Building an Entrepreneur

This video posted only two days ago has already created some interesting discussion with my Black female friends.  Listen to a few women discuss being successful and single. One women explaining that she hasn’t had a serious relationship for over 10 years.

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Last night we had a going away dinner for a good friend of mine that is going on an exchange program for one Quarter to Mexico City. As usual we discussed random topics from pop-culture to education and race. Our conversation took an interesting turn when one of my friends mentioned that she just met a 10 year old named “Raekwon,” it reminded me of an earlier conversation I had with a friend of mine who is in Dental School. He said that one of his patients names was “Cash Money.” I really do wish these were jokes but unfortunately they are real names.

I know the name Lull is not a common name but luckily it does not have a negative biases attached to it. An interviewer can’t look at my name and make assumptions about what culture or upbringing I have had. Not all are so lucky.

College-educated black men, especially, have struggled relative to their white counterparts in this downturn, according to figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The unemployment rate for black male college graduates 25 and older in 2009 has been nearly twice that of white male college graduates — 8.4 percent compared with 4.4 percent.

This seems to be a significant percentage to me but the question is what exactly should a person do who has been given such a “colorful” name? When applying for jobs should they hide part of their identity? Ethically, I say no! Don’t change who you are or compromise your identity one bit to satisfy anybody else.

Realistically, however I say GET THAT JOB. The economy is not a buyers market if you will. You can call me Timothy or James versus not having a job. ……Just saying.

I am officially on my first day of vacation from work as well as school. I am pretty excited about the progress I have had in 2009, it has been a great year to say the least.  So much has been accomplished this year and I am truly Thankful for the people that have supported many of my random ideas and projects. From my blog I am sure you can see how important Entrepreneurship is to me and why I find it so powerful. It most importantly means freedom but not in the way that many people think. It doesn’t mean less work, it means more work. You don’t have the security of a large company supporting you knowing that at the end of the day you will be OK.  You can sometimes even find it overwhelming if you are not attentive enough.

2010 will be one of those years that could turn out in great Triumph or Disaster. I am really going to go for it this year, no holding back. Two Goals that are in my mind constantly are “The Only Black Student” as well as TextandDate.com. My obsession with both projects will only grow more into the following year as I will be finishing up graduate school in June. Its “Go hard or Go home” time and I plan on the former.

This post is more of an incoherent rambling to myself as I get ready to for the Grind.

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Listening to the experience of Hispanics coming from different cultural backgrounds from first generation, second generation to Dominican and Mexican it seems that Education and a great work ethic are a unifying  theme. The Pew Hispanic Center has released its latest report about Values, Education and Employment of Latinos aged 16-25.

The first 10 years of my life I lived in San Diego, California in a neighborhood that had a large Latino population. Many of the issues that are discussed about the Latino community could be said about the Black community from teen pregnancy, gang affiliation to high school drop out rates. The challenge that Latino community seems to face comes with the navigation of a new country as well. This thirty minute interview included Mark Lopez, Gustavo Arellano and Ruben Navarette.

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If you can get into these Top Institutions then it sounds like financial aid wont be an issue. These schools pay students large amounts of money who meet the need.

Harvard University

Bowdion College

Bryn Mawr College

Cornell University

Macalester College

New College of Florida

Swarthmore College

More schools give great financial aid packages as well, here are a few schools that U.S. News has recognized.

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So, starting in 2012, colleges will be judged on how many students default within three years of starting repayment, though the new threshold default rate for penalties will be 30 percent instead of 25 percent.

A new financial measures that could possibly affect what type of students are admitted to Universities and Colleges will soon be in place. Although the details are not clear, Colleges will now have an incentive to accept students who are more likely to pay of their loans versus previously where this may not have been a factor. This being more then two years away it is hard to know the impacts that colleges and Universities will face.

Worst case scenario you will see a student with minimal financial resources being turned away from campuses because the University doesn’t want to take a risk on these low-income students.  Harris Miller the president of the Career College Association said “If you accept low-income students, you’re going to have high default rates.” To this statement I agree, but this article doesn’t touch on what are the possible challenges that students could prevent on their own or campus’s could help with.

• What if students on Financial aid were forced to take a financial budgeting course freshman year of college. I imagine giving students these tools would not just decrease the defaulting on loans but help change spending, savings and investing habits overall.
  
• Have students report where their money is being allocated to receive funding for the following quarter. I know as an undergraduate my spending was sometimes wasteful often times because I couldn’t picture the long term consequences(current loans, ANGER).

These are just a couple examples of what things could be done in order to continue bringing in students from lower income backgrounds. I see this policy being put in place as a response to the economic times but will have a disproportionate affect on students from lower economic backgrounds.

Princess and the Frog

This evening I took my eleven year old sister to Disney’s Princess and the Frog.  From the advertisements I wasn’t positive what to expect from the characters as Disney unveiled its first Black Princess.  Would she be eloquent, articulate, beautiful?

I found that Princess Tiana was ambitious, hard working, witty, strong and made several sacrifices in order to open her very own restaurant. Her Entrepreneurial spirit and goals were even supported by her Prince Charming. Her hard work rubbed off on the Prince who had been given everything he ever wanted until his parents cut him off financially. Part of the story remind me of one of my favorite movies Coming to America.

I was afraid that in the movie you would have characters who showed less flattering images of Black culture from speech to attitudes. One character that had a small appearance was the Cook at the restaurant Princess Tiana worked as a waitresses for. He was overweight, unsupporting and spoke with broken English. The suburban theater I took my sister to see the movie at laughed at his somewhat slap stick humor(I don’t live in the suburbs, I’m still hood! ).

On a more social note, I was just thinking about my sisters view on society versus mine. As we differ by fourteen years in age, as a child she has witnessed our first black President and Disney Princess all in one year. Not just her but her classmates, friends and cousins all see these positive images reinforced. Leaving any doubt or mystery about what is possible for her future career and personal goals. She explains to anybody who asks “I am going to go to Harvard Law and become an Animal Cruelty Lawyer then Mayor then Governor then our first Black Female President”. Ambitious maybe?

During my visit to Chicago for the Hichinger Institute’s Reporters Seminar I got the opportunity to work with students from ACT Charter School. I worked with a group of five high school students who were actively engaged in discussion about what college “might be like” as they prepare for their next learning experience. One thing that I am seeing over and over again is no matter how shy or passive a student may seem that role playing changes how responsive they become. After about 20 minutes into the workshop even the introverted students became vocal. Its a great feeling seeing students open up within such a short period of time.

Lull Mengesha talking with students from ACT Charter School

ACT is a community school that works with a lead partner agency to address the needs of the child, not just academically but offering programs to educate and engage parents. The goal is to have parents more engaged with the school and involved in their overall educational process.  The lead agency that they work with is called the Center for Community Arts Partnership at Columbia College Chicago.

Can you guess who the Adult is?