Nonprofit That Helps Low Income Families with Housing and Financial Management Focus of March 1 Economic Perspectives

Walter Moreau, executive director of Foundation Communities, will be the March 1 guest on Economic Perspectives on KAZI 88.7 FM, 5:30 p.m. – 6 p.m. central time.  Listen to the interview live online at kazifm.org.  Foundation Communities is an Austin nonprofit organization which creates and manages affordable for low income families.  It provides a wide variety of services to the residents of its housing and other low income families to help break the cycle of poverty.  With real estate holdings valued at $67 million and a $4 million capital fund, it is one of the 10 largest nonprofits in Austin.

The support programs operated by Foundation Communities include:

Walter Moreau

• Community Learning Centers, located right in the center of its housing communities, which are open daytime and evenings providing free services includings computer lab, pre-school classes, after-school programs, teen clubs and ESL classes,
• Free tax preparation for low income families in Austin through its Community Tax Centers which prepare 17,000 tax returns annually,
• Financial literacy education and support including matched savings accounts, and financial coaching.

Moreau has a Masters Degree in Public Administration from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin.  During his 20-year career, he has secured subsidy financing of more than $100 million to create more than 2,400 units of service-enriched, nonprofit-owned affordable housing.

Financial Services Committee to Consider the Future of Housing Finance

The U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA) announced the

Rep. Barney Frank

committee will hold a hearing on March 2 to begin the process of considering the future of housing finance.  The hearing will focus on all the private and public entities that support the mortgage market, which include the Federal Housing Administration, Ginnie Mae, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Federal Home Loan Banks, and private lenders and securitizers. It is the first step in a legislative process to determine the future of housing finance and the federal government’s role in responsible homeownership and the supply of affordable rental housing. Chairman Frank has invited Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan to present the Administration’s perspective, as well as representatives of the advocacy community, academia, and industry to present their ideas on the future of housing finance.  Witnesses will be announced at a later date.

Austin State Farm Insurance Agent Richard Glasco: Committed to the Community

• State Farm Insurance Agent since 1983
• Lifetime member of NAACP and Austin Area Urban League
• Graduate of Leadership Austin
• Former board chairman of Capital City African American Chamber of Commerce
• Listen to Richard Glasco Interview
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Hopeton Hay Presentation on Economic Condition of African Americans March 9

Hopeton Hay, host and producer of Economic Perspectives on KAZI 88.7 FM, will present an overview on the economic condition of African Americans  on March 9, 6 p.m. – 7:30 p.m., at the George Washington Carver Museum ‘s Cultural Lounge, 1165 Angelina St., Austin, Texas.   In addition he also will pay tribute to eight African American Economic Trailblazers, leaders who have opened the doors of opportunity for African Americans and other minorities.

Hopeton Hay

Following the presentation there will be a book signing for the second edition of Dr. Juliet Walker’s award winning book “The History of Black Business in America, Volume 1, To 1865.”

“With the theme of Black History Month this year being the History of Black Economic Empowerment, it is important that we take stock of where we are economically today and honor the contributions of those who have helped African Americans gain better access to business and career opportunities,” says Hay, who is chairman of the Texas NAACP Economic Development Committee.

The African American Economic Trailblazers that will be recognized in Hopeton’s presentation will include:

Reginald Lewis: Lewis was the first African American to own a company with sales exceeding $1 billion,  TLC Beatrice.  Lewis purchased the international division of Beatrice Foods (64 companies in 31 countries) in August 1987 for $985 million, the largest offshore leveraged buyout by an American company at the time.

Alden J. McDonald, Jr.: McDonald has been President and CEO since 1972 of Liberty Bank and Trust Company, headquartered in New Orleans, one of the five largest African-American owned financial institutions in the United States.   He successfully steered Liberty Bank & Trust through the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 to record profits the following year.

Harriet Michel: Michel has served as president of the National Minority Supplier Development Council since 1988, opening the door for corporate contracting opportunities to African American and other minority-owned businesses.

Parren Mitchell: Mitchell, the first elected Black U.S. congressman from Maryland, led the passage of landmark legislation and laws that required government agencies to establish contracting goals for minority businesses in the 1970s and 80s.

Frank K. Ross: Ross was one of the founders and the first president of the National Association of Black Accountants, which was founded in 1969.  His efforts helped increase the number of African Americans in accounting.

Abraham Venable: Venable was the first African American director of the U.S. Department of Commerce Office of Minority Business Enterprise (now the Minority Business Development Agency), serving as its second national director from 1970-1971. While there he oversaw the beginning of a concerted effort to bring minorities into the mainstream of American business.

Dr. Juliet E. K. Walker: Walker is the author of The History of Black Business in America: Capitalism, Race, Entrepreneurship.  Her book is the only source that provides a detailed study of the continuity, diversity, and multiplicity of independent self-help economic activities among African Americans.

Whitney Young: Young was executive director of the National Urban League from 1961 – 1971. He fought for cities to receive federal assistance to combat the social ills facing African Americans, a strategy President Lyndon Johnson included in his War on Poverty platform.

For more information on the presentation email hopeton@econpers.com.

Many thanks to Richard Glasco State Farm Insurance Agency for their support of the African American Economic Trailblazers.  For your insurance and financial services needs in Central Texas contact Richard Glasco by clicking here.

Building a Marketing Plan Focus of February 21 KAZI Book Review

A great marketing plan identifies where an organization is, where it wants to be, and how it will get there. Most companies think they already have such a plan-but often they really have only a budget, a sales goal, or an excuse.

What’s the solution? According to Paul Kurnit and Steve Lance, it’s not about copying someone else’s cookie-cutter plan, or retreading your own plan from years past. There’s a far more effective option: harnessing the company’s own internal brain trust to create something fresh and perfectly tailored. Kurnit and Lance, the authors of The Little Blue Book of Marketing: Build a Killer Plan in Less Than a Day, will be the February 21 guests on KAZI Book Review, 12:30 p.m. – 1 p.m. central time on KAZI 88.7 FM.  Listen live online at kazifm.org.

The authors show how to maximize collaboration among all key players in marketing, R&D, research, sales, financial, legal, and senior management. When everyone combines their knowledge, the critical elements become clear, including brand positioning, target audience, and competitive strategy.

Paul Kurnit and Steve Lance are the founders of PS Insights, a consulting firm that helps businesses foster team building and dynamic growth.  Kurnit has created marketing plans for a wide range of companies including Hasbro, Proctor & Gamble, and American Express.  Lance, the coauthor of The Little Blue Book of Advertising, is a thirty-year veteran of advertising and marketing and an award-winning copywriter and creative director.  He is also the former creative director of the television network NBC.

Strategies for Finding and Keeping Employment During Tough Times

Eric Bell

Despite the recession coming to an end, job opportunities are few and far between.  Experienced human resource executive Eric Bell will discuss how to find employment and stay employed during tough economic times on the February 15 edition of Economic Perspectives, 5:30 p.m. – 6 p.m. central time on KAZI 88.7 FM.  Listen live online at kazifm.org.

Bell is the College Program Manager/ Senior Corporate Recruiter for Farm Credit Bank of Texas headquartered in Austin, Texas.  He has 13 years experience in human resources.  Prior to joining Farm Credit Bank, Bell spent 5 years as an human resources professional at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport where he was named employee of the year in 2001.

Bell has developed a number of innovative programs to increase diversity since joining Farm Credit Bank in 2005.  He created a  diversity recruitment strategy for Farm Credit Credit Bank that includes its first internship and mentor programs that focused on diversity.  Bell also developed and currently manages The Farm Credit Bank of Texas Scholarship and Partnership Program which provides significant support to minority college students .   The program contributes over a $100,000 dollars each year toward students pursuing their degrees in the business or financial fields at 23 colleges and universities including 17 predominantly Black or Hispanic institutions.

Executive Coach Will Discuss How to Get Your Mojo on KAZI Book Review February 14

On the February 14 edition of KAZI Book Review, executive coach Marshall Goldsmith will share the ways in which to get—and keep—our Mojo. Goldsmith is the author of Mojo: How to Get It, How to Keep It, How to Get It Back if You Lose It. The interview will be broadcast live 12:30 p.m. – 1 p.m. central time on KAZI 88.7 FM and online at kazifm.org.

According to Goldsmith “Mojo is the moment when we do something that’s purposeful, powerful, and positive and the rest of the world recognizes it. This book is about that moment—and how we can create it in our lives, maintain it, and recapture it when we need it.”

Our professional and personal Mojo is impacted by four key factors: identity (who do you think you are?), achievement (what have you done lately?), reputation (who do other people think you are—and what have you’ve done lately?), and acceptance (what can you change—and when do you need to just “let it go”?). Goldsmith outlines the positive actions leaders must take, with their teams or themselves, to initiate winning streaks and keep them coming.

Goldsmith is widely recognized as the world’s leading authority in helping successful leaders achieve positive, lasting change in behavior: for themselves, their people, and their teams. In November 2009, he was named by The (London) Times and Forbes as one of the fifteen most influential business thinkers in the world. The American Management Association has listed Dr. Goldsmith as one of the fifty great thinkers and leaders who have influenced the field of management over the past eighty years. He is one of a select few executive advisors and coaches who have been asked to work with over 100 major CEOs and their management teams.

Congressional Oversight Panel Report Says Commercial Real Estate Losses Pose Major Risk to Financial Stability

The Congressional Oversight Panel today released its February oversight report, “Commercial Real Estate Losses and the Risk to Financial Stability.” The Panel is deeply concerned that a wave of commercial real estate loan losses over the next four years could jeopardize the stability of many banks, particularly community banks, and prolong an already painful recession.

Commercial real estate (CRE) loans made over the last decade—including retail properties, office space, industrial facilities, hotels and apartments—totaling $1.4 trillion will require refinancing in 2011 through 2014. Nearly half are at present “underwater,” meaning the borrower owes more on the loan than the underlying property is worth. While these problems have no single cause, the loans most likely to fail are those made at the height of the real estate bubble. As the Panel notes, however, “Even borrowers who own profitable properties may be unable to refinance their loans as they face tightened underwriting standards, increased demands for additional investment by borrowers, and restricted credit.”

Community banks, rather than the largest Wall Street banks, face the greatest risk of insolvency due to mounting commercial real estate loan losses. According to federal guidelines, 2,988 banks nationwide are classified as having a “CRE Concentration.” None of these banks are among the 19 largest bank holding companies.  Forecasts project that banks will suffer their worst losses well after the timeframe examined by the stress tests—an exercise conducted only on the nation’s 19 largest bank holding companies—and well after Treasury’s authority expires under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).

The Panel found that “a significant wave of commercial mortgage defaults would trigger economic damage that could touch the lives of nearly every American.” When commercial properties fail, it creates a downward spiral of economic contraction: job losses; deteriorating store fronts, office buildings and apartments; and the failure of the banks serving those communities. Because community banks play a critical role in financing the small businesses that could help the American economy create new jobs, their widespread failure could disrupt local communities, undermine the economic recovery and extend an already painful recession.

The full report is available at cop.senate.gov.

The Congressional Oversight Panel was created to oversee the expenditure of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds authorized by Congress in the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (EESA) and to provide recommendations on regulatory reform. The Panel members are: former Securities and Exchange Commissioner Paul S. Atkins; J. Mark McWatters; Richard H. Neiman, Superintendent of Banks for the State of New York; Damon Silvers, Policy Director and Special Counsel for the AFL-CIO; and Elizabeth Warren, Leo Gottlieb Professor of Law at Harvard Law School.

History of Black Business Focus of KAZI Book Review & Economic Perspectives

Despite almost four centuries of black independent self-help enterprises, the agency of African Americans in attempting to forge their own economic liberation through business activities and entrepreneurship has remained noticeably absent from the historical record.  Dr. Juliet Walker, author of the award-winning History of Black Business in America will discuss the continuity, diversity, and multiplicity of independent self-help economic activities among African Americans on KAZI Book Review,  February 7, 12:30 p.m. – 1 p.m. central time on KAZI 88.7 FM.  The interview will be rebroadcast on February 8, 5:30 p.m.  – 6 p.m. on Economic Perspectives.  Listen live online to the interview at kazifm.org.

Juliet Walker

Dr. Walker recently updated the History of Black Business in America, dividing the original work into two volumes. The first volume, which was published December 2009, covers African American business history through the end of the Civil War and features the first comprehensive account of black business during the Civil War. By emphasizing the African origins of black business practices and highlighting the contributions of black women, enslaved and free, Walker casts aside the long-held assumption that a “lack of a business tradition” is responsible for the failure of African Americans to establish successful, large-scale enterprises.

Dr. Walker is the founder and director of the Center for Black Business History, Entrepreneurship and Technology at the University of Texas at Austin. She is also a professor in the History Department of the University of Texas at Austin, and has written numerous books in African American history, including Free Frank: A Black Pioneer on the Antebellum Frontier.