Prometheus 6

Did anyone catch Russell Simmons on Bill Maher Friday night? The last few times I've seen Simmons on a television show he talked at and to others as if he believed his ideas were the only ideas that mattered in the universe. During the May 18, 2007 Bill Maher show he let something slip out his mouth. Simmons started a sentence with "This nigga...." It was quite obvious that he did not intend to let that slip out. He and Bill Maher appeared to be slightly embarrassed by the slip. I had never heard him use the word nigga in that context, as part of his casual speech while in front of a predominantly White audience. And, when Bill Maher began to question him about the "N-word in Hip-Hop debate" Simmons was annoyingly illusive. I never really paid Simmons' political ideas or relgious ideas much attention, but after suffering through his Bill Maher interview, I think I'll pay him even less attention.

There are many ways to combat poverty and political economic inequity in urban communities. I believe the integration of tens of thousands of asset-rich U.S. Blacks into our asset-poor U.S. Black communities would be one of the most effective ways. A higher percentage of asset-rich and asset-poor Blacks lived within only a few blocks of one another during the first half of the 20th Century. The income and asset gaps in between them were much smaller than they are now for a number of reasons, but one of these reasons was asset-poor Blacks were able to benefit from living in the same communities and political districts as asset-rich Blacks. William Julius Wilson, Ph.D. writes in his essay Jobless Poverty: A New Form of Social Dislocation in the Inner-City Ghetto: “Because of the steady out-migration of more advantaged families, the proportion of nonpoor families and prime-age working adults has decreased sharply in the typical inner-city ghetto since 1970.” He goes on to write: “In the face of increasing and prolonged joblessness, the declining proportion of nonpoor families and the overall depopulation has made it increasingly difficult to sustain basic neighborhood institutions or to achieve adequate levels of social organization.” I call this out-migration from our predominantly Black communities, the Black Exemplar Exodus. Soon after the first half of the 20th Century, asset-rich Blacks were given legitimate opportunities to leave predominantly Black communities en masse. Many of them left in order to take better jobs, to build better lives for their families, to strive for the American Dream. I don’t fault them for that. However, so many of us have achieved the American Dream, so many of us have become asset-rich U.S. Blacks. And, I believe tens of thousands of us should make plans to take some of our assets back to the communities that were weakened by the Black Exemplar Exodus. Tens of thousands of us should make plans to serve our country via three-, five-, or ten-year Tours of Duty for Black America. (read more)

and not gonna happen because white folks ice is still colder....,

Unless black managerial and professional workers move back into the hood in droves, and, reinstall a stabilizing guardian syndrome within our social collective that provides moral, legal, educational and commercial impetus for the whole - the hood is for all intents and purposes, a collective lost cause incapable of bootstrapping itself out of its present plight.

I only catch Russell accidentally.

cnulan:

"and not gonna happen because white folks ice is still colder....,"

Okay, let me try to figure out why you bothered to author your comment in this thread. Surely you intended to add some value.

Is your point that 3, 5, or 10 year Tours of Duty by asset-rich Blacks in asset-poor neighborhoods is "not gonna happen," because 1) most asset-rich Blacks can't accumulate more assets while living in asset-poor neighborhoods and they would want to accumulate more assets while pulling their Tours of Duty; 2) most asset-rich Blacks don't believe they can accumulate more assets while living in asset-poor neighborhoods and they would want to accumulate more assets while pulling their Tours of Duty; 3) most asset-rich Blacks will only live in the neighborhoods that would enable them to continue to accumulate as many assets as possible and asset-poor neighborhoods don't allow their residents to accumulate as many assets as possible; or 4) there simply aren't enough asset-rich Blacks who would have enough to time to spare in order to pull Tours of Duty without ruining their chances of a comfortable retirement?

#1 would be easy to refute, so I suspect that is not your position.

#2 would not be easy to refute, so that might be your position. However, there are certainly ways to work around this kind of problem, aren't there?

#3, if true, would indicate that even asset-rich Blacks, those who got theirs, would not be willing to pull Tours of Duty if doing so would slow down their paper chase. I know a few asset-rich Black folks like that. However, most of them just aren't able to accumulate all the assets they need to satiate their material desires before they reach sixty-five and they end up spending almost all their lives laboring for all the dollars they believe they need in order to live as opulently as they wish to live.

#4 would be easy to refute. There are thousands of asset-rich Blacks who wouldn't need to work another day in their lives. So "ice" [read as "money"] would not be main thing holding them back from pulling Tours of Duty.

would be that value.

These people already voted with their feet..., and no amount of wishful thinking is going to change that fact on the ground. Even if you could make a categorical value propo$ition centered on the potential economic benefit of urban re-aggregation and communicate that across multiple regional social networks - nothing would change - and for precisely the same set of reasons that there are no consequential Black venture capital firms, no consequential Black banks, and no major self-funded Black developmental institutions or philanthropies.

Short of a series of example-setting suburban or wealthy enclave atrocities straight out of the Turner Diaries, affluent kneegrows do not, will not, and can not see it in their self-interest to reaggregate. 

cnulan:

Perhaps you are stuck in the past or present? Black America is changing constantly. Knowledge of or theories about what she was able and willing to do yesterday are not always good tools to make plans for her with respect to what she will be willing and able to do tomorrow.

As far as common sense goes, I suspect as long as people can be incentivized to act based on the promise of accumulating more wealth or power or prestige there will always be ways to get folks to do things they were able, but not willing, to do before. If marketed and promoted well, the Tours of Duty for Black America might be able to offer asset-rich Blacks prestige incentives. And prestige incentives tend to lure those who are already asset-rich, those who already have some wealth and power.

And as far as your analyses of Black VCs, Black banks, Black developmental institutions, and Black philanthropies go, I'd need to determine whether you have the knowledge of what's out there one would need to be a credible analyst and what your definition of "consequential" is before I could responsibly accuse you of having lost your wits.

Excuse me while I get some popcorn.

common sense, actually, is a local phenomenon and DOES NOT apply universally to the actions of others.

I am in partial agreement with both Hopkins and my occasional sparring partner CNulan. My points of convergence here matter more than where I diverge so I won't dwell on the latter.

My question to both of you stems from the fact that my wife and I recently figured out that in order to maintain the lifestyle we currently enjoy that we would literally have to double our income in order to live in the largest city in the state where we reside. Our children, for example, would have to attend private schools because the public schools in this particular city are literally incapable of providing them with the quality of public education they are now receiving. The cost of purchasing a house that is comparable to the one we currently are living in would require that we double or, perhaps, even triple the size of the mortgage we now have.

I could list many other items but my point is that for many of us who might easily be placed in the asset rich category we simply cannot afford to return to live in these communities. The decline of city services, housing costs, poor schools, taxes and fees etc. simply serve as impediments that are too large to climb over or go around. The conditions in the cities that many of our people have to cope with on a daily basis, for example, greatly troubles us but moving back into those areas is just not financially feasible.

Warning: Unsafe language for work

http://www.break.com/index/mexican-attends-anti-immigration-rally.html

As I said in other places, We all know how much these folks loved Brown people until Al Sharpton ‘spread his racism’ and ‘kept us divided’ and Hip Hop taught them those ‘dirty words’.

And as far as your analyses of Black VCs, Black banks, Black developmental institutions, and Black philanthropies go, I'd need to determine whether you have the knowledge of what's out there one would need to be a credible analyst and what your definition of "consequential" is before I could responsibly accuse you of having lost your wits.

oops, I forget, you're an HNIC fanboy, and still a bit disoriented from self-congratulatory inertia...,

That may have some pull with the old worn out Link and AKA skeezers, but from where I sit, those social networks taken in their entirety have proven themselves about as worthless to substantive Black economic and political development as tits on a boar. If they were collectively raptured tomorrow, the only discernable indicator would be a lowered level of generalized kneegrow oxygen theft.

Did you get enough for me?

cnulan:

Black man, please get a hold of yourself.

Sir, you do lack taste. And, at your worst and most clueless, you can also waste plenty of pixels. How could you possibly profit from disrespecting the first African American Fraternity? A fraternity you apparently know little or nothing about. How could anyone possibly profit from half of the inimical comments you write? Who benefits from your toxic comments cnulan? Who is improved? Even you can't possibly benefit from this garbage you write. Why do you bother? And, why should anyone bother to take you seriously enough to even be insulted by your rancorous, puerile comments? Do you have any idea about what a decent psychoanalyst would have to say about what your antisocial, childish, and attention-begging behavior indicates?

You have begun to bore me with your bad taste and bad behavior. Someone your age, someone who works as hard to build his community as you claim to, someone as smart and well-educated as you, really should try to be more civil. Are you like this in real life, or is this just a persona you use in blog threads? Some sort of digital-bully who can't lay a decent argument out, mostly attacks others, and very rarely offers any original ideas of his own? This malodorous persona of yours lacks style and has no grace. Why don't you retire it and create a new one?

And while you work on that new, more palatable persona, why don't you brush up on your argumentation skills so you and I might have a decent dialog one day. You have dodged my arguments with your misdirections, subject-changes, irrelevant hyperlinks, attempted insults, and fallacies every time I have tried to encourage you to make some sense of your ambiguous or obfuscatory comments.

ptcruiser:

You describe some of the key challenges I believe would make it difficult for many asset-rich Black families to move into asset-poor Black communities.

I'd not advise asset-rich Blacks to move their families into our most distressed Black communities while their children were still with them. I think it would be best for asset-rich Blacks to do Tours of Duty before they have children or after they send their children off to live their adult lives. The uneconomical aspects of the scenario you describe--the need for private schools, the high prices of inner-city homes that would be fit for raising children, and the lack of quality municipal services--should justifiably discourage almost all asset-rich Black families from pulling Tours of Duty while their children were still with them.

Perhaps the best time for you and your spouse to move into an asset-poor Black community would be a few years after your children will have left for universities. Maybe you and your spouse could move into an asset-poor Black community between the year after your youngest child will have graduated from universities and year one of your children will make you grandparents. During these years, it might be easier to find an affordable small home or apartment that would be suitable for you and your spouse. I suspect, however, that it would be still be difficult to maintain the suburban home lifestyle you enjoy for the same price in most asset-poor Black communities.

First...

A comment on comments

Second

EC:

Tens of thousands of us should make plans to serve our country via three-, five-, or ten-year Tours of Duty for Black America.

"serve our country" struck me as odd.

Also like to note folks are talking about assets as commonly understood, not as you defined it. That was kind of expected.

EC, This "tour of duty" is an interesting idea, but what is the end goal?

What will the asset rich folk do when they move into the neighborhoods? Will their presence alone be enough, or is there some individual and collective action that would have to be taken? And, what metrics do you have to measure the benefits and progress of this tour of duty? There is also a cultural gap, having to do with class, that would have to be crossed.

I would also like to point out that the asset-rich blacks of today are a different breed from the asset-rich blacks of our grandparents time. Thus, we should not expect the same results in a wealth-integrated neighborhood as before. The professional demographics are different. It's my understanding that asset rich blacks of yesteryear were merchants, doctors, clergymen and the like whose dollars where made and mostly spent in the black community. Today, many professionals make and spend outside of where they live, black community or not.

Also the sources of wealth an 'asset rich' person has are different (and in some ways, more volatile) than yesterday.

I think, rather than move into lower-income and lower-class black communities, asset-rich blacks would do better pooling their financial wealth and owning the assets (business and residential) of said black communities. This would tie a person's interests in the community in ways that are as profound as moving in.

I would shift the goal and focus from living in the communities to owning the assets in the communities. These concepts are of course not mutually exclusive.

I would shift the goal and focus from living in the communities to owning the assets in the communities.

One of my ongoing disappointments is how black political capital was hijacked by the new black urban regimes that came to prominence in the wake of the Civil Rights Movement to support various urban redevelopment projects in which blacks did not own an equity interest in these projects. The land and buildings that gave physical form and vertical and horizontal dimension to what we call the "black community" was traded, bartered and sold away for little or nothing that was of tangible benefit to the masses.

The land should have been used to promote the development of a new merchant, shopkeeper and tradesman class in the black community to supplant what Jim Crow laws, redlining, discrimination in the capital markets, racist union practices and the Great Depression had destroyed.

For the "ownership" plan to work, there has to be a motivating factor that works in tandem with, but is not supplanted by, the profit motive.

BTW, the most important thing we can have in the black community today are banks (or equivalent financial services institutions) that are driven by altruism and not profit (though these can still be profitable). A good "black bank" in the poor neighborhoods that has generous credit services, savings and investment promotions, and is an institution that exudes stability would do alot of good.

Let's conduct an experiment. Let's all put up some dough, buy a "pay day" loan franchise, and lower the loan terms just enough to keep the lights on. Or raise enough capital to open a non-franchise business that could do this. If we strategized right, we could put competitors out of business and be profitable enough to expand services and locations.

keto:

You raise excellent points. I answer some of your questions in the full version of my original post . I only copied its first paragraph over here in P6's spot. I didn't want to put the entire post in this open thread.

In the second paragraph of my original post on this subject, I reference a robust definition of "assets" that includes social capital, cultural capital, and political capital. These forms of capital could be shared with or transferred to asset-poor Blacks at no cost to asset-rich Blacks. And, these forms of capital could be used by asset-poor Blacks to accumulate the forms of soft capital they would need to improve their life prospects and psychological wellbeing. Additionally, when asset-rich Blacks move into these neighborhoods, they would bring political clout with them. The increased political clout could lead to a bunch of beneficial outcomes for the community residents: political, governmental, medical, educational, entrepreneurial.

I have not thought about whether individual or collective action by asset-rich Blacks would be most effective. A little of both would probably be best for most communities. And, I suspect each community would vary with respect to how it could benefit most from the asset-rich Blacks who would pull 3-, 5-, or 10-year Tours of Duty. In some communities, the asset-rich Blacks might need to come together in order to revive social organization and institutions. In others, they might need to work with the available political economic resources to start small businesses or recruit corporations or help residents find good-paying jobs and transportation to those jobs. In other communities, they might help out most by simply mentoring or a looking out for a few dozen parents and children in their community.

Progress could be measured by crime rates, high school graduation rates, GPAs, school budgets, student-to-teacher ratios, unemployment rates, average income, and other key indicators. But honestly, I have not really given much thought to how performance should be measured. I do know I wouldn't want to develop a performance measurement scheme that might underestimate the magnitude of the improvements made by those who had served Tours of Duty. There would be some improvements that would be difficult to measure, such as average level of hopefulness, average level of social connectedness, average self-esteem levels, or other important factors related to psychological wellbeing. And the process of measuring performance might itself be expensive.

I suspect there would be efficient ways to help prepare asset-rich Blacks for whom the cultural or social shift would pose a problem. However, the cultural and social gap might not be a big issue with many asset-rich Blacks who would pull these Tours. For example, I spent my first 18 years in a working poor household as a member of an asset-poor Black community. Even though I have picked up cultural capital and different English dialects over the years, I fit right in when I visit the streets I came up in. And I still stay in touch with friends who never left those streets. Since, in my original post, I include middle-class Blacks in my definition of asset-rich, I would consider myself an asset-rich Black. So, when my wife and I pull our Tours, there should not be a big cultural or social gap. Moreover, we will be able to share our accumulated cultural capital with asset-poor Blacks who will be coming up in the same type of social system I was raised in. Blacks like me should be able to relate very effectively to asset-poor Blacks, while we pass on what we know of how other classes and cultures operate.

I agree with you that asset-rich Blacks should do more to pool our and others' financial resources and invest in distressed communities. Indeed, this is happening across the nation. Dozens of Black entrepreneurs are taking advantage of tax credit programs in order to invest in distressed communities that have empowerment zones. The federal tax credits alone can often improve EBITDA prospects enough to make business ventures in distressed communities sweet enough to investors. And smart municipal government officers often work out special deals with entrepreneurs if their ventures promise to bring in enough good-paying jobs. However, I think it is very important not to underestimate the value of transferring and sharing assets such as social capital, cultural capital, and political capital. One of the greatest benefits asset-poor Blacks would gain from routine, face-to-face interactions with asset-rich Blacks would be that they would get connected to our social networks. We could make phone calls or write letters of recommendation/introduction for them that would help them achieve their goals. We could also strengthen local institutions and organizations by adding our political clout and human capital to the mix. We could help put pressure on municipal government agencies and politicians to cater to our communities more effectively.

P6:

""serve our country" struck me as odd."

What could be more patriotic than building Black America?

Recall Marian Wright Edelman's sagacious words:

"I am not fighting just for myself and my people in the South, when I fight for freedom and equality. I realize now that I fight for the moral and political health of America as a whole and for her position in the world at large."

The Tours of Duty for Black America I'm thinking of would be nothing less than service to our country (and to the world). All Americans (and the Black and Brown people of the world) would benefit from a much stronger, more asset-rich Black America.

You have begun to bore me with your bad taste and bad behavior. Someone your age, someone who works as hard to build his community as you claim to, someone as smart and well-educated as you, really should try to be more civil. Are you like this in real life, or is this just a persona you use in blog threads? Some sort of digital-bully who can't lay a decent argument out, mostly attacks others, and very rarely offers any original ideas of his own? This malodorous persona of yours lacks style and has no grace. Why don't you retire it and create a new one?

Your "original idea" was a shallow retread, and this isn't the first time you've been pulled over for being simple. Whenever questioned or challenged, you resort to some of the silliest deductive posturing I've ever seen. It would've been so much easier to ask, "what does the expression "white folks ice is colder" mean?"

But then, you couldn't do that, could you? You still haven't gotten over that noble soldier stuffing you got on Blackprof and come to grips with the evanescent nature of this medium. Take a deep breath and repeat after me;

It's.really.not.that.serious.

Perhaps during this meditative moment, you'll also come up with something genuinely novel, complex, or otherwise worthy of consideration and discussion. just kidding.....,

And while you work on that new, more palatable persona, why don't you brush up on your argumentation skills so you and I might have a decent dialog one day. You have dodged my arguments with your misdirections, subject-changes, irrelevant hyperlinks, attempted insults, and fallacies every time I have tried to encourage you to make some sense of your ambiguous or obfuscatory comments.

Few things are more gratifying than pricking the tender bubble of vanity. So much unintended self-disclosure comes gushing out of the breach.

As it presently stands I won't hold this outburst against you. You're young and clearly enamoured of your newfound thought exteriorization outlet. But I've gotta tell you homie, the more of your puffery I encounter - the more firmly you convince me that you're somewhere between a queenbee and a hasnamuss wannabe. "one definition of Hasnamuss is 'the rustle of silk'"..., those who thirst after temporal "power" often are clothed in silk (such as secretive, self-serving elites)

where have the Boule been during the decades long decline of the spaces formerly known as Black communities?

Dozens of Black entrepreneurs are taking advantage of tax credit programs in order to invest in distressed communities that have empowerment zones. The federal tax credits alone can often improve EBITDA prospects enough to make business ventures in distressed communities sweet enough to investors. And smart municipal government officers often work out special deals with entrepreneurs if their ventures promise to bring in enough good-paying jobs.

undermines the corporate property tax base and doesn't effect or apply to the neediest portions of the community at all. Not a penny of eligible TIF investment and business development has taken place east of Troost in Kansas City.  OTOH - over a $Billion dollars of downtown redevelopment, the tenantless Sprint Center, a number of boutique hotels, and massive development in the upscale north Kansas City neighborhood of Briarcliff is what the taxpayers of KC have to show for enriching developers on the taxpayer dime. 

One of the greatest benefits asset-poor Blacks would gain from routine, face-to-face interactions with asset-rich Blacks would be that they would get connected to our social networks. We could make phone calls or write letters of recommendation/introduction for them that would help them achieve their goals. We could also strengthen local institutions and organizations by adding our political clout and human capital to the mix. We could help put pressure on municipal government agencies and politicians to cater to our communities more effectively.

3rd District Blues a cautionary tale of good intentions gone bye....,

 

Nash was a first-term councilman when he camped out on Prospect seven years ago. Intelligent, good-looking and determined to succeed (the son of a single mother, he'd earned a law degree after serving in the Air Force), Nash arrived at the City Council dripping with promise. But like the Prospect Corridor Initiative, he amounted to something less.

P6:

""serve our country" struck me as odd."

What could be more patriotic than building Black America?

I'm not a patriot. Not patriotic, either.

You jammed that in sideways. Just wondering why. 

cnulan:

You need to relax good buddy. What are you doing? What's wrong? Can you stop yourself? Why attack a Black fraternity? Why be antiBlack? Do you believe you must attack Black people in order to help other Black people? Do you even want to help Black people? And, what's all the talk about "unintended self-disclosure?" Why reference Nash? This wacky blog persona of yours is more than enough of a cautionary tale for me. You seem to have created an imaginary world along with your digitally-tough blog persona cnulan. You have already helped me greatly by serving as a warning against the vice of overblogging. Thank you. :)

I don't know whether I should spend a few posts explaining to you why you are wrong about my fraternity and tax credit deals that have been done or are in the works. You don't seem to have access to some information and your economic reasoning appears to be different from mine. I won't ask you to explain your conclusions. You don't often lay your arguments out for me when I ask you to, so why should I bother to ask you to do it now? I suspect leaving you alone would probably be my best course of action, as I suspect you would inundate me with more garbage if I keep going back and forth with you. People with your personality type don't know when to quit. Some of them can't quit. So, recognizing your weakness, your inability to quit, I'll stop participating in this fruitless exchange with you after this comment. I'll let you have the last word in our dreadful exchange. I know you love to get the last word in these blog threads.

cnulan, I value your opinions, when you make sense. But lately I've found it difficult to find much value in your comments. They have been unusually impotent and irrelevant. Moreover, you've been bugging out a little too much lately, as if you were very upset. But I don't dislike you at all. Your manners and judgment could use a lot of work, but you are quite harmless. Have I given you some indication that I have been anything other than annoyed or dissappointed with you? In fact, I was trying to help you earlier in this thread. I thought a little stern admonishment might help you see the gross errors in your tasteless and benighted ways. I was wrong. No, you need something special. You need a stage. You need a spotlight. Perhaps, you need an award of some sort. Maybe you need a trophy for "Black Blog Commentator of the Year." Or would you prefer the honor of "King of the Black Blog Commentators?" Would that solve your main problem? Would that give you the strength to be silent when you have nothing useful to add to a conversation?

P6:

"I'm not a patriot. Not patriotic, either."

I included "serve our country" in it because I am patriotic, and I am a patriot. And, I believe that serving Black America would be patriotic, because acts that would serve Black America would be one of the best ways to serve America.

But I suppose one needn't be an American Patriot in order to be willing to serve Black America. Whether someone views himself or herself as an American Patriot doesn't matter much to me if he or she is willing to serve Black America. Anyone who would improve Black America, and by improving Black America improve America, would be serving his or her country in my view. But that's just my view. Perhaps the phrase "serve our country" sounds too much like "serving in the military." That's not a link I intended, but I can see how some would make that connection, especially when the phrase "Tours of Duty" is hanging around as well.

I believe asset-rich Blacks have a duty to help asset-poor Blacks. Asset-rich Blacks who don't attempt to help at least a few dozen asset-poor Blacks become asset-rich Blacks are sell-outs in my opinion. And I believe asset-rich Blacks, who would move back into our distressed communities, could do more to help asset-poor Blacks than they would if they were to merely invest their financial wealth in buildings and businesses.

You need to relax good buddy. What are you doing? What's wrong? Can you stop yourself? Why attack a Black fraternity? Why be antiBlack? Do you believe you must attack Black people in order to help other Black people? Do you even want to help Black people? And, what's all the talk about "unintended self-disclosure?" Why reference Nash? This wacky blog persona of yours is more than enough of a cautionary tale for me. You seem to have created an imaginary world along with your digitally-tough blog persona cnulan. You have already helped me greatly by serving as a warning against the vice of overblogging. Thank you. :)

"All sword techniques come from one, kiri otoshi (dropping cut)"...,

First:

Y'all who entered the discussion with EC, feel free to maneuver around the personal disputes here until I figure out a way to stomp on them forever. And I will. It may involve throwing folks into moderation mode (and had Craig started a discussion that similarly turned into an interpersonal mess, I'd say the same thing).

First and a half:

I could point out threads here on P6 where it it obvious to me one or another person simply did not want the topic pursued. Threads where two or three people decided my topic would be overridden. Not having it. Period.

Second:

I included "serve our country" in it because I am patriotic, and I am a patriot.

I just find it to be a total non-sequitur...detritus to be cleared away as it really adds nothing that needs be considered to judge the reasonability of this germ of an idea. In fact, I sort of feel patriotism is an obstacle to clear thought in this case. I feel taking a stand on citizenship makes a lot more sense for Black folks.

That can wait for another thread for discussion (or, this being an open thread, now if you like).

P6:

"I just find it to be a total non-sequitur...detritus to be cleared away as it really adds nothing that needs be considered to judge the reasonability of this germ of an idea."

While I think my explantaion for using the phrase "serve our country" does follow (and therefore is not a non sequitur fallacy), I agree with you that this rhetorical choice is not optimal. Any unnecessary rhetorical choice that would be likely to steer a large number of disaffected or unpatriotic asset-rich Blacks away from the idea I'm proposing, 3-, 5-, or 10-year tours of duty, should be replaced. Thanks for that great feedback on the rhetoric. It will help me refine the way I present the concept to others down the road.

What would be a more palatable name for these Tours of Duty? Or is "Tours of Duty" already a good name?

Instead of using "serve our country" would it be better to use something like "rebuild Black America" or "strengthen Black America" or "combat Black poverty, joblessness, and political economic inequity?"

Okay, it is clear that the two of you have issues and don't agree about a whole lot of things. That said, can we get back to discussing how we might pool our wisdom (or ignorance) and produce a few ideas good about how to promote appropriate and sustained development in majority black communities?

I have to admit though that I stand, probably wholeheartedly, with Nulan with regard to the collective efficacy of black fraternities and sororities but I am entirely open to considering any decent proposals that would promote the appropriate reconstruction of inner-city urban neighborhoods regardless of the source. I do not think, however, that any plans that are dependent on middle-class blacks returning to these neighborhoods are feasible. I think, too, that the reasons offered by those who have contributed to this aspect of the discussion are far too narrowly drawn. There are an large pool factors that motivated middle class blacks or blacks with middle class aspirations to leave urban communities.

I suggest that any credible community and economic development plan has to stem from acquiring and sustaining ownership of the land in these communiities. I am not suggesting that the rates of black homeownership need to be increased, which has become the standard panacea offered over the last ten years. I don't think, for example, that the income levels of most inner-city blacks allows them to sustain the type of single-family homeownership that is often glowingly spoken of as "the American Dream." The predictable and inevitable meltdown in the sub-prime mortgage market demonstrates this point no matter how many sub-prime lenders engaged in what the Brits call "sharp practices."

There are, however, other forms of homeownership such as cooperative housing that can ensure control of the land and allow shareowners in the cooperative to develop equity and build assets. In addition, this form of ownership requires a degree of involvement on the part of the members that will force them to acquire the skils and perspectives they need to tackle larger issues in their communities. Another form of homeownership could be based on creating a new housing bond program underwritten by, for example, the city where these residents live.

This program entails identifying anywhere from 50 to 100 potential homeowners in a given community and having them pool their collective mortgage purchasing power to buy 50 to 100 modular homes at one time thus achieving a 10 to 15 percent reduction in the cost of each home. The money saved from this discount would be pooled to create a development district that would provide low interest loans to attract the sort of small businesses and service providers that any viable neighborhood contains. Some examples of these businesses would be a dry cleaners, shoe repair shop, fresh produce store etc.

Okay, it is clear that the two of you have issues

s'all good PT. I got 99 problems, but E.C. ain't one...,

Nah, my beef is with the philosophy and praxis upheld for generations by certain folks;

The strategy advocated by DuBois' was based on the talented tenth concept. Namely that a small elite of enlightened African-Americans had to be in the leadership of the fairly recently emancipated black slaves.

His emphasis was on the development of black service professionals: lawyers, accountants, journalists, and such. Given, however, that he in effect advocated the retardation of the development of a broad class of black property owners, farmers, plumbers, and electricians, Dubois' "service professionals" had no one to service - except white folks. Thus began the battle of the black Talented Tenth for integration. "I am Somebody", "Gimme a Job".

It should've been, "Gimme my Land"

as if on cue, Mr. Fisher launched a cruise missile of relevant historical clarity.

I had the pleasure of chatting with the brother for an hour or so yesterday morning. A veritable treasure trove of edifying insight into the recent history of why things are as they are..., I would pay good money to sit quietly and hear you and he discuss the underbelly of 20th century machinations and their sundry effects on Black folk.

to the extent that they do not call primarily for non-residential institution building within black communities. It seems to me that the most advantageous use of capital (financial and otherwise) is to invest in the educational excellence of our students (regardless of age) in the areas of math, science and culture. To my mind, the only way out is through - and that means through our cultural grounding in service to our increased control of our material world. That can look at least a million different ways, but ultimately it will closely resemble a "scientific self-determination" that eschews essentialism and proximics in favor of authentic working relationships determined by mutual interest, comparable capacities and complementary work ethics. In a manner of speaking, it ain't where you're from or where you're at, but how you be.

I don't believe that you can develop stable educational institutions in communities where families, especially families headed by single parents, are constantly struggling to find safe, affordable and decent housing. Here is an excerpt from a paper that I wrote a few years ago at the request of the Marguerite Casey Foundation (Marguerite Casey was the daughter of Annie E. Casey and the sister of James Casey, the founder of UPS.):

"Recent studies show that children are now the fastest growing segment of the homeless population; the national median age for a homeless shelter resident is nine. Children and their parents currently comprise 38 percent of the homeless population and the demand for emergency shelter by families with children has increased 50 percent since 1995. Despite the unprecedented economic boom of the 1990s, the number of homeless children and families is larger than any other time since the Great Depression.

"The lack of housing robs children in other critical ways too. A 1990’s federally funded report on homeless families in Massachusetts revealed that homeless children reported being ill at twice the rate of poor children who were never homeless; and, more than two-thirds were afflicted with chronic illnesses like asthma and anemia. Developmental delays, learning disabilities, anxiety, depression and suspensions from school also occurred with a far greater frequency among homeless children than other poor children."

I think the bricks and mortar paradigm is dead if we are talking about those large scale residential and commercial monstrosities that were put forth in the 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s as the solution for revitalizing urban communities. These proposals should have been declared dead on arrival when they were initially put forth because they contain everything that is antithetical to building viable and sustainable communities.

I don't think that we are faced with an either/or choice. We can have stable residential neighborhoods and stable, progressive schools. What I favor, for example, is not the construction of new schools, which too often just become the tools of real estate interests and educational bureaucrats, but the identification of existing structures within these communities that could be converted into appropriate schools serving no more than 100 to 200 students in each facility. I think, to go further, that many of the existing school buildings in these communities should be razed or reconstructed so that the land can be used for more than just a school.

I would pay good money to sit quietly and hear you and he discuss the underbelly of 20th century machinations and their sundry effects on Black folk.

The donation button is in the right-hand column. 

In a manner of speaking, it ain't where you're from or where you're at, but how you be.

A Cobb-ism? 

1. I don't know why we are talking about fraternities. Wasn't my idea.

2. I agree with some of Du Bois', some of Washington's and some of Garvey's ideas. No need to talk about their philosophies or philosophies at all for that matter. Let's talk about action.

3. I don't think the concept of the talented tenth works in the 21st Century. In fact, I don't think inborn talent play a big role in determining whether one becomes and asset-rich Black

I think we need asset-rich Blacks, middle-class and up, who got their assets via talent or hard work or social capital or pedigree or luck to put in some real work for asset-poor Black communities. These communities need entrepreneurship, better educational systems, political organization, psychological repair, cultural healing, better health care, and other others sorts of things. The U.S. is rich enough to afford to make it happen. Asset-rich Blacks could probably do it on our own. We need to make the committment and we need a movementandr a flexible institution (set of shared beliefs and objectives) that could enable us to develop custom solutions for each community. Each community will probably need something unique from us.

I don't think that we are faced with an either/or choice. We can have stable residential neighborhoods and stable, progressive schools. What I favor, for example, is not the construction of new schools, which too often just become the tools of real estate interests and educational bureaucrats, but the identification of existing structures within these communities that could be converted into appropriate schools serving no more than 100 to 200 students in each facility.

One night over beers, my boy Gerry Reynolds told me at great length about a business plan he had constructed for cooperative housing, daycare, and jobs training for single mothers. As I recollect, it rather closely fit what you described thus;

There are, however, other forms of homeownership such as cooperative housing that can ensure control of the land and allow shareowners in the cooperative to develop equity and build assets. In addition, this form of ownership requires a degree of involvement on the part of the members that will force them to acquire the skils and perspectives they need to tackle larger issues in their communities.

and no, it wasn't larded up with any draconian social constrictions a la something you'd expect from the late Jerry Falwell, but it was braced by the notion of community values to be upheld by all residents. A lot of folks see the need and have formulated what sound for all the world like viable tactics for addressing it. Now nothing to it but to organize the investors, pull together a management team, and commence to doing the dang thang. A successful pilot would put this cooperative housing syndicate in tall clover for replicating the model nationwide.

Hell, it could be done in conjunction with a couple of mainstream church denominations like the missionary baptists or the united methodists...,

While I think my [explanation] for using the phrase "serve our country" does follow (and therefore is not a non sequitur fallacy), I agree with you that this rhetorical choice is not optimal.

There's no fallacy because there's only assertions and questions (no problem with that, by the way...I'm seeing the developing discussion as something of a rorschach test).

Thanks for that great feedback on the rhetoric.

Not a problem. That may be all the direct help I got, though. Most of my assets are not fungible, and I've never been far from (or abandoned) the crew I grew out of. Like the "serve your country" bit, your idea targets guys like you.

I think that we might all be better off if these two men had had less of a nearly pathological need to control everything and everyone around them. (DuBois, for example, actually browbeat his only child into marrying a man who everyone in Harlem knew to favor men as his preferred sexual partners.) It is as if both of these men either could not see or refused to see that black people needed both those of intellectual achievement and those who wanted to be merchants, shopkeepers and tradesmen to flourish in this hostile country.

It was foolish in the extreme, for example, for Washington to think for even one minute that black men and women of intellectual talent and skills were ever going to accept second class citizenship or, more importantly, him as the undisputed and unchallenged leader of Black Americans. 

We are still living with the legacy of their personal flaws and overweening egos.  

...business plan he had constructed for cooperative housing, daycare, and jobs training for single mothers.

One of the VERY major hurdles to get over is that banks and other financial institutions don't like and often refuse to put up any money for the predevelopment costs associated with the creation of cooperative housing. In 2002, for example, I wrote a proposal that would use TANF (Temporary Aid to Needy Families) funds to cover these predevelopment costs. It was a novel idea and proposal and to my delight the Bush appointees at Health and Human Services bought into it. I could not, however, get the folks I was working with at a state agency where I was working at the time to buy into it because they were more concerned about me encroaching on their turf than in us trying to expand definitions of homeownership. 

Nah, that's all me.

HCZ. 

I think it is vitally important to continue to talk about Washington-DuBois-Garvey. Our personal sentiments are not as important as understanding their assessments and actions and institutional commitments. Historical cycles repeat and we are presently in a cycle that looks a great deal like the one that gave rise to these men and their organizations. I wouldn't suggest ever abandoning this discussion because it encapsulates a great majority of the cultiral-political-economic debate we've had as a people since day one. In many respects, these issues are unresolved and will remain so until we formulate an ethos that is transcends racism and posits Black folk as independent and powerful. For me, none of this is about a reaction to white folks or racism, per se...after all, the TransAtlantic Slave Trade was the second multi-generational debilitating trade on the continent - and the motive conditions for such trade still obtain on the continent. Those conditions were not precipitated by Europeans, but were certainly abetted by them. In the final analysis, our coming together for mutual benefit should not be about white folks or anything so mundane. It should be about something more substantial, more vibrant, more energizing and more inspiring.

Perhaps the reason I feel compelled to mention that at all is because I know all too well our Scylla and Charybdis of failed development attempts.  Organizations must be led and sustained by positive people.  Folks who dwell on the negative (talking about white folks sans solutions) drain the energy from organizations...some folks can't help it; some are paid to do so.  Avoiding this danger is as easy as establishing some serious rigor in your organization - and folks can have fun with it, but our collectives don't have time for BMW-ing about things without some responsibility for developing tactical solutions.  If you see a devil, tell folks how to snatch his pitchfork and put him down, otherwise, pipe down.

The second danger, which has been laid out clearly by nulan and pt cruiser are all of these skank, dank, stank-ass gate keepers in pews or in office or in offices with titles or small fiefdoms with a vested interest in undermining the community.  There are thousands of these people in NYC.  They keep their constituents impoverished and in dependency cycles - for bullshit housing built on the quick with inferior supplies - for bullshit charter schools run by incompetent sex partners - for cosmetic grant awards to run bullshit programs with no rigor, no evaluation, no skilled practitioners and no method of improving service delivery from one year to the next.  

This is a big game to many, many people - and they're simply trying to get a little piece of the pie.  There is no "ideological debate" that approximates the DuBois-Washington conflict...this is about the difference between graft (and the practice of creating concessions for mediocre muhfukkas who can't even write a sentence) and the patience required to transform a community.  There is a crisis of confidence on the part of the grifters and grafters...they doubt the viability of their own people and seek to skim pennies off the top - all the while undermining the entire ambition of the project - and dashing the hopes of another generation. 

Communities like Harlem, Bed-Stuy, Brownsville and others look the way they do because Black clergy and politicians are playing a game of "small ball."  Content to take crumbs off the table - and block entry to folks with business plans, they maintain their fiefdoms through superstition and demagoguery.  I could support folks moving back to the 'hood, but not back to a hood they didn't already own.  You cannot go to these politicians unless you've already bought them and can dictate terms.  Politicians are whores and must be treated as such.  It is imperative that any such movement do two things: 1) listen to the community and 2) set terms with the political whores.  It's not a debate or a negotiation...it's an our-way or the highway deal where politicos are told to get on board or get ta steppin'.  The same, of course, goes for the clergy hoes. 

These people understand precious little other than dollars and double-dipping and concessions.  You cannot work with them unless you have a slush fund just for corrupt bastards that need to be tossed in a ditch.  Perhaps that first tour of duty could consist of a forensic analysis of what has happened to development dollars and proposals in our respective communities under the watch of these folks...then we can have a Dollars and Sense discussion about crookit muhfukkas and how to dispose of their asses. 

T3: 

HCZ is cool if you respect schema therapy (I do, for most cases).

EC:

Recalling our discussion at your joint , we never got to the point of my actually suggesting a next best option given my known biases. Still interested?

Amen, my brother, amen. To every word and sentence you wrote .

I want to add a minor point, though. Your analysis also demonstrates why we should refrain from buying into the MSM and others casting the debate and differences among blacks as the Civil Rights Generation versus the Post-Civil Rights Generation.

Back in the day, many, many of us who talked the talk and walked the walk were just as opposed to so-called black leaders like Sharpe James and other hustlers and con artists who emerged out of our struggle and found their place at the trough. There is no generational gap in black leadership. There is and always has been a gap between those of us who were genuinely about something and those of us who were looking out only for themselves.

There are many gatekeepers born of the Post-Civil Rights Generation - and they've come to their positions by virtue of having lost their, uh, virtue.

P6:

"Recalling our discussion at your joint , we never got to the point of my actually suggesting a next best option given my known biases. Still interested?"

Sure. I'm always open to good suggestions. I'm still in idea absorption mode; my mind is not yet hermetically sealed. And, I'm still deliberating over the life options I have. If you want to start up a new thread over here in your house, I'll roll through. I have a few months of leisure before I have to begin law school and put the breaks on the blogging. So I have time for good conversations.

Temple3:

Some of your comments, especially those dealing with Black corruption struck a cord with me. What in the world could be more reprehensible than powerful Blacks selling-out Blacks? I suspect corrupt Blacks willing to sell-out their own for personal gain is a bigger problem in the Northeast and the Midwest than it is in the Southwest. We don't have many problems like that in my State. There is more transparency among the Black power elite and there may be more authentic Black-focused altruism here. Only twenty years ago, prospects were very different for Blacks in AZ. However, things have changed and are changing. And, if a few hundred thousand Blacks were to move to AZ or the region, I suspect they could accumulate assets faster here than in most other states or regions.

The problems with Black corruption and intrarace, interclass power struggles may be part of the legacy costs that make rebuilding distressed Black communities in major U.S. cities so difficult. One way to get around these legacy costs might be to help many Blacks migrate to states and cities where their prospects would be much better. Right off the top I can easily see potential concerns and some the challenges associated with a migration such as this, but I suspect many of those concerns and challenges could be dealt with.

We were able to quickly find jobs for Black Katrina survivors when they came to my city. And thousands of good jobs are still available throughout the State. Housing costs are low. And we are entrepreneur-friendly. In fact, there are several industries for which partners and I have actively recruited Black entrepreneurs. Construction, plastics, optics, biotech, aerospace, software, international trade, and food service entrepreneurs would find a happy home here. Additionally, we have programs to help would-be minority franchisees. Could mass migrations work?

I'm assuming some of you are entrepreneurs and have helped to build a few lucrative business organizations or flourishing nonprofits. I'm assuming some of you have brokered a few business deals and done some of the behind-the-scenes political economic and investor-courting work that must get done to get big deals off the ground. And, I'm assuming most of you have built the necessary relationships and have the reputations and credentials you would need to access the resources required to convert great strategies into action.

So I'd like to learn more how some of you advise folks who come to you with great ideas—especially great ideas that need more than a little money, social capital, or political clout—but no means of making them happen. I've come across a lot of folks who have been passionate about improving Black America or their communities. Unfortunately, almost none of the people who share their great ideas with me know how to or are able to convert their strategies into action. And it is very rare that they have accumulated enough wealth, power, or prestige to even begin to make their ideas happen. So, their ideas almost always stop at passionate words.

Do you all often help people with great ideas get access to the money, human capital, social capital, and politicians they need to make their community-improving ideas a reality? If so, how do you screen someone out to determine whether he or she is qualified to lead a big deal/project or could effectively manage millions of other people's resources? I usually can't help altruistic Black folks with great ideas get the resources they want because they lack a decent business plan, they lack a decent management team, they lack experience, they lack a good reputation, they have high indebtedness or bad credit, or they lack education and credentials. They come to me with great ideas but also with fatal, deal-killing flaws that make it impossible for me to help them find investors. So it ends up being all the stuff they don't have, all the wealth, power, or prestige they could not or chose not to accumulate, that renders them and their great ideas impotent. Do some of you in the Northeast or Midwest run into these same problems in your neck of the woods?

"And, if a few hundred thousand Blacks were to move to AZ or the region, I suspect they could accumulate assets faster here than in most other states or regions."

In the same manner that Black folk moved to the north for work roughly one century ago, the same is possible today.  Employers can drive migrations and create conditions that "asset rich neighbors" cannot.  A mass migration west and south would be interesting.  I believe the essential pre-conditions are jobs and housing.  If those conditions can be achieved through a market-based approach, that's fine.  The government-based approach has had limited success because of the demographics of the east and the north.  If you build it, they will come.

If you want to start up a new thread over here in your house, I'll roll through.

We're already here. And I can describe it quickly.

Open a chain of day care/child care centers in low income neighborhoods. You can hire local, get government contracts (you'd be biting the National Urban League, but I don't think they're doing this work so you're not really in competition). Your business plan would be to grow it into a chain of k-6 charter schools that provide a solid liberal arts education.

Profitable and beneficial. I think that meets your specs.

I want to add a little something to P6's suggestion. What is really, really needed in low income neighborhoods are child care centers that operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Many, many low wage employees work on jobs that require them to work swing and graveyard shifts and on weekends too. This is especially true of those who work in the service industries such as hospitals, nursing homes, sunshine communities, hotels, restaurants, transportation services, janitorial services etc. This is true too for newly hired employees in civil service jobs at correctional facilities, security guards, cafeteria workers etc. Many of these employees are single women who have to rely on the kindness of relatives, friends and neighbors to look after their children.

appears to be sounding better by the minute. I'll give the brother a call and see if he will put his hand to it with an eye toward at least sharing its executive summary.

P6:

I'll make my final decision concerning which law school community I'll join this week. Currently I'm on the waitlist for a very powerful elite law school. I informed them I could wait until the end of this week for their final decision. If I go to law school there, then my entrepreneurial goal/life project will likely be to build at least one mid-sized business that would create hundreds of jobs in a relatively small geographic area. There are approximately eight predominantly Black cities I think I could pull this off in. I would start putting things together in one of these cities after law school. This entrepreneurial approach would kill two important birds with one stone: 1) it would decrease joblessness and poverty in one, two, or three political districts; 2) it would encourage politicians to distribute more political resources to those one, two, or three districts, as politicians tend to cater to the interests of their districts' biggest employers and their districts' biggest employers' employees. I agree with one of the theses in NYU Professor of Politics Fiona McGillivary's book Privileging Industry: The Comparative Politics of Trade and Industrial Policy, that "political institutions and the geographical dispersion of industries interact to determine which industries governments privilege." And I believe the very best way to help an asset-poor Black political district would be to build at least one successful mid-sized business in it. This would be a difficult project due largely to the tricky political economics in many of our predominantly Black cities, but I'd spend the next three years trying to figure out in which city I could have a decent shot at working with others to build such a mid-sized business.

A national or regional chain of child care centers/schools would not lead to both the substantial job creation and substantial increases in political capital in any particular political district that a successful mid-sized business would. However, ptcruiser's 24/7 child care operation idea would be a great resource for asset-poor urban communities. It would certainly be a worthwhile project to help get these types of facilities up and running in a few dozen communities. Even though a regional or national franchise model would enable each center/school to benefit from economies of scale, I don't know how lucrative such a chain of centers/schools would be (I wonder what the average EBITDA for inner-city centers/schools is?), and therefore I don't know if big investors would be willing to get involved in launching a new franchise of centers/schools. And making the move to 24/7 centers/schools would probably decrease profits somewhat. But I am sure there is a way to pull something like this off on a large scale, even though the different state and municipal regulations and laws for child care centers and charter schools might make it difficult to maintain much uniformity between the centers/schools, decreasing efficiency. Honestly, I don't think I would be the best person to try to take something like this on.

Several other small points. I suspect that the lack of round the clock day care is a significant barrier to entry level employment for a large number of blacks, again, in the service industries.

Another major issue is transportation. I do not understand why, for example, black churches that own vans and buses, many of which sit idle during the week, don't hire these vehicles out to appropriately licensed drivers to operate as jitney services during off-peak hours. These jitneys could provide transportation to and from work for inner-city blacks (and others) who often work at suburban locations such as airports.

Several years ago , for example, UPS built a new facility near the Philadelphia airport and the company was literally begging for people to work in the evenings and overnight. One of the problems was that many of the people that UPS would have hired did not have private transportation and SEPTA's buses stopped running to the location near the facility at around 10:00 p.m. This meant that people who could work evening shifts had no way to get home and folks who could have worked overnight had no way to get to the facility.

The churches could generate revenue for their activities while providing a needed service to the communities where they are located.  

I don't think they can be successfully franchised or set up as a national business. I just believe they are necessary adjuncts to the process of rebuilding inner-city communities and assisting parents who need to work.

A national or regional chain of child care centers/schools would not lead to both the substantial job creation and substantial increases in political capital in any particular political district that a successful mid-sized business would. However, ptcruiser's 24/7 child care operation idea would be a great resource for asset-poor urban communities. It would certainly be a worthwhile project to help get these types of facilities up and running in a few dozen communities.

If you start with "what do Black folks need," the set of possibilities is different than if you start with "what mid-sized business can I build that employs Black people." And I DID say I'd rather see you work on doing good now instead of waiting until you've accrued all the power and status you can.

My advice will always be conditioned by my priorities.

I don't think they can be successfully franchised or set up as a national business.

I think it can, actually. You can build a charter-school-in-a-can with a bag of open source software...what you have to teach doesn't change much state to state. In fact, I can think of a number of techie approaches to things that could scale nicely.

P6:

Perhaps we would disagree on what Black folks need most or on which tactics would help them get what they need most fastest. Additionally, my professional background has prepared to do some things better than other things. Someone else would be more fit for the project you suggest, perhaps someone older and more knowledgeable about the child care industry.

I believe it is important for us to use our resources so that maximum benefit would be gained from our investments of time, financial resources, and other forms of capital (human capital, individual capital, cultural capital, social capital).

If I were in my forties or fifties I probably would focus more on shorter-term entrepreneurial projects. However, I still have enough time to take on some difficult projects that might need a decade or more to germinate/develop. Some of the best projects for Black America might require a lot of preparatory work and won't show results while the prep work is being done. But some of us need to go to work on these types of projects, even while others go to work on projects that show results faster. Those who will work on the long-term projects will be doing good as we prepare to execute and doing good when we execute. So I think I got the doing good part covered.

My goal, however, is not merely to do good or do yield quick results. It is to do as much good as I can over the course of the next 30 to 40 years. I want to use that whole block of time wisely. So I'll probably have to pass on some short-term projects, in order to get some difficult and perhaps more valuable long-term projects done.

I remember sitting in a VC Case Study class a few years ago. In it, a guy who had been in the industry for 25 years shared with us a few of his current portfolio businesses. Anyway, this VC investor had invested in a daycare business targetted at lower income/inner city customers. I remember alot of operational hurdles to get it off the ground, including optimal location, and staffing. However, the larger point is that this venture had a projected profit structure that attracted the cash of a VC, and this business was able to withstand the aggressive milestones and requirements of a VC investor--in other words, the business was robust and capable of generating sustainable profit. On travel now, but will try to dig out some details of this venture, and get some names. My impression is that such a venture will take time, dedication and sustained competent management to get past the birthing pains, which may include a considerable time in the red. In a business that seems to have a high employee turnover, and is highly regulated, the management is key.

Also know a brother who is CEO of a Boys and Girls Club. He may have some ideas to share about the operational hurdles.

in New York to guarantee slots in a charter school to children in a Pre-K program - and Charters may not operate pre-K programs....STILL an EXCELLENT IDEA because it is likely that a high percentage of grade K enrollees would come from a Pre-K program with a close affiliation (albeit separate funding stream) to a charter school. This is the inspiration behind HCZ. The grade configuration model is different, however, because there is an emphasis on MIDDLE SCHOOL continuity and schools are going K-8. The thought is that children often "lose their way" in middle schools - and are subjected to increasingly unsafe environments. K-8 schools are intended to provide stability, safety and security in a familiar environment. The profitability of this approach is beyond doubt. There's big loot to be had by Exec. Direcs. and qualified staff - and you don't have to skimp on services if you do this correctly and leverage your numbers into partnerships with the private sector and small market, local vendors with a desire to deliver quality products. HCZ works with a number of small, organic farmers to provide all children with high-quality organic foods at the school. That's a major accomplishment and it stimulates the type of small scale economic production that make GOOD choices sustainable.

Also Illegal in New York to guarantee slots in a charter school to children in a Pre-K program - and Charters may not operate pre-K programs

Details, details.

STILL an EXCELLENT IDEA because it is likely that a high percentage of grade K enrollees would come from a Pre-K program with a close affiliation (albeit separate funding stream) to a charter school.

...but you know that.

Laws are binding but not motivating. Make your plans and find the laws you need to make it work. There's enough laws out there to justify whatever you want to do. 

All a matter of configuration and cascading execution. 

Perhaps we would disagree on what Black folks need most or on which tactics would help them get what they need most fastest.

Diplomatically understated.

Additionally, my professional background has prepared to do some things better than other things. Someone else would be more fit for the project you suggest, perhaps someone older and more knowledgeable about the child care industry.

This was presented as an answer to your question. Since you don't order priorities as I do I expect you'd see it as less than optimum for you.

If I were in my forties or fifties I probably would focus more on shorter-term entrepreneurial projects. However, I still have enough time to take on some difficult projects that might need a decade or more to germinate/develop.

I'm looking at a generational problem. I don't expect to live long enough to resolve it.

For you, sir, who hasn't set his goal yet beyond "a mid-sized business that creates sufficient wealth and prestige to allow me, after the acquisition of said wealth and prestige, to affect the greater society to benefit my people"...is that a fair summation, or is your long term project selected yet?...I just want to point out the intersection of our respective solution sets is substantial.

Though not total. 

Day care is one area where Black women have amassed a great deal of experience and skill in service delivery. On the flip side, many day care centers do not provide the type of rich learning environment that children need to move forward - but that's the easy part. Developing an appropriate curriculum, hiring and managing the staff is relatively easy. In addition, identifying optimal locations is easy. Churches and community centers located in federal housing projects or the lower levels of new condominiums all provide optimal spaces for non-profit entities to establish high-quality day care centers.

I don't know the job target for a mid-level business, but a day care center and a charter school can create no less than 100 jobs if done properly.  Moreover, the demand for schools is very high.  The dissatisfaction with public schools is higher.  A provider could reasonably establish multiple centers and schools in relatively close proximity in cities like New York or Chicago while "beating the pants off of the existing providers."  Of course, this effort will be met with opposition because there are existing gravy trains that will be disrupted - and those "ridahs" will want to derail a high-quality program because it exposes the contradiction of their own claims.  That is easily overcome with a nice shiny new space - and that's the key to making this attractive to a VC.  HCZ has new spaces.  

Architecture is a powerful tool - and it makes impressions that take considerable effort to undo.  There are three 50,000+ sq. ft. charter schools in New York City and it is difficult not to be impressed by these structures.  When someone tells you they are doing great work in a shabby facility, it is harder to believe.  These structures can generate the type of tenacious loyalty that can overcome even the grimiest opposition from the fugliest of Black Democrats and chuhch folk.   

Finally, the structure could look something like this: Non-Profit Group ("The P6 Family Education Group") - staffed with an Exec. Direc., an assistant or 2; a fundraiser/grantwriter; 4 or 5 program associates; support staff...FEG applies for and receives charter for P6 Charter School for Enterprising Young Africans or some such name.  CSEYA will school serving grades K-8.  Non-Profit FEG creates a "Friends of CSEYA" charitable organization to run the preschool.  Friends of CSEYA and CSEYA are fiscally and operationally separate entities with minimally overlapping board members and discrete practices to ensure ethical operations, etc.  Friends group has limited staff - to route donations to the pre-K program; to hire and evaluate program staff, etc.  The umbrella organization FEG is then free to manage a broader spectrum of activities with a principle focus on fundraising and extending the brand in a competitive market.  CSEYA, the charter school, could open a year or two after the pre-school gets going and is solid operationally.  This lag will allow the management team and instructional staff to establish the future school's culture and modes of operation.

The FEG umbrella group, by that time, should have sufficient demand for enrollment and revenues from delivering pre-K services to begin to ramp up staffing to provide a broader spectrum of services (including increasing hours for families working non-traditional hours).  The FEG could build bridges with Black vendors to provide meals, educational materials and all manner of products required at the pre-K and the charter school.  If this done nationally, it would allow certain vendors to dramatically increase the scale of their enterprises and generate new benefits beyond the local area.  A South Carolina farmer with a national contract serving five charter schools from California to Maine could do some big things in a little place like Columbia. 

I know the numbers work - but the key is getting a facility.  One option in New York City is for an entity to build a new facility that may be leased back to the City of New York and then rented by the non-profit tenant.  This is being today and I'd rather not say how cheap the rent is if you get this type of agreement.  The facility, the facility, the facility!!  Ariel Capital Management have a VC wing?

I've got the "work around" on the law.

the Pre-K and the Charter School...Consider that education systems are being privatized. The largest expenditures for schools are for food and transportation. You can certainly establish a mid-sized business that provides food or transportation services to schools. Another increasing area of expenditures is technology. There is no reason why these "plans" would be mutually exclusive. School budgets are matters of public record and a cursory review will indicate the areas where ground can be taken. Perhaps you'd like to provide insurance for schools or financial services for teachers (over and above the minimal support provided by unions). It's not as though a young teacher entering a profession at 24 or 25 can't easily save $1 million by retirement with modest strategies. Privatization in New Orleans and other cities mean big bucks for the one who get there with the firtest and the mostest. The same will be said of New York soon. What about custodial services? Huge dollars there. What about general contracting for dilapidated buildings? What about legal services that may no longer be provided by a district or the city? What about financial management? All of these areas are going to be privatized and schools will need considerable assistance in meeting the demands of a changing regulatory environment.

The grade configuration model is different, however, because there is an emphasis on MIDDLE SCHOOL continuity and schools are going K-8. The thought is that children often "lose their way" in middle schools - and are subjected to increasingly unsafe environments. K-8 schools are intended to provide stability, safety and security in a familiar environment.

Inexpert opinion here...I'd like to split that band of grades around puberty somewhere. Just before or just after, not sure which. I think there's arguments for both. But everything else, yeah.

you don't have to skimp on services if you do this correctly and leverage your numbers into partnerships with the private sector and small market, local vendors with a desire to deliver quality products.

I was thinking along the lines of having print-on-demand capabilities at each, what, school franchise. Your national school network can negotiate the reprint rights for whatever books/articles/subscriptions you need on a collective basis. The one small music focused charter school in Detroit might get a better deal when buying jointly with nine or ten other similar schools.

But HCZ's deal with the local organic farmers is an excellent example in the 'other direction,' like roots and branches growing at the same time.

is decreasing every year due, in large part, to the hormone injected foods our children are consuming. I hear, via Dr. Mehmet Oz, that this problem is worse among Black folk than the general population. Some schools have gone to a K-5 model and then introduced middle schools as serving grades 6-8 or 6-9. One ancient African practice that could go a long way to offsetting some of this mass confusion would be partnering older students with younger students. Few schools do this, but I believe there may be some research to indicate this model works - it certainly works well outside of schools. For example, a 6-9 middle school which paired 8th graders with 6th graders for two years could be tremendously valuable. A two-year match allows for some tremendous things to happen - and these relationships need to managed closely - with adult supervision, and extended peer group supervision. Many schools open their day with "advisories" where students discuss current events, their personal lives, etc.  In a "controlled environment" these discussions can facilitate the maturation process for new students and older students while establishing a solid culture within the school.

P6:

"a mid-sized business that creates sufficient wealth and prestige to allow me, after the acquisition of said wealth and prestige, to affect the greater society to benefit my people"

That's not quite how I would put it. Besides, you left out power. The folks who can do the most good or bad in our society have large amounts of wealth, power, or prestige. A severe paucity of any one of these usually stops altruistic Black folks in their tracks or severely limits the number of people they could help in a single generation. It's becoming increasingly difficult to get decent small projects done at the local level without above average wealth, power, or prestige, isn't it? In fact, most of the entrepreneurs I hang out with don't have time for blogging, they are out there hustling for resources, courting-investors, converting strategy into action. I've only been able to blog for the last year because I have had much more leisure time they they have. The folks out there getting stuff done, especially those who are not millionaires, often have to spend a lot of time courting the wealthy, the powerful, and the prestigious. Most altruistic Black folks simply can't get much done without an advocate or backer who has ample wealth, power, or prestige.

So, we certainly need some Black folks to compete for ample wealth, power, and prestige. And we certainly need some Black folks who will succeed at accumulating substantial wealth, power, or prestige to help redistribute political and economic resources to asset-poor Black communities. I can think of few projects I've been involved with, which required more than $1 million dollars and at least one piece of real property, that could have been done without a wealthy, powerful, or prestigious advocate or backer. On the other hand, I can think of many dozens of great ideas that never went beyond passionate words, because their champions had no social capital, no wealth, and no clout.

With respect to goals: I'd only try to build a mid-sized business that would help an asset-poor Black community attract large amounts of capital if I go to a certain type of law school, and could benefit from a certain type of institutional affiliation. If I don't go to that type of law school, I'll stay here in AZ, build small businesses, and help others build businesses in AZ. And, in my state, Blacks need high-paying jobs that would pay them well for skills they would pick up in our technical schools and universities much more than child care facilities. The child care resources here are already good, not great, but good. As far a charter schools go, if I stay in AZ, I'll help a few more charter schools get up and running. I am working with and have worked with charter schools in the past; however, my efforts have been related to helping them get resources, not managing them.

I am only one of many thousands of young professional Blacks who could do good work for Black Americans. We could do our good work at the local, state, or national level. Many of us are out there. We have different talents, skills, institutional affiliations, relationships, and opportunities. So, we would be wise to survey our resources, relationships, and the opportunities before we select our projects in order to ensure that we would attempt to do the things that would benefit the Blacks in our sphere of influence the most.

It is important that you evaluate the resources, relationships, and opportunties of those you might advise, then compare that information against the projects you believe need to get done for Black America. Even if your goal is to see that Black America gets improved the way you believe she needs to be improved and the projects you believe she needs done for her are completed in the sequence you believe would be best, it is still important to know a few key details about whom you're advising and how the individuals you would advise might best serve the ends you seek for Black America.

Whether I live the next 30 ot 40 years in AZ or in a Northeast of Midwest city, your and my ends with respect to improving Black America would probably be better served if I were take on entrepreneurial projects other than the one you suggest. There are plenty of folks who could do that better than I could. And, there are some important projects I could probably do much better than most others could.

We should call these folks something other than altruistic if "A severe paucity of any one of these usually stops [them] in their tracks." Perhaps "well-meaning" or "well-intentioned" will do.

That's not quite how I would put it.

I know. You went into a lot of detail. I had to paraphrase without putting words in your mouth.

So, we certainly need some Black folks to compete for ample wealth, power, and prestige. And we certainly need some Black folks who will succeed at accumulating substantial wealth, power, or prestige to help redistribute political and economic resources to asset-poor Black communities.

Here's my problem: The number of cases where ANYONE...let us not be racist here...has "made it," and used their acquired wealth power and prestige to do something actually transformative, statistically, is as close to zero as it gets. It undermines the very power they've accrued. At best they're militant assimilationists. And they ain't the ones that need help.

It is important that you evaluate the resources, relationships, and opportunties of those you might advise, then compare that information against the projects you believe need to get done for Black America. Even if your goal is to see that Black America gets improved the way you believe she needs to be improved and the projects you believe she needs done for her are completed in the sequence you believe would be best, it is still important to know a few key details about whom you're advising and how the individuals you would advise might best serve the ends you seek for Black America.

This is opinion, not advice (LATER: though I did use that word...loose talk...). Back to the conversation at your joint, remember? I got a thing about closure and completeness. I'm not trying to convince you to do any particular thing. And you probably (no illusions) have as few details about me as I have about you. Our entire relationship consists of two discussion threads.

Having no reason to doubt or believe you, this being the Internet and all but I kinda didn't start the discussion and don't know where you're heading. So I just hold forth...when I find myself in advice-giving position, the facts don't change anyway.

P6 & Temple3:

Thanks for your take and this good conversation. I'll keep your ideas/suggestions in mind going forward.  

keto: 

My impression is that such a venture will take time, dedication and sustained competent management to get past the birthing pains, which may include a considerable time in the red. In a business that seems to have a high employee turnover, and is highly regulated, the management is key.

Yeah. And frankly, that type of competence kind of clusters on the more conservative side of the community.

You up for some satire?

Our first effort must be to make our people understand that they are, indeed, our people. With this knowledge, everything they know will be transformed. The most severely damaged of our people have valuable knowledge about white people and their society, as well as knowledge of our operations. Because they do not believe themselves to be with us, they fear our nature even more than white people do, for they know its power. Because they fear its power, they act against it…and quite effectively, because damaged or no, these men and women are still our people and so still partake of that power. They are among the most efficient of the forces opposing us. If they simply disappeared it would take decades to regain the knowledge locked away in the heart of their delusions. It will take considerably longer with their active opposition. If they were healed, however, our load would be immeasurably lightened, both by the removal of their opposition and the addition of their rather considerable force. Once this is accomplished it would be a simple matter to organize in organic fashion.

From something I wrote years back.

Also know a brother who is CEO of a Boys and Girls Club. He may have some ideas to share about the operational hurdles.

I'd be interested

...that type of competence kind of clusters on the more conservative side of the community.

Only because brothers and sisters on the left who display that kind of competency often get frozen out solely because their politics are left of center, not because they lack managerial competencies. 

extend that left of center span to encompass Black folks determined to run their own show. both philanthropic and investment dollars come with significant - and typically disparate - strings attached. it's slow hard slogging to pull yourself up by your own non-existent bootstraps, but possibly inevitable and unavoidable given our circumstances.

the learning center experienced several very lean months at t