Our Time PressThe Local Paper with the Global View

There are few greater joys in life than running one’s own business.  Especially when  it’s something one is passionate about and really enjoys doing; when it’s  theirs, it’s pure pleasure.  Even when the business is not making money, the benefits of ownership – not having to answer to someone, being able to do things one’s way, and having control – make it all worthwhile.
It seems more and more minorities are finding the pleasures of business ownership.  In a September 2000 research report entitled The Minority Business Challenge: Democratizing Capital for Emerging Domestic Markets, Glenn Yago and Aaron Pankratz of The Milken Institute report some interesting findings.  First, they report that the number of minority businesses increased by 13.3% over the decade 1987 to 1997.  This is six times faster than the 2.7% increase in all U.S. firms.  Even more, they report that sales of minority firms increased by 34.3% over the decade, as compared to 13.3% for all firms. 
This is extremely positive news as it indicates minorities are beginning to increase their participation in the mainstream economy.  This is important because it should serve to lower the unemployment rates among minority youth, increase the rate of wealth creation in the minority community, and may stabilize the local economies of minority communities.
Interestingly enough, positive minority news may not be so positive for African-Americans anymore.  This is the case regarding business formation and revenue growth numbers for minority businesses.  The report breaks out numbers for minority groups and the numbers for African-Americans is not good.  While the number of African-American firms grew by 11% over the decade, their revenues grew by just 11% too.  By comparison, Asian firms increased by 18% and their revenues increased by 42%, while Latino firms increased by 23% and their revenues by 46%.  Aside from not growing as fast as their minority counterparts, African-American businesses also generate much lower revenues.  Annual revenue per African-American business is just $70,000.  The average for Asian firms is $250,000 and for Latino firms the average is $130,000.
There are a number of factors that explain this disparity in the performance of black firms relative to their Asian and Latino counterparts.  We believe a significant factor is that black entrepreneurs do not use the services of experienced consultants to help them build their companies.  In an article on entrepreneurship, the Wall Street Journal noted that successful entrepreneurs got help from outside parties significantly more often than their unsuccessful counterparts. 
It stands to reason that using experienced consultants will enhance a company’s chances for success.  Most small business owners are so busy producing and delivering the products or services they sell, they lack the time for much else.  They spend little or no time on the other functions that serve to build a stronger business.  Or the entrepreneur may lack the expertise or perspective to effectively manage those other functions and so just ignores them.  The effect in both cases is that the entrepreneur does not know whether  he/she is operating efficiently and effectively.  Whether its knowing if prices  are set correctly, or if the investment in inventory is too high, the inability to answer the question, assuming its even asked, retards the company’s prospects for growth.
Some small business owners claim that because they are losing money, they cannot afford the expense of using experienced consultants.  The reality is that if they are losing money, they cannot afford not to engage an experienced consultant to help them improve their operations.  Small business owners should view engaging a consultant as an investment, more than an expense.  While some small businesses should turn out the lights, many need only to restructure their operations, restructure their capital structure, or restructure their marketing efforts to achieve sustainable growth.
Optimal Management Solutions, LLC (OMS) is a small business consultancy whose mission is to enhance the viability and longevity of small businesses by helping their owners identify operational efficiencies, track and monitor their financial performance, and improve their sales and marketing effectiveness.  The company provides management consulting services, accounting and bookkeeping services, and training seminars and workshops to small business owners and individuals.
Through its training seminars and workshops, the company teaches entrepreneurs the practical applications of accounting, finance, and marketing concepts so that they are better able to assess their operating performance.  To date, the company has sponsored two accounting seminars and has plans to offer a marketing and real estate investment seminar over the next two months.
All of the company’s seminars are interactive and designed for participants to develop actual skills using their business as the reference point.  For more information about the company, its products and services, and its training programs, visit its Web site at www.optimalms.com, or call 718-856-6736.  If you are a small business owner, what’s your annual revenues?

The Boys High Alumni of Track and Field, Inc. will be hosting its 9th Annual Fund- raising Banquet on Saturday, Oct. 11, 2003 at 6:00 P.M. The event will be held at Boys & Girls High School, 1700 Fulton Street. This occasion honors the “Legends of the High” in athletics and also serves as a means of raising funds for Boys & Girls High School’s Track and Field program.
“The basic concept of the Boys High Alumni was to support the track team because of the austerity in regard to the budget of athletics in New York City,” said James N. Jackson, B &G track coach and president of the Boys High Alumni of Track and Field. “At one time, our program didn’t have any funding.  Because when they cut the budget for education, the first budget they cut are sports budgets. More or less, every team in the school has to do their own fund- raising to support their teams.”
This year’s honorees will be Sharon Moore, ’90 All-City Track; Ralph Bass, ’57 All-City Track; Wally Briggs, ’60 All-City Basketball and Teddy Weston, ’65 All-City Football. The association also honors (posthumously) George Shaw, ’49 All-City Track and a member of the 1952 United States Olympic Team. 
The guest speakers will be three members of the 1968 U.S. Olympic Team: Bob Beamon, John Carlos and Larry James. Beamon won the Gold Medal for the long jump and set a world record in the event that would last for 23 years. Carlos won the Bronze Medal in the 200 meter dash, but is probably more famous for the “Black Power” salute he and his teammate Tommie Smith gave during the celebratory playing of the National Anthem. This protest against racism and economic depression still lives on as one of the most memorable scenes in sports history.  
James is a Gold Medal member of the 1600m Relay Team and a Silver Medalist in the 400m Dash. The occasion should be an illustrious event, filled with nostalgia and jubilance. By honoring the past, the Alumni are also helping to build a strong future and preserve tradition.
    The B&G track team doesn’t squander the funds that they receive. They have shown their gratitude by performing at a high level on and off the field.
The Girls team has been very successful recently, winning two PSAL Indoor and Outdoor Championships in the past two years. In 2000 and 2001, the B&G Girls team claimed titles at the Penn Relays, one of the most prestigious track & field titles in America. They also hold the national record for the 4x 800m Distance Medley Relay for indoor and outdoor competition.
Boys and Girls might not be able to compete in such prestigious events were it not for the Alumni. The team competes in over 40 meets per year and each meet that the squad travels to has an entry fee of between $300 and $400.
The squad must also worry about the costs of uniforms and equipment. The squad is essentially run as one big program since Jackson (Class of 1967) coaches the boys and girls teams. But that means the costs are doubled. The monetary issues that the team faces has made the Alumni’s support extremely important.
The Boys High Alumni of Track and Field was founded in 1968 by track coach Doug Terry and was originally named The Kangaroo Track Club, a name derived from the school mascot. Although a graduate of Brooklyn Tech H.S. (Class of 1954), Terry had a passion for Boys High Track and Field. “I lived right around the corner from Boys High,” said Terry. “I wanted to go to Boys High, but my mom made me go to Tech. Subliminally,  that might have been why I formed the association.”
Terry coached the Boys High track team from 1964-1974, before moving on to Brown University and being replaced by Jackson. In 1980, The Kangaroo Track Club took on its current moniker.
The mission of the association: “To encourage and promote accountability, sense of purpose, strong moral character and excellence in academics and athletics.” The association carries out its mission by getting current students to come  to the banquets and learn about the tradition of the school. The Alumni has also enacted its creed by posting constant reminders of the past throughout the school.
Fund-raising efforts continue to be a success. Every year the track teams compete in a hefty  number of events and travel all over the country. Providing financial support for the program is a major accomplishment, considering that the only fund-raisers are the banquet and annual April track meet known as The Kings Game, hosted by the school in Van Cortlandt Park.
“What I’m proud of more than anything else is that we are bringing together those alumni as far back as 1930 and we’re bringing them back into the fold to see what we are doing now,” said Terry. “The other thing is that because this is a predominantly black association, we’re getting athletes that competed against us. I don’t think there is any other track and field alumni association like this one. So they feel like a part of this. They come to our affairs and support us. We have crossed over intramural barriers.”
In an era where the youth are sometimes unaware of their history, the most important part of the Alumni’s mission might be their goal to bridge the gap between generations.
“We’re trying to re-create the past and let our respective students and athletes    know that their legacy is greater than what they are doing,” said Jackson.  “They had a legacy way before this school was built. We want to bridge that gap between them and the past.”

NOTEBOOK
Rescuing the Souls of Our Children
We have some choices to make.  Do we continue to do the same things over and over and expect different results? (That has been called insanity)  Or do we summon the courage to rescue our children from the labels and the stigma placed on them by institutions that are in the business of handling them.
We are raising our children in an environment where the dominant culture dominates and controls by manipulating the psyche of other ethnic groups, not only Africans, into believing that their indigenous cultures and abilities are inferior.  Our children are now tested with biased instruments and labeled accordingly.  They are then tracked based on inaccurate assessments or ignorance of their intelligences.
While many parents wait anticipating miracles as a result of the Department of Education’s restructuring, understand that no innovation will ever relieve parents of their duty.  However, there are revolutionary concepts in education.  Whether they find their way into public schools in general and inner city public schools in particular is the question.  
Howard Gardner’s work, Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences, has been around for a few years.  He disproves the theory that linguistic (words) and logic-mathematical ability are the sole measures of intelligence and defines intelligence as the ability to problem solve within a given culture.   In addition to the two intelligences used as the bar in Euro-American culture, Gardner identifies the following: musical/rhythmic, visual/spatial (artistic), bodily/kinesthetic (adept at control of body motions and movement of objects), naturalist (keen sense of plant and animal life), intrapersonal (in touch with own feelings), interpersonal (understand others)
Discovering your child’s strengths (by observation) allows you to teach him or her using the methods compatible to those intelligences.  If used in classrooms, it could free students from the boredom of hours spent listening to teachers talk or copying from blackboards. It could save you and your child the task of doing more of the same with homework.  Who knows what genius could be discovered under the mass of boredom?
In Their Own Way by Thomas Armstrong takes Gardner’s theory further.  Armstrong quit his job in learning disabilities and adopted the concept learning differences. He warns that negatives need to be dropped in describing children and their learning behavior.  His listing of terms and suggested alternatives include: learning disabled can also be considered learning different; hyperactive – a kinesthetic learner; dyslexic – a spatial learner; aggressive – assertive.    After generations of bias, a concept is advanced that challenges the cultural genocide practiced by Euro-Americans.  And the beauty of it is – it’s parent friendly.
I suggest we accept our own diversity and focus on the commitment to have each and every child reach his potential in his own way.   If we redirect the energy that we now spend attacking each other’s views, we can make a difference in our children’s education and their schooling.  Educating them means discovering as much as we can about each child and providing a range of real life opportunities for them to learn, grow and contribute to their community.  Schooling means utilizing existing resources to obtain the necessary training, skills and support for our children to prepare for their vocation in life while protecting them from practices that damage the psyche of African children. 
In his book, The Maroon Within Us, Asa Hilliard cites nine things African-American children need in order to grow and become competent.  Hilliard calls on parents to 1) study their history and culture; 2) model the behavior that is expected of children; 3) expose their children to the widest variety of experiences as possible; 4) involve relatives and friends in the parenting process; 5) involve children in the real world of work and play, joy and pain, and truth; 6) participation by parents and children in organized groups that serve the interest of the larger group; 7) giving children responsibilities and holding them responsible; 8)listening well to what children think and feel; 9) telling and retelling the story of one’s people so that they experience continuity and know how to be.   Hilliard concedes that none of these will happen unless parents are motivated and the motivation comes from committing to something larger than one’s immediate family.  Having African American children reach their highest potential should be motivation enough for us all.  Questions and comments: faminisha@aol.com

Unite Bedford-Stuyvesant Parents
With the new school year under way, parents from the old Community School District 16 are meeting and evaluating how the restructured school system is affecting their children’s learning. Gone are the days when principals, with the input of teachers, set instruction and core curriculum. Under the current structure, all but slightly more than 200 schools are required to follow a standardized curriculum. Some parents have complained that this approach might place all schools in a strait jacket . Only one school in Bedford-Stuyvesant landed on this list of schools exempted from teaching this new uniform curriculum.
The curriculum change and how the new reading and math coaches at each school will be integrated into the daily instruction remain an area of skepticism for many parents. With almost a month into the school year behind us, parents do not have answers to these and many other questions regarding content and learning material.
The Bed-Stuy Parent Union of Central Brooklyn Churches-an independent organization composed of parents and churches in the community-is holding weekly meetings in preparation of an Education Summit to be held at the Universal Baptist Church, 7:00 p.m., 3 November 2003. According to this group, many parents surveyed are unaware of the new changes in the Department of Education. District 16 is now part of Region 8 with its administrative office-known as a learning center-located at 131 Livingston Street. In fact, some parents did not know that each school will be staffed with a parent coordinator, designed to address parents’ complaints.
June Cuffee described the role of the Bed-Stuy Parent Union this way, “If you don’t know, come learn and if you do know, come teach.” Our breakfast meetings are designed for parents to share concerns and problems and identify ways of getting the school system to be more responsive to parents’ demands. The Education Summit will be a forum for parents to unite around a new education agenda for Bedford-Stuyvesant. The superintendent of Region 8, Carmen FariZa, will be there to respond to parents’ concerns.

By David Mark Greaves
Parking had been cleared and the metal barricades stretched almost a mile, from Franklin Avenue to Marcus Garvey Boulevard.  The police had set up their command post in the usual spot, the eastside of St. Andrew’s Place at Herkimer Street and were discretely deployed around the area.
By 12:30pm. the crowd had grown to about 300 people who got to hear the man who plans to be the next mayor, Councilman Charles Barron, give a speech that several hundred thousand should have heard.  He spoke about how it is time for the majority of people in New York to step up and take the power of the mayoralty and have an educator, Adelaide Sanford, as schools chancellor and institute changes in the school curriculum that would benefit black children.  He spoke of the city budget and how those billions of dollars in contracts were going to businesses outside the black community.
That only several hundred people were present was unsettling and we spoke with Malik Zulu Shabazz is the leader of the New Black Panther Party as well as an attorney.   Mr. Shabazz was the convener of the Million Youth March.  We asked him about the low turnout.
Malik Zulu Shabazz: I would say that first of all, we are not disappointed in the turnout. Several thousand is not bad turnout. Actually if you read this week’s Final Call newspaper, it pretty much gives an accurate description as to what happened at the Million Youth March.  Second, we understand that with the police attack on the march in 1998, and the killing at the Caribbean Day Parade, there was a heavy fear factor and specter of violence surrounding the March.  
We proceeded anyway because we have to continue to go after our youth. We won’t change anything because what the people saw on September  6th, represented what the March is all about. Young rappers, entertainers, speakers and leaders intermixed with elder revolutionaries and activists from across the country who gave critical information on history, politics, political prisoners as well as Hip Hop lyrics.
OTP: The barricades had stretched for so long it gave the impression that there was a huge crowd expected.
MZS: Well let me say this, when you do the right advertising, which we did, when you have the right message, which we do, and you have the right program for the people, you expect the people to turn out. Now if in fact this young generation is apathetic and even their parents and that generation are apathetic, then that’s something we’ll have to study.  We always have high hopes for the masses.
We put a good program out there for the people and we organized in a good fashion.  It’s  not that marching is wrong, it’s not that our program is wrong, we’re dealing in a climate of heavy apathy. To be honest, most Black youth today are not really interested in activism, they’re more interested in rap records, girls, parties and clothes.
OTP: How can the school system change or be more instructive in terms of building independent and creative thinking people?
MZS: Right now the public school system all over this country has a tight grip on our youth. They are not being told the truth, they are not being stimulated, they are certainly not being led in the direction of political empowerment for black people. They are not being fed in the schools and they are not being fed at home and therefore you have a generation here that is really in a vacuum  and is not tapping its potential to help our people.
So we already know that in dealing with a youth march, you’re dealing with a hard battle to start with. It’s not like you have grown men and women who are experienced in struggle. You have youth who really know nothing about it and may not even understand what police brutality presently and historically means. The hardest job is working among black youth and the hardest march to put on is a youth march. The public should give us a chance and see what kind of program we have and see what kind of follow-up we are going to be engaged in because we are going to continue to be active and they will see that this is something worthy to push the youth in the direction of.”
We also spoke with two organizers who regularly work with young people in the area to get their thoughts on what had happened.  One felt that the question the organizers should ask themselves is “What are we going to do that will be most effective?”  She thought the organizers of the March were very positive, but noting that the attendance at the March has fallen steadily for three years, she suggests that “It’s time to take a look at what’s not working and fix it.” 
“The Million Man March cannot be duplicated.  It stands alone and marches don’t have the same impact.  We have to move beyond that and create coalitions that speak directly to the needs of young people.” 
“Let’s see something new.  Middle-age men have a difficulty with recognizing the leadership abilities that young women can bring to the Movement.  It’s time for them to get over that.”

She also felt that the MYM organizers have to put young people in obvious leadership of the March.  “Youth was in the title but not on the dias.  They need to build, organize and reach out more effectively,” this young organizer concluded.
Another youth organizer works with young people around issues such as housing and prisons.   He said that while he saw posters placed around the area, “if they were serious about outreach they would have taken additional steps and partnered with a variety of groups to insure a base attendance of at least 1,000 people.”   Saying that this was a symbolic event, he added that “Organizing should be done so that there is some gain, some action, a specific target so that people get something tangible.”   “Marching is good with a purpose and agenda, but you’re not going to get a big turnout if it’s only about adults lecturing young people.  Kids won’t come to that.”