African American Village @ Blogspot

Expanded Job Board, Streamlined Tools at IMDiversity.com

2009-06-29T10:43:00.000-07:00

Following IMDiversity's recent migration to a new jobs database and job tools format at http://jobsearch.imdiversity.com, the editors have begun to restore a number of previously popular jobs quicksearch features including our jobs by location and jobs by occupation quicksearches, our $100K-Plus Featured Jobs section, and our weekly Featured Jobs section.

Just one one new improvement to our job tools is that jobseekers can now quickly and easily schedule a Saved Search from any search results page to send them a job alert email whenever any new jobs match their custom criteria. Jobseekers can "subscribe" to a Saved Search agent without opening a full job tools account, but they will enjoy improved tools for managing multiple alerts and posting employer-searchable resume by creating a quick Job Tools account first

We've also added a much expanded network job search, greatly extending the range and variety of the job postings searchable from one site.

Stop back for updates about the new jobs center in coming weeks.

Deadline: HBS Summer Venture in Management Program 2009

2009-04-27T12:37:00.000-07:00

Release from Harvard Business School:

The Summer Venture in Management Program (SVMP) is a week of Harvard Business School instruction that exposes high-potential college students in the summer between their junior and senior year to the HBS MBA experience and the variety of opportunities a degree in management can afford. Participants from diverse backgrounds spend the week on campus living the MBA student experience - attending classes, analyzing case studies, and debating management issues with peers and faculty.

This unique educational experience, in combination with a summer internship at a sponsoring company or organization, gives participants a broader understanding of the challenges business leaders face, the innumerable opportunities that exist in management, and the impact they can have on their community and the world through leadership.

In order to attend, a completed application is due by May 11, 2009. Click here for particulars on the application process.

For more information about this program, please visit the SVMP Website.
Best regards,
MBA Admissions
Harvard Business School

4/14: Webinar Tackles Topic of African American Adoption Programs

2009-04-02T07:18:00.000-07:00

FREE ONLINE WEBINAR ON AFRICAN-AMERICAN ADOPTION PROGRAMS

Adoptions From The Heart Hosts
Free Online Webinar on April 14.

WYNNEWOOD, PA – Adoptions From The Heart (AFTH), a licensed, non-profit adoption agency, will hold a free online webinar on Tuesday, April 14, 2009 at 7:00PM EST. Attendees will learn about our agency and our programs. The focus of the webinar will be on our African-American and African-American Biracial Domestic Adoption programs. Because we have AN URGENT need for adoptive families for this program, the webinar is open to anyone living anywhere in the U.S., and will be led by an AFTH social worker who will be available to answer any questions. A webinar is an online version of our free information meetings. Participants are emailed a link and a phone number that will connect them to the presentation.

Registration is required to join the webinar. Online registration is available at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/557912382

###

Adoptions From The Heart, founded in 1985 by Maxine Chalker, MSW, LSW, is a licensed, non-profit agency offering domestic and international adoptions. With 8 offices, the agency is licensed in PA, NJ, DE, VA, CT and NY.

IMDiversity Career Center Blog: Seasonal Special: Entry-Level and Student Job Opportunities

2009-03-25T10:39:00.000-07:00

IMDiversity Career Center Blog: Seasonal Special: Entry-Level and Student Job Opportunities

The Editors are pleased to announce their work on our annual just-in-time features for our site visitors who are seeking entry-level or student internship/co-op employment opportunities before graduation.

We've added new readings and current opportunity updates to our Entry-Level/New Graduate and Internship/Co-op quick search channels, including the annual feature analysis, Job Outlook for the Class of 2009, by Dr. Phil Gardner, from our sister publication, THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Magazine.

The 2009 Outlook definitely looks bleak, says the director of the Collegiate Employment Research Institute at Michigan State University. But there are some remaining bright spots, as new grads in some majors continue to benefit from large retiree pool.

Nonetheless, it is clear that the class of 2009 faces a much more daunting task entering the entry-level job market than we've seen in many years. From our perspective as a producer of multiple jobs and careers sites, employers across a wide variety of sectors are clearly trending toward modest college hiring activity. Compared to this time last year, fewer new opportunities for new college graduates are being featured on our Entry-Level Channel. Anecdotally, many employers report they completed their planned college hiring activity earlier this season, or have scaled back on campus recruitment events.

But the outlook is not entirely hopeless, as we've discovered in an ongoing informal survey of employers this late winter, and IMDiversity is pleased to be a co-presenter of the 2009 Virtual Diversity Career Fair for recent grads and entry-level candidates being hosted on THE BLACK COLLEGIAOnline, and also co-presented this year by our friends at Black College Wire, the news service for Black college students.

Following last year's highly successful Pre-Graduation Virtual Career Fair, this annual online event feature the employers from the Top 100 Employers List, as seen in THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Magazine Second Semester Super Issue, plus other employers from a variety of sectors who confirm they are still seeking diverse entry-level candidates despite the economic downturn and decreased campus recruitment activity. Many are also seeking college students and new graduates for internships and coops.

We will post more about the Fair in the days to come, but in the meantime encourage IMDiversity.com student and entry-level jobseekers of all backgrounds, majors and career interests to visit the Fair, create a quick free THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Online Job Tools account using the Fair's quick preregistration form, and subscribe for Fair updates.

In day's earliest voting, a small "landslide" for Obama

2008-11-04T05:03:00.000-08:00

It's far from a reliable predictor of the course the rest of the day will take, but the traditional gathering of a handful of eligible voters in Dixville Notch and Hart's Location, NH at midnight to cast the nation's first election day ballots was nonetheless an exciting way to kick off the concluding day of this year's epic presidential race. As the AP reports:

Barack Obama came up a big winner in the presidential race in Dixville Notch and
Hart's Location, N.H., where tradition of having the first Election Day ballots
tallied lives on. Democrat Obama defeated Republican John McCain by a count of
15 to 6 in Dixville Notch, where a loud whoop accompanied the announcement in
Tuesday's first minutes.

Local Democrats were reportedly surprised and delighted by the results, which usually tend Republican.

The town of Hart's Location reported 17 votes for Obama, 10 for McCain and two
for write-in Ron Paul. Independent Ralph Nader was on both towns' ballots but
got no votes.

Reports are careful to observe that the voting events -- based on a minute voter sample -- are not predictive.

With 115 residents between them, Dixville Notch and Hart's Location get
everyeligible voter to the polls beginning at midnight on Election Day. Between
them,the towns have been enjoying their first-vote status since 1948.

As a result, our country was able to wake up to a bumper crop of headlines, generated while we were sleeping by the international press, somewhat ironically proclaiming Obama's "landlside" victory and "Obama wins!"

Read the full report: Obama wins in earliest vote in tiny Dixville, NH.

Inside the Mind of Dr. Sherle Boone

2008-10-17T14:45:00.001-07:00

"You can live a good life and still be committed to the well-being of other people.” –Dr. Sherle Boone

It has been said that “You judge a man by the company he keeps.” It’s equally true that you judge a man by the impact he makes on the lives of others. The positive impact of Dr. Sherle Boone, activist scholar and founder of The W.E.B. DuBois Scholars Institute, will be felt for many generations to come.

Since 1988, Dr. Boone and the faculty at the institute have served 1200 African-American and Latino high school students from predominantly urban districts. The institute is held during the summer at Princeton University and over its twenty-year history, has a staggering 98% college graduation rate. In fact, for the past four years, 100% of the alumni have graduated from college. Compare that to a 51% national average for students completing college.

As the nation’s leading youth empowerment advocate, I’ve worked with hundreds of schools, universities, and youth organizations. Few demonstrate the level of achievement and excellence exhibited at the DuBois Scholars Institute. Dr. Boone is well aware of this and as such, when talking about the students and the faculty he spoke with admiration and respect.

During our 45 minute conversation—which was supposed to be a 10-15 minute interview—I found myself constantly smiling because it’s refreshing to talk to someone who truly cares about our community and our young people.

Mentored by the great Rev. Dr. Samuel DeWitt Proctor, Dr. Boone has been a professor for 33 years. As director of the mayor’s Education Task Force, he served as a senior advisor to Mayor Kenneth Gibson, the first black mayor of Newark, NJ.

Dr. Boone has even worked as a community organizer. (In spite of Gov. Sarah Palin’s recent derogatory comments about community organizers, they are to be lauded and appreciated for the noble work they do.)

Dr. Boone’s new book, “Meanings Beneath the Skin: The Evolutions of African-Americans”, is expected to be published later this year. In the mean time, enjoy some of the highlights from our conversation as you take a peek inside the mind of Dr. Sherle Boone.

“Complex problems are not solved by a single brilliant mind;
complex problems are solved by brilliant minds
working together.”

A WINNING ATTITUDE AND HIGH STANDARDS

Congratulations on your 20th anniversary.

Thank you.

Describe the students in the Institute.

Well, the students in the institute are different. We have a very different population from the general population in that our students are selected because they have demonstrated what we consider to be a winning attitude characterized by very high levels of academic achievement. They have also demonstrated a sustained interest in involvement in leadership roles in their communities as well as within their schools.

In addition to that, the overall GPA is a 3.1 in top tier institutions. This year we have two African-American males going to Stanford. Currently we have six of our graduates at Princeton. We’ve had a Rhodes Scholar, a Fulbright Scholar, and more than 30 members of Phi Beta Kappa. We have at least one MD and there maybe more. We have several who are practicing law. And since 1996 more than one third of our students have come from Newark [New Jersey] and other urban communities.

THREE GREAT MINDS, ONE GREAT CURRICULUM

Are the same techniques and principles that you used when you established the institute still effective with today’s students?

Absolutely. They are very similar, but we have refined what we do. We started off with very high academic standards. For example, since we began back in 1988, all of the students that have enrolled in DuBois have been given college level instruction.

Three of the major minds of the previous century provided the conceptual frame work that allowed for me to structure the curriculum and make judgments about the selection process. Those individuals are: W.E.B. DuBois and his ideas concerning the Talented Tenth.

Next, is Jean Piaget, the Swiss psychologist who offered us a theory on the development of thinking and thought. One of the things that he proposed is that by the time a child reaches what we consider to be adolescence he or she has all the cognitive equipment needed to think as an adult. With that being said, children as early 14 years old should have the ability to receive college level instruction and do college level work.

Finally, there is Erik Erikson’s theory of self-development. Our curriculum requires courses that lend themselves to the kids gaining a deeper understanding of self. For example, all kids are required to take African-American History and Cultural Practices. The thinking behind that was guided by the writings of Erik Erikson.

During the years of adolescence, kids have a lot of questions concerning “who am I?” and they struggle with identity issues so we try to help bring some closure to that. So, what’s unique about the institute is that it brings together these three major theories in ways that compliment each other. This is perhaps the only project of its kind. Our success record is astounding to say the least.

“We have been managing poverty, but not
eliminating poverty.”

THE END OF POVERTY

Is the mission of the institute to promote high achievement?

Actually, that’s not the mission it’s the by-product. Our mission is to produce a cadre of leaders in the African-American and Latino communities. This is based upon DuBois’ notion that the most effective leadership will come from your best and brightest minds. So, we’re developing a cadre of leaders that will engage in the process of trying to eliminate poverty and racism in our society.

Since the Great Society programs that Lyndon Johnson put in place, there has never been a major effort to really eliminate poverty. We have been managing poverty but not eliminating poverty. Poverty is obviously a serious issue among people of African-American descent. For the most part, the problem has been ignored to such a degree that is has become increasingly more complex to understand and unravel the complexities of poverty. So, you cannot make distinctions between the causes and the effect.

Just as we need brilliant minds to solve medical problems such as age and cancer, we need brilliant minds working together to help us unravel and eliminate poverty in our society. What we are trying to do is develop a cohort of brilliant minds and instill in them a sense of duty to give back to our people.

We want to help them recognize that complex problems are not solved by a single brilliant mind; complex problems are solved by brilliant minds working together in such a way that they are intrigued by the complexities of the task and will sustain their interest in the task as a result of these complexities.

COMMUNITY BEFORE SELF

The level of leadership you are talking about requires an extraordinary amount of self-discipline and it comes with a great deal of responsibility. How is the DuBois Scholars Institute able to motivate and inspire young people to accept that challenge?

Well, a part of what we try to do, starting at an early age, is instill in them that it is your duty. You don’t have a choice. Add that to the fact that they have to take a course called Ethics and Self-Development. One of the aims of this course is to help them to recognize that self-interest—and you could make the case that we are all guided by some sort of self-interest—does not have to be in competition with collective interest. Self-interest and collective interest can compliment each other.

If you can impact other people’s lives you can almost guarantee that you’re going to be okay. So, what we try to do is help kids define success in terms of the impact of their God given talents on the lives of other people. And of course, we employ on our team, faculty and staff who personify that philosophy. We want the kids to see that you can live a good life and still be committed to the well-being of other people.

So, by tying their desires for achievement, financial success, recognition, or whatever they maybe striving to accomplish, to the ideals of community uplift and enrichment the DuBois Scholars Institute is producing leaders that are not only concerned with personal gain, but are also looking out for our community.

Precisely! And actually, it’s the type of leader that puts the community first and puts himself second.

One of my personal philosophies is: “Service is the prerequisite of greatness.”

Absolutely! You hit the nail on the head.

“It’s just as important to know what you
know as it is to know what
you don’t know.”

BEING AN EFFECTIVE PROFESSOR

What separates effective professors from ineffective professors?

That’s a tough question because often you don’t know if you’ve been effective. It’s hard to determine because when students evaluate faculty members they really evaluate how well they liked the person. They aren’t necessarily evaluating the professor on the basis of the content and the challenge that the professor brings forward. Quite frankly, sometimes there’s an inverse correlation between the effectiveness of the professor and the ratings of the professor. That may be more often the case than not.

An effective professor in my judgment is one that can help to students to recognize and appreciate what they don’t know and arouse students’ motivation to search in order to get to know the unknown. Thus, effective professors instill in students the desire to ask questions and to seek out the answers to those questions as opposed to just sucking up information and regurgitating it.

In the DuBois Scholars Institute we tell the students that what distinguishes a scholar is the desire to know what he doesn’t know and the understanding that the more he gets to know the more he realizes what he doesn’t know.

So as a professor your goal is to be sure that your students not only know the information but that they embody and apply the information.

Precisely! And recognize the limits of what they’re learning. It’s just as important to know what you know as it is to know what you don’t know. So, you have to be able to recognize the limits of any conclusion that you come to. Recognize that rarely do we bring truth to the table. We bring theory more than we bring truth so we have to understand that what we know is really our understanding of the truthfulness of the information we have.

“Rarely do we bring truth to the table.
We bring theory more than
we bring truth.”

LISTEN MORE, READ MORE

Let’s talk about cross-generational communication for a second because that can be very challenging. What are some things that people can do to communicate more effectively with people 25 and younger?

First and foremost, improve your listening skills. We spend far more time talking than listening. We have to train our minds to listen. When I say ‘listen’ I don’t just mean hearing. I mean understanding and thinking about what you are hearing and trying to ensure that you put what you hear and understand in the proper context.

Most of us, as we grow older, don’t listen enough. We also don’t read the right things enough. That narrows the communication between us and kids because we’re not reading and we’re not listening. We tend to become more closed minded because we become less confident in ourselves as we get older if we are not continuing to grow.

In my capacity as a professor I have no choice but to listen. But I think that in general, older adults don’t spend enough time listening to youth. They watch them but they don’t listen.

And let me add something else. Have a willingness to allow people to make mistakes. Giving a second chance, being able allow people to make errors and be comfortable making mistakes and having a willingness to help them work through it. To put it another way, “Keeping hope alive.”

Ha! That’s your Jesse Jackson moment, huh?

Yeah!

“Adults don’t spend enough time listening
to youth. They watch them,
but they don’t listen.”

A GENUINE INTEREST

If you had to choose just one skill as the most important skill for communicating with young people what would it be?

I think it’s honesty and feeling that they can trust you. That may be even more significant than effective listening—being able to trust what a person is saying and knowing he has a genuine interest in you. Most people believe that we are all motivated by self-interest and that carries with it an element of distrust. So, I think that piece is the central piece.

Actually, you couldn’t even have effective listening skills unless you have a genuine interest in someone.

That’s right.

EYE ON THE FUTURE

Where will the institute be in the next twenty years?

Well, it certainly won’t be under my leadership!

Actually, that’s a hard question because things change. A lot of things have changed since DuBois was founded. One of the things that has changed is the meaning and the significance of the concept of race. When we first started out back in 1988 it was clear that the greatest divide in our society was race. The divisiveness between African-Americans was secondary to the divide between us and other ethnic groups.

That has changed a lot over the past decade. In fact, quicker then I had even anticipated to be honest. In my judgment, the greatest crisis that faces us now as African-Americans is classism within our own race.

The divide between the professional class and the “unskilled” class is greater now than it has ever been before. Such that you can really live next door to an urban community and never visit it and never have any interfacing with the black people who are living in an urban setting.

That’s dangerous. That’s scary because their plights and our plights are still connected as a collective. We have to come up with ways in which we can potentially close this gap and insure that we do not become disintegrated as a consequence of becoming much more Americanized.

The institute has to be sensitive to these changes in society and continue to work toward maintaining a sense of community among African-American people as we are allowed to become more American. That is to say that as our Nationalism rises and we become more Americanized we can’t loose sight of our ethnicity. That’s the challenge that faces the institute as I see it twenty years from now.

FOCUS YOUR ENERGY ON YOUR STRENGTHS

Sum up your philosophy about motivating and communicating with young people in 1-3 sentences.

Here’s something that guides my thinking and it guided the building of the DuBois Scholars Institute. One of the things that seems so obvious and yet it escapes us is that we need to focus our energies on our strengths. That’s not to say that you ignore the things that are weak within your structure, but the foundation has to be strong.

Thus, when it comes to dealing with our youth we need to spend less time talking about what’s wrong with them and more time talking about what’s right with them. Let’s work with the things that we know they are good at. If I can strengthen the things that you are already good at then that’s going to reduce the significance of the things that you’re not so good at. Do you follow me?

Wholeheartedly. In fact, there’s a book called “Now Discover Your Strengths" that I frequently recommend to people. “Hone your strengths and manage your weaknesses.”

You naturally motivate kids when you work on things that they are good at and when you make them feel good about themselves. They will automatically gravitate to you when you deal with things that they are good at.

I agree with that. I think that sometimes we press our young people so much about what they’re doing wrong that they loose sight of what they are doing right. Dr. Boone thank for a few minutes of your time. Your answers were very insightful and thought provoking.

Thank you!

“When it comes to dealing with our youth
we need to spend less time talking
about what’s wrong with them
and more time talking about
what’s right with them.”

____________________________________________

Recognized as America's Leading Youth Empowerment Advocate, Al "The Inspiration" Duncan is a World-Class Motivational Speaker, College Speaker, and Youth Speaker. A Self-Development Expert, he is also a columnist/blogger for IMDiversity and The Black Collegian Magazine. www.alduncan.net

THEBLACK COLLEGIAN Magazine First Semester Super Issue 2008

2008-09-21T06:49:00.000-07:00

IMDiversity, Inc., publisher of African-American Village and THE BLACK COLLEGIAN, is pleased to announce the kick-off the online preview of the Career Planning & Job Search Issue of THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Magazine, available on college campuses nationwide this semester.

Featuring the annual Top 100 Ideal Employers Among Diverse Students, the edition has several articles designed to help seniors optimize their job searches in a tough economy. Some of these provide expert advice on all stages of the Senior Year Job Search Calendar from preparing for the on-campus interview to understanding how to work a career fair to determining how and why to apply to grad school. Among the articles posted today are some extended versions of the magazine features.

Readers can visit our homepage at http://www.blackcollegian.com/ to view the current Monthly Issue Highlights, which include:

Publisher's Message
Barack Obama: Not a Sudden Miracle or Simple Twist of Fate
Got Purpose? Got Passion?
How to Work a Career Fair
Study Abroad: Your Opportunity to Discover the World
Question: How to Break into the CIA? Answer: Get an Internship
Job Search Calendar for Senior Year

Online-only homepage features posted for the weekend also include Kam Williams' interview with Spike Lee, with a trailer of Lee's new film, The Miracle at St. Anna, and a review of the cool take-anywhere, flexible and water-resistant AKB-220 computer keyboard by Adesso, which we'll be giving away in a contest this month.

Additional features from the maagzine will be posted throughout this week and into the semester, so stop back.

A Lesson On Leadership from Jackie Robinson

2008-04-16T06:56:00.000-07:00

“A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.”-Jack Roosevelt “Jackie” Robinson

Yesterday, April the 15^th, was the 61^st anniversary of an exceptional act of leadership that has left an indelible mark on history. Jackie Robinson became the first African-American major league baseball player.

Drifting into reverie while watching the ball games on Sunday, I wondered what it would be like to be a trendsetter of that magnitude.

How would it feel to be a leader that has affected the lives millions and millions to come? What do you say to yourself when you know you’ve taken a swing at history, caught a ball for the future, and rounded the bases for the ages?

You simply say that there is still more to be done and most importantly, you do it.

Thank God that Jackie Robinson didn’t think like many who say: “I did what I was supposed to do. It’s somebody else’s turn.”

Leadership is not about one time; it’s about as many times as possible.

A prominent business man and political activist, Jackie Robinson was a key leader in the establishment of the African-American owned and controlled Freedom Bank. In his syndicated newspaper column, he was an outspoken advocate of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the civil rights movement. To a lesser degree, he also supported Al-Hajj Malik al-Shabazz better known as Malcolm X.

Leadership is not about what you do in the spotlight, it’s about what you do on the spot.

Jackie Robinson showed courage and conviction long before he was in the spotlight. On July 6^th 1944, more than a decade before Rosa Parks, his refused to conform to Jim Crow laws in the United States Army. Although his actions earned him a court marshal, he was later found not guilty of insubordination and was honorably discharged.

Leadership is not about the awards or praise that you receive, it’s all about the deed.

Jackie Robinson received numerous awards in baseball, including the National League Most Valuable Player Award, and was the recipient of two of the most prestigious awards an individual can receive: a Congressional Medal of Honor and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He didn’t do it for the awards, however, he did it for the deed. In fact, he received the last two awards posthumously.

When the quote that you read at the beginning of this article came to my mind, I had to ask myself, as you should ask yourself- What impact are you having on other lives?

Jackie Robinson’s lesson on leadership is simple:

Do something to breakdown a barrier or carve out a path for someone else, not once, but as often as you can.

____________________________________________

Recognized as America's Leading Youth Empowerment Advocate, Al "The Inspiration" Duncan is a World-Class Professional Speaker, College Speaker, and Youth Speaker. A Self-Development Expert, he is also a columnist/blogger for IMDiversity and The Black Collegian Magazine. www.alduncan.net

A Poverty of Ambition

2008-03-30T08:44:00.000-07:00

“Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself.”
–Barack Obama, Knox College Commencement Address 2005

Even after hearing the phrase “dream big” 3,297,391 times (or more) over the course of their life, most people still don’t get it.

“Don’t rock the boat.”

“Better safe than sorry.”

“A bird in the hand beats two in the bush.”

These timeless maxims are sage advice. When taken to the extreme, however, they create a certain poverty of ambition.

Of course, something tangible that is actually working or in your “hand”, is better than a wish or pipe dream. But here’s the real question: Are those birds in the bush actually attainable?

If you had a rock-solid plan and the wherewithal to execute it, is it possible for you to get those two birds? Is it probable?

“I’m going to get a degree in engineering or accounting.” If you love either of those two great professions then by all means…go for it. But choosing a profession because it’s the proverbial bird in the hand is the epitome of a poverty of ambition.

A choice like that is why too many people wake up sick to their stomachs about going to work. They wake up with a bad case of would’ve-could’ve-should’ve syndrome.

I would’ve been a great writer…

I could’ve started my own company or non-profit organization…

I should’ve never married this guy. He’s not a bird in the hand; he’s a bird brain in the hand!

Could you have the business, the family, and the philanthropy? Yes. People do it all the time, but not enough people.

According to the 2007 Just Start™ survey conducted by Intuit, Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU) 72% of Americans aspire to start their own business. That’s almost three out of four people, but how many actually do it?

There are over 300 million people living in the U.S. An estimated 23 million of them are entrepreneurs. That’s around 7%. So, less than one in ten people actually have enough ambition to make it happen. And that’s after years of record breaking entrepreneurial growth.

Whether it’s starting a business (for profit or non-profit), looking for a promotion, or making a living doing something that you REALLY love to do, there seems to be a paucity of calculated risk-takers.

So, what’s fueling this poverty of ambition? This lack of go-getters boils down to complacency and fear of the unknown.

“Aim for the moon. If you miss, you may hit a star.”

–W. Clement Stone

COMPLACENCY

Complacency is the ugly side of success. It’s a momentum killer and a dream slayer.

“Why can’t you just be satisfied with what you already have?”

“That’s good enough.”

Garbage.

I’ve got two words for you to live by:

Get better.

Everyday you want to work on getting better—better health, better relationships, better finances, better marketing, being a better servant to a worthwhile cause, and the list goes on.

(I guess the 1.6 billion dollars people spend on cosmetic surgery per year is proof that there’s no poverty of ambition when it comes to being better looking!)

Greatness and complacency cannot exist in the same mind.

Think about that. What if Mother Teresa or Gandhi had a poverty of ambition?

What if Cesar Estrada Chavez, Dolores Huerta, Harriet Tubman, or Frederick Douglass had a poverty of ambition?

Scary thought, isn’t it. A poverty of ambition can change the world in ways I don’t even want to imagine. To be complacent is to stop striving and to stop striving is to waste to your most precious gift—life.

“I have learned over the years that once one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.”

–Rosa Parks

FEAR OF THE UNKNOWN

I was stunned.

I looked at the students in disbelief and thought to myself, “They must not know what a CEO is.”

“How many of you all know what the CEO of a company does?”

A lot of them raised their hands and someone yelled, “A CEO is the boss.”

“They are the leaders”, another student added.

My next question was: “Do you all know that sometimes the CEO is also the person who owns—maybe even started—the company?”

There was a wave of nodding heads as a chorus of yeses filled the air.

“Do you all understand that the CEO makes the most money?”

More head nodding and more yeses.

By then I was flabbergasted. These were some of the best students I know—students of the historic Butler Street YMCA’s Multicultural Achievers Program of which I’m am the Steering Committee Chair and the Life Skills Coach.

The students were in the middle of a project that involved creating a company. As a part of the project, they were applying and interviewing for positions in the company. Out of a few dozen high school students not one of them had applied to be the CEO.

When I started to investigate why no one wanted to be CEO I got all kinds of answers.

They didn’t know what to expect. (Fear of the unknown.) They didn’t know if it would be too much work for them to handle or if it would be too much responsibility. (Fear of success.)

If anything went wrong they would be the first ones blamed and the first ones fired. (Fear of failure.) They were worried about what might happen. (Fear of success or failure: the unknown.)

They were afraid of the unknown and it was killing their ambition.

Why?

For many people fear of the unknown is a debilitating phenomenon that fuels a poverty of ambition. Here are five questions, however, to help you deal with fear of the unknown:

What could happen as a result of doing (whatever the action or decision maybe)?
What probably won’t happen as a result of doing ______?
What could happen as a result of not doing _______?
What probably won’t happen as a result of not doing _______?
How will I deal with each of the four answers from those questions?

If you don’t know the answers to those questions then do some more research, get some more guidance or advice, and make the best educated answer you can.

(The students couldn’t answer those questions at first, so the Program Director and I asked the CEO of the Butler Street YMCA to come in and talk to them.)

It’s that simple and, at times, that hard. But the unknown and your fear will be minimized—not necessarily gone, but minimized by answering these questions.

Let’s get back to those birds in the bush…

Here’s the interesting thing. None of this means that you have to necessarily let go of the bird in your hand.

While you are looking at the two birds in the bush and squeezing that bird in your hand to death, here’s a something to ask yourself.

The Million Dollar Question: Who ever said you couldn’t have all three?

And no…that’s not being greedy. That’s called abundance.

Stop asking too little of yourself.

Lose the poverty of ambition.

Get the know-how, a good plan, and put them to use because you deserve a life of abundance, don’t you? A life overflowing with achievement and fulfillment is waiting for you if you will simply…

Get better.

Al "The Inspiration" Duncan is America's Leading Youth Empowerment Advocate, a world-class professional speaker, college speaker, and youth speaker. Visit him at www.alduncan.net

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Top Ten Quotes: Maya Angelou

2008-03-30T08:23:00.001-07:00

(In honor of Women’s History Month)

A legendary poet, one of the great voices of contemporary literature, civil rights activist, author of twelve best-selling books including I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, actress, playwright, producer, director, historian, educator, outstanding orator, and Grammy Award winner, Dr. Maya Angelou is the quintessential Renaissance woman.

The recipient of more than 60 honorary doctorate degrees, Dr. Angelou has captivated and inspired millions of people across the globe. There is no doubt that world could never get enough of Dr. Maya Angelou.

Here are my favorite quotes by this extraordinary woman.

10. A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.

9. I can be changed by what happens to me, but I refuse to be reduced by it.

8. I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

7. You can only become truly accomplished at something you love. Don't make money your goal. Instead, pursue the things you love doing, and then do them so well that people can't take their eyes off you.

6. If you have only one smile in you, give it to the people you love. Don't be surly at home, then go out in the street and start grinning 'Good morning' at total strangers.

5. There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside of you.

4. Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future and renders the present inaccessible.

3. Nothing will work unless you do.

2. If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude.

1. You may write me down in history

With your bitter, twisted lies,

You may trod me in the very dirt

But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Honorable mention:

History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.

We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.

One isn't necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential. Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can't be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.

Achievement brings its own anticlimax.

Children's talent to endure stems from their ignorance of alternatives.

Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can't practice any other virtue consistently.

I believe the most important single thing, beyond discipline and creativity, is daring to dare.

Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at it destination full of hope.

Al "The Inspiration" Duncan is America's Leading Youth Empowerment Advocate, a world-class professional speaker, college speaker, and youth speaker. Visit him at www.alduncan.net

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Women's History Month Profile 2008

Women's History Month: March 2007

Urban Bush Women and Compagnie Jant-Bi Dance!

2008-03-28T05:27:00.000-07:00

Urban Bush Women and Compagnie Jant-Bi (Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, artistic director of Urban Bush Women; Germaine Acogny, artistic director of Compagnie Jant-Bi) will be performing at Power Center, Ann Arbor, Michigan, March 28 and 29, 2008, sponsored by University Musical Society.

This unique project is setting the performance world abuzz for bringing together two African and African-American dance companies — one all-male and one all-female — and two powerhouse female choreographers. Germaine Acogny, hailed as the "mother of contemporary African dance," explores the role of identity within a community in this transcontinental collaboration with Brooklyn-based choreographer and Urban Bush Women founder Jawole Willa Jo Zollar. Urban Bush Women weaves the cultural and spiritual traditions of African Americans and the African Diaspora into life-affirming works that explore the transformation of struggle and suffering. This new work, which receives its premiere in January, 2008, is rich with West African movements, rhythms, and styles.

"The Urban Bush Women are unabashedly unapologetic about what they are: fierce, feminine, militant, agressive, sassy, funny and proud."
(The Herald Sun, Durham)

"Compagnie Jant-Bi dances with a mind-blowing intensity."
(The New York Times)

For more information and tickets, check out University Musical Society.

THE BLACK COLLEGIAN’s African-American History Contest 2008

2008-02-06T14:43:00.000-08:00

From our sister-site, THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Magazine:

THE BLACK COLLEGIAN’s African-American History Contest 2008

In this year's Black History Month challenge for college students, take our African-American History 101 Pop Quiz, and you could win $50.00 cash, and be named THE BLACK COLLEGIAN’s African-American History Scholar on your campus. Your photo will be posted on THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Online at http://www.black-collegian.com/!

Entering is easy – simply email the correct answers to the questions posted on the Quiz Page, along with your name, address, phone number and the name of your university. Be the first one from your school to score 100 percent on the quiz, and you win!

Last date to submit answers is March 31, 2008. One entry per person. Entrants must be currently enrolled in a four-year university. Winners will be notified by email.

Think you know your stuff? Give it a try today.

Frederick Douglass International Underground Railroad Conference and Freedom Festival

2007-09-05T14:55:00.000-07:00

35 National Experts to Convene Sept 28-30 at Conference at the Rochester Riverside Convention Center

Juan Williams, Bernice Johnson Reagon and Darryl Van Leer are Keynote Speakers

Sent in by BLACK PR WIRE:

Rochester, NY-September 5, 2007-Register now to hear more than 35 of the nation's leading authorities on the Underground Railroad will convene in Rochester, NY Sept 28-30 for the Frederick Douglass International Underground Railroad Conference and Freedom Festival. They will bring to life one of America's most remarkable stories and illuminate compelling accounts of courageous people and historic places.

Keynotes Juan Williams, Bernice Johnson Reagon and Darryl Van Leer will be joined by 30 experts including Tony Burroughs, Anthony Cohen and leading educators, historians, museums directors, and artists. They will present the latest research, genealogical connections, regional and international collaborations, parallels to slavery and civil rights, and how to use this information in the classroom.

See more info.

Essence Editor: On 8/29, Demand a Plan to Restore the Gulf

2007-08-21T07:55:00.000-07:00

Release by Susan L. Taylor challenges country to demand a "Marshall Plan" to restore New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. On 8/29 the tens of thousands who can travel to New Orleans will gather for the massive demonstration being planned there. Calls for national support, campaign to contact government officials issued.

Reported by Vincent Sylvain's The New Orleans Agenda: Other activities planned to commemorate the anniversaries of Katrina and Rita range from scholarly panels to participatory mega-events like Hands Around the Dome.

See more at African-American Village.

NPR : CBS Radio Fires Don Imus in Fallout over Remarks

2007-04-13T05:38:00.000-07:00

NPR : CBS Radio Fires Don Imus in Fallout over Remarks:

Also, background readings from the AP in a supplement, Rutgers v. Imus, this weekend at IMDiversity.com, plus commentaries by Earl Ofari Hutchinson, Kam Williams, more at new Media, New Media and Communications Jobs & Readings section

ASNE Report Finds Percentage of Minorities in Newsrooms Declining

2007-04-05T12:34:00.000-07:00

This week on the IMDiversity.com Career Center Home Page:

According to the American Newspaper Editors Association 2007 survey on the representation of minorities in U.S. news media, the percentages of minority and women journalists working in America’s newsrooms both declined in the past year. According to ASNE, it is only the second time since the survey started in 1978 that the percentage of minorities has declined.

In a year marked by news organization layoffs that were headlines in themselves, ASNE’s annual “census” found that the percentage of minorities fell to 13.62 percent, down from 13.87 last year. The percentage of women also dropped from 37.70 to 37.56 percent.

The percentage of minorities in supervisory roles at daily newspapers dropped to 10.9 percent, equal to the percentage from two years ago. The downward trend holds true for student and entry-level employment as well. According to ASNE’s release, the percentage of minority interns stands at nearly 27 percent, “a number that has continued to fall as newspapers cut back” on internships.

The one silver lining in the report seemed to come from online media. ASNE’s census of daily newspapers for the first time counted full-time staffers who work entirely at online publishing activities by their companies. Among online media staffs, the percentage of minorities on staff was an estimated 16 percent, which helped make the drop in overall employment numbers seem less severe than they might have been.

See a fuller report at IMDiversity, ASNE Report Finds Percentage of Minorities in Newsrooms Declining, or view detailed data tables from the census at the ASNE website.

Weekend Maintenance on IMDiversity

2007-03-31T03:58:00.000-07:00

http://asianamericanvillage.blogspot.com/2007/03/weekend-maintenance-on-imdiversity.html:
Our site servers will be undergoing maintenance this weekend, starting midnight Friday. During this period there may brief outages on our sites at IMDiversity.com and the Multicultural Villages, the IMDiversity Career Center and Job Bank, and THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Online Job Bank. We apologize for any inconvenience to our visitors and thank you for your patience."

Professional Women's Village @ Blogspot: Women's History Month 2007

2007-03-01T13:54:00.000-08:00

http://womensvillage.blogspot.com/2007/03/womens-history-month.html

PWC Diversity Leadership Scholarship, Internship, Conference Deadline Dec. 31

2006-11-15T08:28:00.000-08:00

Financial services giant PriceWaterhouseCoopers has announced a December 31, 2006 deadline for applications to its annual PWC eXceed scholarships, a comprehensive program offering opportunities for Native American, African American, and Hispanic American college students to explore careers at PWC through internships and participation in an annual Diversity Business Leadership Conference, along with a $3,000 support stipend. Applications are accepted from Freshmen or Sophomores with a 3.2 or higher GPA, and an interest in Accounting, Management Information Systems, and/or Computer Science.

Also of Interest: It's that season for students to apply for next year's internships. Most deadlines are coming up by early December. Visit IMDiversity's seasonal Internships & Co-ops special page with categorized internships listings.

THE BLACK COLLEGIAN: 2006-2007 Career and Networking Events

2006-11-10T00:36:00.000-08:00

Added at our sister site, THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Online:

THE BLACK COLLEGIAN's 2006-2007 Career and Networking Events Listing for African American Students

A historic election for ethnic, women voter engagement nationwide

2006-11-08T08:57:00.000-08:00

Nov. 8 - In a historic midterm election night, high turnout among American voters has significantly changed the balance of power in Washington DC, with the Democratic Party retaking the majority of seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. Anti-incumbent sentiment and dissatisfaction with the war in Iraq led to sweep in which Democrats wrested control of at least 28 seats, with 14 still undecided.

With two key Senate races, in VA and MT too close to call as of this writing, and likely headed to recount challenges, Democrats also stand chance to take back majority control of the Senate.The election saw historic landmarks set in a number of aspects. These include: Positioning Nancy Pelosi to become the first woman Speaker of the House; electing Deval Patrick as the first African American governor in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts; and sending Democrat Keith Ellison, an African American, to represent Minnesota’s 5th as the first Muslim in the House of Representatives.

Preliminary exit polling indicates that unusually high turnout was reported nationwide, affected by a number of controversial ballot initiatives as well as support for specific candidates. Minority voters, swing voters and non-traditional coalition-building also played an important role in the shift. In the most recent exit poll figures by CNN, non-white voters veered strongly to the left, with 76% of non-white men and 78% of non-white women going Democrat.

The same data indicate that while white voters overall leaned Republican, it was by a smaller margin (51% GOP to 47%) than expected, due largely to a 49/49 split among white women voters. African American voters leaned even more heavily Democrat than expected, at 89%, despite the GOP’s fielding a number of prominent Black candidates in high-level races in states such as Ohio and Pennsylvania. Latino and Asian voters, who have traditionally been more inclined to lean Republican, emerged as clear and growing swing voters, breaking to the Democrats at 69% and 62% respectively. Other non-white voters including Native Americans tracked in CNN’s polling split 56% Democrat to 41% Republican.

Ellison to be First Muslim Congessman after MN Victory

2006-11-07T18:31:00.000-08:00

Democrat Keith Ellison has won a seat in the House of Representatives, and will represent the Minnesota 5th.

His opposition to the war in Iraq hand emphasis on deomstic concerns such as universal healthcare helped Ellison, who is Black and a convert to Islam, overcome criticism of past associations with Louis Farrakhan.

In his victory, Ellison defeated three candidates: Republican Alan Fine, Independence Party candidate Tammy Lee, and Green Party candidate Jay Pond.

CNN Projects Win for Deval Patrick for MA Governor

2006-11-07T18:16:00.000-08:00

Shortly before 9 PM Eastern, CNN projected that Deval Patrick had defeated Republican Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey in the race to replace Gov. Mitt Romney.

If the results are verified, it will make Mr. Patrick Massachusett's first African American governor.

CNN shortly thereafter has projected that Rep. Ted Strickland has defeated African-American Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell.

Good News, Great News, a Caution on Election Day for Black Youth Voters

2006-11-07T18:13:00.000-08:00

In the 2006 Civic and Political Health of the Nation Survey by CIRCLE (The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement) at www.civicyouth.org, a comprehensive study of diverse American youth voters found that young African Americans are the most politically engaged among racial/ethnic group. Compared to other groups, African Americans are the most likely to vote regularly, belong to groups involved with politics, donate money to candidates and parties, display buttons or signs, canvass, and contact the media.

In a related analysis of voting patterns up through the 2004 elections, CIRCLE also showed that African American youth voters were the only group to have bucked the trend of declining turnout during midterm election years. Indicators for this year suggest that young Black voters' will continue to improve in 2006.A separate study, by Young Voter Strategies, an organization affiliated with George Washington University, found that in the 2006 midterm season, young Black voters were the "most ready for change," according to a report by Black College Wire news service. In the study, 35 percent of Black voters ages 18 to 30 said that employment, the economy, and education and its costs weighed heavily for them.

However, the picture isn't entirely rosy. Both studies also found that many young African Americans have faced obstacles in exercising their right to vote, and many have little confidence that they can personally, meaningfully affect the problems facing their communtiies and families.

These conflicting issues -- increased political interest among young African Americans and a decreasing sense of their individual ability to affect change -- have made voter protection on polling day a high priority in the election season. Although the U.S. Justice Department announced that it would dispatch an unprecedented number of poll monitors across the country, other interested groups nationwide are mounting their own efforts. The NAACP Legal Defense Fund is sending monitors to protect voters at areas surrounding HBCU schools, and placing an emphasis on protecting voters in the Gulf Region still recovering from the effects of Hurricane Katrina.

For more stats and a link tothe full PDF report by CIRCLE, see the sidebars to interview with Senator Barack Obama in the first semester 2006 super issue of THE BLACK COLLEGIAN.

THE BLACK COLLEGIAN @ Blogspot: Steal this Article! Barack Obama on Black Student Political Power

2006-10-23T10:49:00.000-07:00

Article here - freely reprintable, illustrated.