The Cure for Unemployment: Or at Least a Treatment Plan

In honor of Juneteenth, I felt the need to “give us some free” and provide some solutions to the many issues we face as Black unemployment rates continue to plague our community.

In a subsequent post, I’ll talk more about what qualifies me to give the this type of advice, but for brevity’s sake, I can tell you that I was someone who looked for a “good job” for more than a decade, only to find multiple years of unemployment and underemployment.  It took a lot of soul-searching, but eventually, I changed my mentality from that of a “jobseeker” to an “entrepreneur” and I’ve never looked back!

I keep reading these unemployment numbers for Black folks and I know it’s worse than what’s being reported, because I personally know people that are no longer receiving unemployment and thus aren’t counted any more, despite the fact that they aren’t working and haven’t been fully restored as productive members of the workforce.

I know what it’s like to be unemployed.  I know what it’s like to be Black and unemployed. And I know what it’s like to be Black, educated, and unemployed, which in my opinion, just adds another nail to the coffin!  For this reason, since I believe in being solution-oriented, I have put together some immediate steps that I think Black folks can take to turn “unemployment” into “self-employment”.

My goal in sharing these tips is to show that there is hope and there’s something you can do: CREATE A JOB, WHEN NO ONE WILL GIVE YOU ONE!  It’s not easy, but it’s an alternative!

5 Things You Can Do Right Now To Cure Your Unemployment/Underemployment

Tip 1: Use your local library.  I save an average of $3000 a year by using the resources of my local library.  Before I shelled out money I didn’t have, I checked to see if the library had the book, and in some cases, I asked them to order it, and they did (thus making me the first person to check it out).  Many times, I’m able to preview a book and find out if it’s really worth me paying for and adding to my personal library.

Tip 2: Use the internet (effectively).  There’s virtually nothing you can aspire to learn that you can’t learn more about on the internet!  The internet can be a great resource in helping you figure out ANYTHING, but you have to use your time on The Net efficiently.  I would suggest using a timer.  Have a specified period of time that you allot for certain activities (e.g. searching for articles/books/links, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, etc.) and get disciplined about sticking to it.  Especially when it comes to social networks.  They can become great tools to use to promote your brand whenever you figure out what you’re selling, but if you’re not careful, they become a MAJOR time suck.  So, just remember most time spent tweeting and liking people’s pictures and comments isn’t time well spent.

Tip 3: Find Your Talents and Follow Your Passion.  Someone once told me that if you find what you would do for free, then start doing it, and get good at it, eventually someone will pay you for your expertise.  I admit, when I was first introduced to this notion, I thought it was a crock!  Now, as a person who gets paid to show people how to tweet, blog, and use Facebook effectively, I laugh at my own self for being so naïve.  Plus, as with any new convert, I am the MOST evangelical about the “Do What You Love and the Money Will Follow” mantra, because IT IS TRUE!

Tip 4: Block out the negativity and find a support base.  Being unemployed is very discouraging, especially if you’ve landed there through no fault of your own.  The longer you’re unemployed or underemployed, the worse you may feel.  It’s important to not get wallowed down in those feelings.  Find a local support group, a Meetup gathering, or even an online forum.  If you have a field that you know you’d like to work in, find a mentor.  Just keep in mind that almost everyone describes themselves as “busy”, and if you’re looking to be mentored by a truly busy person, you’d better make that time efficient (i.e. have set meeting times and an itinerary for you’ll talk about and how much of their time you’ll need).

Tip 5: Pray. Meditate. Or Do Whatever It Takes to Find 20 Minutes of Peace in Each Day.  It’s okay to be sad sometimes.  If you need to: reflect on what happened, then think about what you can do to make changes so it doesn’t happen again.  At the end of the day, know that no matter what you’re going through, YOU ARE GOING THROUGH IT, and you will get to the other side!

I hope these tips help you.  They were very helpful to me and that’s why I’ve shared them.  I believe in helping people who want to help themselves.  At some point in our lives, we all need help.  I’ve gotten this far because someone (or quite honestly a whole host of “someones”) helped me.  My unofficial motto in life is “I try to do, what I can do, when I can do it”, so if I can help, I will.  Like everyone, I have a finite amount of time, energy, and resources, but if you need the support, I’m here.

Be Blessed.

Kindra Cotton, Serial Entrepreneur

About Kindra Cotton: Serial Entrepreneur, Technology & Social Media Specialist, and Jill of All Trades, Kindra is actually one of the FEW people who has been rigorously trained in the arenas of Social Networking and Online Marketing.  A Certified Search Engine Marketer, she’s used her decades of experience on The Web, coupled with her Masters-level study of participatory patterns in social networking, and emerged as a uniquely qualified Trainer and Consultant in New Media Implementation and readying organizations to capitalize on the widespread popularity of social media for promoting brands.  Perfecting her skills while working with small businesses, today she offers Simplified Social Media Solutions to small and medium-sized businesses, non-profit organizations, and universities seeking to take advantage of the free and low-cost marketing avenues that exist in The Web.To help improve “The Cure for Unemployment” blog series and the upcoming cureforunemployment.com website, please take a few minutes and fill out this brief survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/FBJT38V

Half of Detroit Population are Functionally Illiterate

Your Black World reports

According to the Detroit Regional Workforce Fund 47% of adults in Detroit are functionally illiterate. Simply put almost half of residents can't do basic things like read a newspaper, fill out a job application, or understand the instructions on a medicine bottle.

A study that was recently released noted that of the "200,000 adults who are functionally illiterate, approximately half have a high school diploma or GED." Sadly, only 10 % of residents who need adult literacy classes even receive services to teach them how to read, and only a quarter of adult education programs "provide services for learners at the lowest literacy levels."
Illiteracy is directly correlated with unemployment. In recent years unemployment has peaked at an alarming rate of 50 %, and 33 % of adults aged 20-24 are unemployed. Even if a jobs recovery plan is enacted, if the city's residents don't have basic skills—like being able to read—their career options won't improve much.

Detroit Public Schools (DPS) is involved with some of the solutions. One suggestion involves creating a new Learning Labs partnership that hopes to "connect adults with very limited literacy skills with occupational training opportunities and new careers." However, with such low literacy rates, it's hard not to see the numbers as a pretty harsh indictment of the system.

Please join the Your Black World Coalition by visiting YourBlackWorld.com

Your Black News: Black America ‘Gets Pneumonia’ in Cold Economic Climate

WASHINGTON (NNPA) - As the Black unemployment rate leaped another eight percentage points last month – from 10.6 percent to 11.4 percent, the White unemployment rate actually remained the same – at 5.4 percent, less than half the rate for Blacks. In addition to that in every economic category, from the poverty rate to housing loss African-Americans remain historically and consistently at rock bottom – a condition exacerbated by the national housing and Wall Street financial crisis that forced Congress to reluctantly pass a $700 billion bailout last week. 

''We're in a weaker financial position related to the mainstream in the first place,'' said Alfred A. Edmond, Jr., editor-in-chief of BlackEnterprise.com, in an interview with the NNPA News Service. “The saying goes, 'when the rest of America gets a cold, Black America gets pneumonia.''

Edmond is just one among Black economic experts across the nation who say as America observes the economic fall out even after the congressional bailout of lending and investment agencies last week, African-Americans must establish creative ways to stay afloat.

“In every relevant economic number, Black people are worse off today than they were in 2000,” says Natioal Urban League President and CEO Marc Morial, in an interview following a Black Leadership Forum telephone conference pertaining to get out to vote efforts as well as the economic bailout. “We’ve lost ground in home ownership, we’ve lost ground in employment, we’ve lost ground in wage verses inflation, we have just lost ground economically in the last eight years.”

Morial says the bailout was not a rescue but just something to help stop the bleeding. “The ramifications of not doing it were worse than the ramification of doing it. For there not to be any credit, obviously, when it hurts big businesses, it hurts small business and it hurts the average consumer, automobile loans, personal finance loans, credit cards, that kind of thing,” said Morial. “My position would have been that we have to hold our noses and go forth.” Morial, who predicted the mortgage crisis in the spring of last year, said the bailout will not be enough for Black people and will take many months to execute.

Continued:

Photo from www.thorainstitute.com