Black lawmakers work to close
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Georgia elected officials and other political and community activists convened a public forum recently to explore ways to narrow the so-called digital divide between the general population and minority and low-income communities. Photo Credit: Zee Bradford |
By Vince Rogers
Contributing Writer
ATLANTA – A pair of state legislators convened a public forum recently to explore ways to narrow the so-called digital divide between the general population and minority and low-income communities.
State Rep. Calvin Smyre, president of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators, and Senator Emanuel Jones, Chair of the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus, met with local leaders to discuss ways to ensure that underserved communities have access to the internet.
"More than ever, minority and poor communities are being devastated by the lack of broadband Internet access and technology necessary to meet such basic economic needs as healthcare, employment opportunities and academic education achievements," Smyre said.
Broadband is an umbrella term for technology that provides high-speed connection to the internet. Some 92 percent of the general population has access to such technology, Smyre said, compared to 42 percent in minority, rural and low-income communities.
"Minorities and poor communities are being left behind as a result of the increased cost of computers, limited broadband access and lack of digital literacy," Smyre said. "So much money, access and quality of life issues are connected to finding a solution to this issue.
With only four of 10 African Americans having broadband access, he said, "our policies initiatives must address accessibility and affordability," he said.
Atlanta City Councilman Michael Julian Bond said it is vital that black elected officials fight to close the digital divide.
"The progress of future generations hinges on Broadband access," Bond said. "There are really no limits to what our children and our communities can achieve through access to technology."
Plans to increase broadband access rates will include creating solutions that address relevant economic and cultural-specific conditions, officials said. The forum was convened as part of the National Broadband Plan, as required under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
President Barack Obama's recently announced nearly $800 million in funding for the creation of broadband networks to reach underserved homes, schools and hospitals.
"America today is on the verge of a broadband-driven Internet era that will unleash innovation, create new jobs and industries, provide consumers with new powerful sources of information, enhance American safety and security, and connect communities in ways that strengthen our democracy," Obama said.
"Expanding broadband across the nation will build a foundation of sustained economic growth and the widely shared prosperity we all seek."
The Business Wire contributed to this report.
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Metro Round-Up
Atlanta students chosen for N.Y. business seminar
Future entrepreneurs Christopher White and Kamau Austin – both graduates of Atlanta high schools – are among a select group of students around the nation chosen to participate in the Enterprising Youth Advanced Seminar, presented by New York-based Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE).
Christopher, a graduate of Druid Hills High School, is working to launch an underground comic book company. Kamau, a graduate of Henry W. Grady High School, has developed a company that hosts and manages special events for teens in metro Atlanta.
Both Atlanta students have strong interests in owning their own companies and have been developing venture plans as students with Youth Entrepreneurs Atlanta. "We are very proud of our students," said JaKathryn Ross, Executive Director of Youth Entrepreneurs Atlanta. "They have become role models among their peers, and are making a difference in the Atlanta community."
The Enterprising Youth Advanced Seminar is a week of professional development sessions including lectures from successful entrepreneurs and business school professors, visits to top Manhattan firms, and concludes with a business plan competition with $10,000 in prizes.
World Changers sponsor back-to-school rally
World Changers Church International is sponsoring a back-to-school rally from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday July 31 at the church on 2500 Burdett Road in College Park.
Church pastors Dr. Creflo Dollar and Taffi Dollar will host the event, filled with giveaways, food and entertainment.
To help students prepare for school, youngsters will be given backpacks, pens and other school supplies to ease the burden of parents who may be going through financially hard times. Health screenings for all ages also will be available but proper immunization records must be presented to receive shots that may be needed.
For more information, call 732-469-5955.
Ida B. Wells relative joins NAACP board
Local activist Tiana Ferrell, great-great granddaughter of NAACP founder Ida B. Wells-Barnett, has been named a member of the Executive Committee of the Atlanta Branch of the NAACP.
Ferrell, who was born in Los Angeles but raised in Atlanta, said she is excited about her new public service role at the NAACP.
"I am delighted to join the Executive Committee of the NAACP Atlanta Branch to continue the legacy of my great-great grandmother, Ida B. Wells-Barnett," said Ferrell, 26.
"I have been blessed with an opportunity to serve my community and fight for equal rights," she added. "I look forward to making a positive difference in metropolitan Atlanta as we carry forth the mission of the original founders."
Wells-Barnett, one of the founders of the NAACP, also was one of America's foremost leaders in the crusade for social justice as an anti-lynching activist, women's rights advocate, journalist and newspaper publisher.
Marketing seminar held Aug. 12 at Vinings Club
Marketing on a Shoestring Budget, a one-day seminar on practical marketing techniques, will be held Thursday Aug. 12 at the Vinings Club, 2859 Paces Ferry Road in Atlanta.
"In today's business climate, business owners and entrepreneurs are inevitably forced to do more with less. That's why it's important for them to learn how to effectively deliver low-cost marketing solutions that will easily resonate with their customers," said Shani Godwin, president of Communiqué USA, the seminar's sponsor.
"Marketing On A Shoestring Budget is designed to inform participants about the marketing tools that they can easily implement, even in a tight economy," she said.
For more information, call 404-885-6600.
Free to Breathe event to fight lung cancer
The First Annual Atlanta Free to Breathe 5K Run/Walk will be held Aug. 21 in the Virginia-Highlands area at Greencove & Virginia Ave., near Inman Middle School.
Proceeds will help support the National Lung Cancer Partnership's campaign to raise public awareness and vital research funding to fight lung cancer – the leading cancer killer in Georgia, organizers say.
The Atlanta Free to Breathe event is one of several being held in communities across the country this year. For more information or to register, donate, sponsor or volunteer, visit www.FreeToBreathe.org.
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Atlanta passes Chicago in Black population Atlanta now No. 2, new study reveals
By Vince Rogers
Contributing Writer
For years, many people have called Atlanta the “Black Mecca” or the “Chocolate City.” Now, it seems there’s new research to support those labels.
A new study confirms that Atlanta now has the second-largest Black population in the U.S., surpassing Chicago and second only to New York. The study also confirmed that Atlanta is the largest predominately Black “minority-majority” city in the country.
Atlanta’s emergence as the “Black Second City” was the most significant detail presented in a newly released “State of Metropolitan America” study, commissioned by the policy think tank, The Brookings Institution.
Demographers theorize that Southern cities like Atlanta are growing in Black population because people who once felt it necessary to move North and Midwest to find opportunity now believe the South has progressed to a point where they can fulfill their aspirations there as well.
They also theorize that that Blacks have returned South because of a renewed desire to assert their cultural distinctiveness and to live among people with similar experiences.
Lifelong Atlanta resident and current City Councilman Michael Julian Bond believes Black people historically have been drawn to Atlanta because it is a place where people can fulfill their dreams.
“The openness of Atlanta was attractive to new businesses, but also attractive to an oppressed people who longed for power,” said Bond, who believes this resulted in expanded opportunities for everyone.
Bond said black and white Atlantans agreed years ago to work together and respect their cultural differences – a unspoken pact he believes relied less on assimilation and more on satisfying common economic interests.
Instead of forcing Black people to accept a “traditional” social arrangement, Bond said, “Atlanta broke with the traditions of the South and decided to go another way.”
This “perfect storm” helped the city attract thriving new businesses and creating good-paying jobs, Bond said, consequently making it a prime destination for the best and brightest talent from all over the country.
“Atlanta’s history of inclusion is probably the primary reason so many Black people are moving to Atlanta.”
Since 1990, metro Atlanta has almost doubled its Black population, and is now home to nearly 1.7 million Black residents.
Besides Atlanta, other Southern cities also have benefited from a new reverse migration, the study reveals. Of the top 10 cities experiencing Black population growth between 2000 and 2008, only one was not in the South.
The study also showed that Atlanta is one of the most popular and affluent “minority-majority “cities in America. According to the study, a “minority-majority” city is one in which the White American population is less than 50 percent of the total population.
That also is appealing to more “upwardly mobile” Blacks who are attracted to a city where Black people hold much of the area’s social, economic, political and intellectual power, demographers say.
