Birmingham welcomes the Magic City Black Expo

April 4, 2009 will mark the kick off of the 1st Magic City Black Expo in the city of Birmingham.  It seems as though an event of this magnitude would have transpired years ago considering the historical climate of Birmingham and the fact that black owned businesses in the area contributed to the city’s growth.

The Magic City Black Expo will join other events which focus on economic growth and community development such as the A.G.Gaston Economic Summit, the Black Family Technology Summit and the Birmingham-Regional Family Tech Day. The City of Montgomery has also hosted a Black Expo coordinated by Mr. Perry Varner for years.. I personally feel you can’t have too many events when the objective is to grow a community and stimulate the world’s economy.

The summit will feature a wealth of knowledge and minority businesses from around the state.  Guest speakers include State Representative Arthur Davis, Jefferson County Commissioners Shelia Smooth and William Bell and CEO Carol Forge Hatcher of Forge Co.

I challenge all races to participate in the Summit and show your support for the African American and minority business owners participating in the expo.  It is truly a rough climate for minority business owners as doors for funding and contract opportunities continue to be difficult to open especially in hard economic times.  A summit of this nature should be well received by the Birmingham community and minority entrepreneurs will get an opportunity share their products and services.

Distinguished Guest Speakers of The Magic City Black Expo, 2009

Jefferson County Commissioner and Civil Rights Activist, William A. Bell Sr., J.D.
Getting Rid of the Bad Rep: Restoring a positive reputation for black-owned/operated businesses and organizations.

CEO of Forge Co, Carol Forge Hatcher
From Hustle-man to Businessman: Legitimizing Your Business.

The Queen of Weave - Comedian, Mrs. V.
Can I Get the Hookup?: Overcoming the handout mentality.

For more information on the Magic City Black Expo visit www.magiccityblackexpo.com

Stimulus package for job seekers

By Kate Lorenz on Feb 20, 2009 in Current Affairs, Employment, Employment Trends, Featured

Now that Congress has passed and President Obama has signed the $787 billion American Reinvestment and Recovery Plan, its intent is to create or save up to 4 million jobs over the next two years.

If you’re a job seeker, no doubt you’re probably wondering: What does this mean for me? What kind of jobs will be created?

We’ve scoured President Obama’s remarks, detailed information about the legislation, and key provisions on Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Web site to answer your most burning questions.

How will the jobs be created?
“The goal at the heart of this plan is to create jobs — not just any jobs, but jobs doing the work America needs done:  repairing our infrastructure, modernizing our schools and our hospitals, promoting the clean, alternative energy sources that will help us finally declare our independence from foreign oil, ” said President Obama.

Those jobs will projects will create almost half of the projected jobs including the modernization of roads and bridges (835,000 jobs); public transit and rail improvements (200,000 jobs); prioritizing clean water, flood control and environment restoration (375,000).

The rest of the job creation is expected as small and large American businesses garner new business opportunities, via small business loans and tax incentives.

Watch this video detailing the President’s plan.

What industries will be targeted?
Ninety percent of the jobs created will be in the private sector. Funding will be extended to all types of industries and companies, but it focuses on:

• Construction
• Science
• Technology
• Energy
• Engineering
• Education
• Health care
• Law enforcement

How will this work?
Federal and state agencies will create the jobs/projects that need to be done. When companies are selected for the work and funding, preference will be given to those who can begin spending within six months - that is, create jobs quickly.

This creates a trickle-down of work. For example: An engineering firm that wins a contract, will need to increase staff to handle the work and also hire materials suppliers, which in turn would need to hire workers to handle the new invoicing that comes through.

How can I find these newly created jobs?
If you want to know what opportunities will be available in your area, The White House blog posted “Jobs in all 50 states” last week which gave more information about where the actual number of jobs came from and a fact sheet on state-by-state job creation details.

In addition, the government has created an oversight board and a Web site Recovery.gov, to show the public where the money is going - the contracts that are available and the companies that receive them.

Granted, this plan isn’t as neat a picture as I’ve painted. It’s complicated and still being dissected. We’ll keep talking about it. Tell us what you think.

Does Pres. Obama Have an “Ethnic” Preference when it comes to Media?

While the New York Times awaits a postelection sit-down with President Obama, Ebony magazine already nabbed its interview, the first given when Obama was still the president-elect.

Once Obama was sworn in, he granted one of his first Q&A’s to the editor of Black Enterprise magazine. His first known radio interview went to host El Pistolero, followed last week by a friendly phone-in to another giant of Spanish-language radio, Los Angeles-based Piolin.

It may not qualify as a pattern, much less a new world order, but the nation’s first African American president has signaled that he may shake up the traditional protocols of Washington journalism.

But Obama’s forays into sometimes marginalized ethnic media outlets also renew a strategy dating to the Reagan administration and earlier — finding alternatives to reach around the mainstream media and speak to loyal constituents.

I suspect these niche operators will also be used by the Obama administration — maybe something like President George W. Bush used evangelical Christian radio — because the White House believes they are more likely to funnel the chief executive’s message with little scrutiny or criticism.

Although much of their coverage thus far has celebrated Obama’s history-making ascension to the White House, several reporters from the ethnic media assured me they would not be pushovers.

I agreed that was a standard that they, and we in the mainstream media, needed to adhere to if we want to maintain our credibility.

“It was important in our coverage to pay attention to a milestone moment,” said Derek T. Dingle, editor in chief of Black Enterprise. “But going forward, we need the same vigilance and critical eye as we had with the Clinton administration and the Bush administration.”

That’s especially tough for outlets less experienced in the capital, with fewer reporters and whose audiences, surveys show, overwhelmingly approve of Obama.

Pamela Gentry, who blogs about politics for BET.com, said those factors would not prevent her from asking pointed questions. When I spoke to her last week, she laid down a marker for Obama.

“As of yesterday, with the signing of the stimulus bill, this economic problem is now his,” Gentry said. “And we will have to look closely at how things go with his solution.”

That’s the goal for many reporters, but expect Obama to follow a well-worn path to the infotainment zone — radio and television outlets that take a much lighter look at the issues of the day.

During the campaign, Sen. Obama and his wife, Michelle, got a particularly warm reception from daytime hosts, such as Tyra Banks, Ellen DeGeneres and the women of ABC’s “The View.” (The latter chewed over Republican John McCain so thoroughly during one appearance that that his wife, Cindy, said the “View” ladies “picked our bones clean.”)

Eddie “Piolin” Sotelo, heard in Southern California on La Nueva FM (101.9), provided another comfy outpost for Obama and other presidential candidates, including McCain.

Obama last week honored a campaign promise to return to the program — which has an estimated 4.3 million listeners in about 50 cities. Sotelo is also one of the radio personalities who urged hundreds of thousands of Latinos to march for immigration reform.

In the nine-minute segment, Piolin (a nickname meaning “Tweety Bird”) greeted Obama effusively, calling him “my friend,” and asked, “How soon can we expect to see the positive effect of the stimulus package?”

The host, who first immigrated to the U.S. illegally, praised Latinos for their hard work and asked Obama for his help.

Piolin, who never got an interview with Bush, told me that merely having a line of communication to the White House represented a breakthrough.

“It’s important that the nation can be united,” he said, adding that he welcomes political leaders “using my show to make that happen.”

“To criticize is not my job. To move forward and be positive — that’s my job.”

Even though they may not wield a sharp rhetorical ax, hosts like Piolin keep alive issues that largely have fallen off the mainstream media radar, such as immigration reform.

Obama, whose remarks were translated into Spanish, committed to the radio host to assemble interested parties to set an agenda on immigration, though he committed to no specifics or timetable.

Like everything in the White House, Obama’s relations with ethnic media will remain under a microscope.

A story this month in the conservative Washington Times alleged a first breach in the young relationship. The piece described black reporters as “red hot” after they were given prime seats but not called on during Obama’s first news conference as president.

That account gained some currency in the blogosphere, where Obama was ripped as a hypocrite.

But several African American reporters I talked to weren’t buying it.

“The impression was left that we were all up in arms and snubbed,” said Cynthia Gordy of Essence. “That was just not how it was at all.”

It’s hard to draw many conclusions about media trends from the early days of any administration.

Bush granted his first formal interview to print reporters from cities like Memphis, St. Louis, Albuquerque and Milwaukee. He spent a time, that first term, courting the New York Times, which later became a sworn enemy.

Black and brown media are having their moment. That’s long overdue. But I agree with the journalists who told me that, to serve their audiences best, it’s time to turn from celebration to examination.

Source: LA Times.com

A brand new way to view technology

The coming together of different organizations with technology messages drew hundreds on Saturday at the newly built Greater Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church. Growing Healthy Multimedia joined in on the event after an invitation from Urbanham.com.

Well labeled tables brought crowds of people who seemed to have their eyes on the material and without having to explain a mission statement, the families were eager to know what type of technological advice each company was offering. While the name may have sounded a bit segregating ‘Black Technology Summit’ it was nothing but a coming together of all races to help the community learn more about the vast growing technology. The name did serve the location of the summit but all races were clearly welcome. Talks of a larger summit in the future will be as inclusive in the name as the summit held on Saturday.

The video games were a hit, so were the hotdogs and nachos; but the very idea that many people can come together on a beautiful Saturday to a technology summit; is a clear definition that while times are tough, we can all learn; and even stronger, we can all catch up with the fast paced technology.

Please visit Urbanham.com to stay updated on such events and for the next major event to help you get tech savvy.

Naomi Muchiri
Growth, Health and Media
http://www.myhealthlink.org/health/

http://www.growinghealthymultimedia.com/

Urbanham Business

Urbanham Business was created for business minded individuals interested in creating, promoting, or expanding their current businesses. It was additionally created as a means to empower the Birmingham community with resources, articles and commentary to further our collective quest for fulfillment of the third leg of the civil rights movement… Economic Empowerment. Log on today!

Did the New York Post Go Too Far?

A cartoon released in the New York Post is drawing plenty of heat from civil rights leaders and African American talk show host.  The carton (below) depicts the Chimp that was shot earlier this week after almost fatally attacking a woman.  Officers were forced to shoot and kill the animal which had become enraged and uncontrollable.   In the cartoon, after killing the chimp, which is laying dead with three gun shoot gun wounds and blood around his body, the officers say “They’ll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill.”   This has angered plenty of people around the country who feel this is obvious racism or even more disturbing a suggestion that the President should be shot.

The artist is claiming his innocence and saying there is no direct tie in which is the same argument many civil rights leaders are giving.  The Chimp and the Stimulus signing are two totally different things so what would make this artist connect the two?

What’s your opinion?

Alabama projected to create/save 52K jobs under stilmulus

Now that the Stimulus has been signed Recovery.gov claims that Alabama should create/save 52K jobs.  While there is no real indication of where the jobs would come from I think it would be safe to say that construction and infrastructure projects will lead the way.  This is not necessarily a bad thing as increased spending in construction could also mean increased spending in retail, fast food, technology and medical visits just to get the ball rolling.  With additional jobs being created there could also be a rise in spending with Alabama’s entertainment venues such as bars, movies, concerts and restaurants as workers look for time to unwind after a long day or week at work.

Regardless the Stimulus plan is signed and now we wait to see the results.  There are experts all over the place telling us what to expect but the truth is no one really knows but the Almighty Himself!   Of course no matter which way the cookie crumbles there will be people saying “I told you so!”   All we can do at this point is pray that our leaders have done the right thing and that the Stimulus does what it is intended to do.

To keep up with Stimulus spending, overall plans and an update from President Obama visit Recovery.gov.

God Bless America!

Russ

Teaching Your Teen about Money

Your teen is becoming more independent, but still needs plenty of advice from you. With more money to spend and more opportunities to spend it, your teen can easily get into financial trouble. So before money burns a hole in your child’s pocket, teach him or her a few financial lessons. With your help, your teen will soon develop the self-confidence and skills he or she needs to successfully manage money in the real world.

Lesson 1: Handling earnings from a job

Teens often have more expenses than younger children, and your child may be coming to you for money more often. But with you holding the purse strings, your teen may have difficulty making independent financial decisions.

One solution? Encourage your teen to get a part-time job that will enable him or her to earn money for expenses. Here are some things you might want to discuss with your teen when he or she begins working:

• Agree on what your child’s pay should be used for. Now that your teen is working, will he or she need to help out with car insurance or clothing expenses, or do you want your teen to earmark a portion of each paycheck for college?
• Talk to your teen about taxes. Show your child how FICA taxes and regular income taxes can take a bite out of his or her take-home pay.
• Introduce your teen to the concept of paying yourself first. Encourage your teen to deposit a portion of every paycheck in a savings account before spending any of it.

A teen who is too young to get a job outside the home can make extra cash by babysitting or doing odd jobs for you, neighbors, or relatives. This money can supplement any allowance you choose to hand out, enabling your young teen to get a taste of financial independence.

Lesson 2: Developing a budget

Developing a written spending plan or budget can help your teen learn to be accountable for his or her finances. Your ultimate goal is to teach your teen how to achieve a balance between money coming in and money going out. To develop a spending plan, have your teen start by listing out all sources of regular income (e.g., an allowance or earnings from a part-time job). Next, have your teen brainstorm a list of regular expenses (don’t include anything you normally pay for). Finally, subtract your teen’s expenses from his or her income. If the result shows that your teen won’t have enough income to meet his or her expenses, you’ll need to help your teen come up with a plan for making up the shortfall.

Here are some ways you can help your teen learn about budgeting:

• Consider giving out a monthly, rather than weekly, allowance. Tell your teen that the money must last for the whole month, and encourage him or her to keep track of what’s been spent.
• Encourage your teen to think spending decisions through rather than buying items right away. Show your teen how comparing prices or waiting for an item to go on sale can save him or her money.
• Suggest ways your teen can earn more money or cut back on expenses (e.g., rent a DVD to watch with friends rather than go to the movies) to resolve a budget shortfall.
• Show your teen how to modify a budget by categorizing expenses as needs (expenses that are unavoidable) and wants (expenses that could be cut if necessary).
• Resist the temptation to bail your teen out. If your teen can depend on you to come up with extra cash, he or she will never learn to manage money wisely. But don’t be judgmental–your teen will inevitably make some spending mistakes along the way. Your child should know that he or she can always come to you for information, support, and advice.

Lesson 3: Saving for the future

As a youngster, your child saved up for a short-term goal such as buying a favorite toy. But now that your child is a teen, he or she is ready to focus on saving for larger goals such as a new computer or a car and longer-term goals such as college. Here are some ways you can encourage your teen to save for the future:

• Have your teen put savings goals in writing to make them more concrete.
• Encourage your child to set goals that are based on his or her values, not on keeping up with what other teens have or want.
• Motivate your child by offering to match what he or she saves towards a long-term goal. For instance, for every dollar your child sets aside for college, you might contribute 50 cents or 1 dollar.
• Consider increasing your teen’s allowance if he or she is too young to get a part-time job.
• Praise your teen for showing responsibility when he or she reaches a financial goal. Teens still look for, and count on, their parent’s approval.
• Open up a savings account for your child if you haven’t already done so.
• Introduce your teen to the basics of investing by opening an investment account for your teen (if your teen is a minor, this will be a custodial account). Look for an account that can be opened with only a low initial contribution at an institution that supplies educational materials introducing teens to basic investment terms and concepts.

Lesson 4: Using credit wisely

You can take some comfort in the fact that most major credit card companies require an adult to cosign a credit card agreement before they will issue a card to someone under the age of 18, but you can’t ignore the credit card issue altogether. Many teens today use credit cards, and it probably won’t be long until your teen asks for one too.

If you decide to cosign a credit card application for your teen, ask the credit card company to assign a low credit limit (e.g., $300). This can help your child learn to manage credit without getting into serious debt.

Here are some things to discuss with your teen before he or she uses a credit card:

• Set limits on what the card can be used for (e.g., emergencies, clothing).
• Review the credit card agreement, and make sure your child understands how much interest will accrue on the unpaid balance, what grace period applies, and what fees will be charged.
• Agree on how the bill will be paid, and what will happen if your child can’t pay the bill.
• Make sure your child understands how long it will take to pay off a credit card balance if he or she only makes minimum payments. You can demonstrate this using an online calculator.

If putting a credit card in your teen’s hands is a scary thought, you may want to start off with a prepaid spending card. A prepaid spending card looks like a credit card, but works more like a prepaid phone card. You load the card with the dollar amount you choose and your teen can generally use it anywhere a credit card is accepted. Your teen’s purchases are deducted from the card balance, and you can transfer more money to the card if necessary. Although there may be some fees associated with the card, no interest or debt accrues.

One thing you may especially like about prepaid spending cards is that they allow your teen to gradually get the hang of using credit responsibly. Because you can access account information online or over the phone, you can monitor your teen’s spending habits, then sit down and talk with your teen about money management issues.

Waddell & Reed
Mahari A. McTier
Financial Advisor
2809 Butterfield Rd
Suite 170
Oak Brook IL 60523
(630) 954-4611
mmctier@wradvisors.com

TOM JOYNER PRESENTS HOW TO PREPARE FOR COLLEGE

Keeping up with Stimulus dollars

I am not sure if anyone really knows what to expect with this $790 Billion Stimulus Package but I think there is a deep concession that something has to be done.  While the myth of the dollar continues to be a debate the fact that companies are laying off people, foreclosures continue to rise and banks have literally stopped lines of credit. So as out political leaders look to inject billions into the U.S. Economy in an attempt to stimulate the economy one has to wonder where the money will go and how exactly will this work.

True to his word, President Obama is offering a way for the American people to see where the stimulus money will be spent, much more than the any previous Administrations has done. This does not mean we will have a say so in how the money is spent but at least we will get a report, if you will, of money that will be paid back through American tax dollars.

For more information visit www.recovery.gov.

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