff

KJLH-FM (102.3) is among the most popular and innovative radio stations in Los Angeles. It debuted in 1977 with an R&B format initiated by original owner John Lamar Hill (owner of the adjacent Angelus Funeral Home), who offered stereo broadcast of the recording industry’s most popular Black artists.

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.