GD eNews | Vol. 3, No. 9 | May 15, 2004

Loaded Dice
State of Black Businesses Still Separate and Unequal -- Fifty years after the landmark Brown vs. Board of Education decision, black-owned businesses in the United States remain separate and unequal from the American economy, according to the first annual State of Black Business report. [FULL_TEXT]

Minority Business Roundtable Venture Capital Fund Launched
WASHINGTON — The Minority Business Roundtable (MBRT) announced  the formation of the MBRT Venture Capital Fund, Inc., which will launched an advisory board April 29, 2004, at the City Club of Washington. Business, financial and community leaders were invited to attend the luncheon and join the board. [FULL_TEXT]

Minority Businesses Are Encouraged
To Brand, Brand, Brand
22 year-old Dante Lee, one of LA's youngest Black entrepreneurs says that he spends $50 - $100 a day on marketing his company. Lee is the CEO of Diversity City Media, a multicultural marketing and public relations firm based in Long Beach, CA. He is also the co-founder of the Minority Business Rewards Program. Last year, his company posted revenues of nearly $200,000. [FULL_TEXT]

Class-based Programs
Expanding the Equal Education Umbrella
By Hazel Trice Edney
"Race and class have always been intertwined, inextricably intertwined. They will continue to be. But, race is not class," Shaw says. "I think we ought to recognize that we have a growing depth along class lines and we have to address it. But, one of the unfortunate things in the affirmative action struggles is that time and again some working class white Americans buy the story that the lack of opportunity that their children experienced in higher education at elite institutions was because of affirmative action. [FULL_TEXT]

Job Quantity and Job Quality are Down in NC
By Elizabeth Jordan, Policy Analyst,
N.C. Budget and Tax Center
One of the most disturbing aspects of the nation's current "economic recovery" is the pronounced decline in both the quantity and quality of jobs. This is particularly true in North Carolina where there has been a significant shift in worker opportunity from higher paying to lower paying industries. [FULL_TEXT]

MARRIOTT Ranks Second Among Companies With More Than 100,000 Employees
WASHINGTON -- For the seventh consecutive year, Marriott International, Inc. (NYSE:MAR) has been recognized by Fortune magazine as one of the "100 Best Companies to Work For."  Marriott ranked second among companies with 100,000 or more employees, and is the only U.S.-based lodging company on the list.  [FULL_TEXT]

Realizing the American Dream Act is Best Fix
Immigrants caught in the flawed U.S. immigration system and their attorneys at the North Carolina Justice Center call on Congress to pass a comprehensive immigration reform bill introduced last month in both the House and the Senate. The Realizing the American Dream Act would resolve the systemic problems noted by President Bush on January 7, 2004 when he said, "The [immigration] system is not working ... Workers who seek only to earn a living end up in the shadows of American life Ñ fearful, often abused and exploited ... They are cut off from their families far away, fearing if they leave our country to visit relatives back home, they might never be able to return to their jobs." [FULL_TEXT]

THE UNDERSTANDING CREDIT SERIES
What is Predatory Lending?
By Attorney Peter Grear
In communities across America, people are losing their homes and their investments because of predatory lenders, appraisers, mortgage brokers and home improvement contractors who: [FULL_TEXT]

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NBFEA.com Endorser Comments
Renounce and Denounce the N-word Resolution
Please help all of us stop the use of this word in public schools.
(online at http://www.NBFEA.com)