The scheme aims to ease the burden on Greece, where migrant camps are squalid and overcrowded.
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Friday, March 13, 2020
Soulja Boy’s soap company investment pays off amid coronavirus panic
Soulja Boy’s investment in a soap company is reportedly paying off as people continue to panic over the coronavirus.
Sources close to the Hip-Hop star tell TMZ that his investment in The Soap Shop has seen a spike in sales as the coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to spread globally. Complex notes that Soulja and his manager, CEO Miami Mike put money into a Mississippi location last year and now they are seeing a return on their investment.
READ MORE: Soulja Boy slapped with 240-day jail sentence for probation violation
The Soap Shop corporation has reportedly had an increase in sales for soaps and disinfectants; going from selling 100 bottles of cleaning products per month to well over 3,000, XXL.com reports. TMZ adds that profits at the Mississippi location have tripled during the coronavirus panic.
The outlet goes on to write “Our sources say Soulja’s trying to diversify and heard it was a good investment opportunity.”
Soulja recently hit up the Breakfast Club and dished about the reasoning behind his investment.
“Once you get into the music industry, you branch out, you know what I’m saying? Do different stuff, like, try different things, try different business ventures,” he said.
The rapper-turned-entrepreneur has been selling various products online since last year when he announced a line of bootleg video game consoles and Apple Watch alternatives. But many fans complained that they never received their orders.
Meanwhile last month, in tweets that have since been deleted, Soulja Boy slammed rapper Kanye West for ”disrespecting” Black culture and being down with President Donald Trump. He also took credit for West being ”stuck up” in his interview with The Breakfast Club.
READ MORE: Soulja Boy’s home burglarized, suspects brag on Instagram Live
”I’m the reason why Kanye is stuck up and he acts cocky. Because when I was a 16-year-old kid and I had the number one song in the world with ‘Crank That’, I didn’t know who Kanye was,” he explained.
”My manager tried to introduce me to him and I slammed the van door in his face saying, ‘Get out of my face.’ And ever since then he’s just been so arrogant,” Soulja added.
The post Soulja Boy’s soap company investment pays off amid coronavirus panic appeared first on TheGrio.
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Black Financial Leaders Offer New Strategies To Help Narrow The Racial Wealth Gap
During their lifetimes, black Americans can expect to earn up to $1 million less than white Americans.
Some 65% of black American residents live in 16 states that perform below the national average on measures of social, economic, and public health.
And high-income black families are not even exempt: the average black family with a household income of $100,000 lives in a neighborhood where the average income is $54,000.
Those are just some of the startling statistics from the recent McKinsey & Co. Wealth Report.
Welcome to the financial state of African Americans in this country. The lingering findings on the racial wealth gap is not only a drag on black Americans but the entire United States from an economic-growth standpoint. The urgency to help improve wealth-building for all Americans–largely blacks–was discussed this month at the Freedman’s Bank Forum hosted by the U.S. Treasury. The forum commemorated the 155th anniversary of the Freedman’s Savings and Trust Company’s charter. Often referred to as the Freedman’s Bank, the institution was created in 1865 to offer economic opportunity for newly emancipated Americans, help them become more financially stabl,e and boost their access to capital. At its peak, the bank reportedly had $57 million in deposits (adjusted for inflation) and some 70,000 depositors before it closed in 1874.
Attended by about 200 people, the forum allowed public, private, and non-profit leaders to discuss ways to enhance economic vitality of communities on multiple fronts including job creation and wealth building. The importance of financial inclusion and economic integration for African Americans now was a key topic.
“The story of the Freedman’s Bank illustrates the importance of financial opportunity to all Americans,” said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
In addition to honoring the legacy of the Freedman’s Bank, speakers covered roles that Minority Depository Institutions play in broad-based economic growth. Public and private strategies to address financial health, community, and economic development also were discussed. Mnuchin and Robert L. Johnson, founder and chairman of RLJ Companies, participated in a fireside chat.
Financial literacy entrepreneur John Hope Bryant, founder, chairman, and CEO of Operation HOPE, took part in a panel discussion on “The Legacy of Freedman’s Bank in the Pursuit of Building Wealth.” He was joined by Thasunda Brown Duckett, CEO of JPMorgan Chase Consumer Banking, and Kenneth Kelly, chairman and CEO at Detroit-based First Independence Bank and board chair of the National Bankers Association.
Hope repeated multiple times how African Americans should never ever give up and keep striving to build wealth. He mentioned some programs that could financially empower African Americans. They included Community Reinvestment Act modernization, Opportunity Zones, and EITC, the Earned Income Tax Credit, a federal program to encourage work and reduce poverty by supplementing the wages of low-income workers.
“You could argue that today is the closest thing we ever have had to a modern day Marshall Plan for the revitalization of a people,” Bryant said. “But we’ve got to be strategic about it and never give up.”
For her part, Duckett talked about structure and systems. She said when you think about the audacity to not have African Americans have inclusion, and a bank that African Americans trusted closed. “We are still living with that affect when it comes to getting wiped out.” She said that affect still exists when it comes to trust in the financial system. She said that black Americans have $1.2 trillion in buying power but could have zero net worth in 2053.
“This is a state of emergency that I think we all have to connect into and leverage all of our ecosystems, from government, CDFIs, credit unions big banks, and nonprofits,” Duckett added.” This issue is structural and about getting proximate to the African American community.”
Banker Kevin Kelly shared statistics that in every aspect when you look at African Americans in their financial impact in America there is a weakness. He noted housing is the lowest since it been measured since 1968. Income divide by 10 times the wealth of white Americans. “Those are issues we need to address,” he said.
“You almost have to close your eyes and imagine what were they thinking in 1865 to make such a bold movement,” Kelly said. He touched on the current state of black-owned banks in America, many of which are facing a crisis and need huge support to remain open.
In commemoration of Freedman’s Bank celebrating its 115th anniversary, Kelly asked, why can’t there be an effort to (invest) $155 billion into minority depository institutions. Kelly said that can be done. “And when we do that, we may not see the fruit of that labor. But I will tell you it would have to have a positive trend on all of these issues we talked about including education, housing, and net worth.”
Kelly says there is legislation on the Hill dealing with minority depository institutions and the unbanked and underbanked. He noted one in five (black) people in Detroit don’t have a bank account, which he calls unconscionable. “Between industry, the legislative branch, and the executive branch, when we put our mind to it, America has always demonstrated it knows how to fix and adjust weaknesses.”
Another forum attendee, Shelley Steward, was on the panel discussion, “Financial Literacy and Building Wealth.” A partner at McKinsey & Company, Steward co-leads the consulting firm’s research on building black wealth in the United States. He has published articles and speaks on the topic. He answered specific questions on the subject from BLACK ENTERPRISE by email.
What do black Americans need to do in order the build wealth and increase financial literacy?
It’s helpful to first recognize the economic and social barriers that impede black Americans from building wealth. These barriers include education disparities, geographical influence, lack of family wealth, lower incomes, and historic financial exclusion.
While there is no easy solution to fixing deeply seated issues like the racial wealth gap, the public, private and social sectors can take institutional action to address these disparities, such as increasing diversity in the financial services sector, exploring innovative, inclusionary credit decisioning, eliminating discriminatory lending practices, and implementing supportive employer benefits and services to help black Americans [make] smarter financial decisions. Together, black Americans will have less trouble pursuing entrepreneurial endeavors, banking, seeking homeownership, and finding opportunities to increase financial literacy–key steps to building wealth.
Why is it important now for black Americans to take steps to build wealth?
Understanding the scope of a problem is vital to solving it. The financial wealth gap leaves many black families at a significant economic disadvantage, with less financial security and less ability to fully participate in the economy. Less wealth also means black Americans are underrepresented in the market for financial products and services. Left unchecked, black Americans will continue to be disadvantaged for generations, which will cost the U.S. economy between $1 trillion and $1.5 trillion between 2019 and 2028–4 to 6 percent of the projected GDP in 2028.
Increased inclusion of black Americans in the financial system would benefit the entire economy: Black families would have greater opportunities to reinvest and grow their wealth and, subsequently, support increased economic activity.
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Nathaniel Woods’ sister confronts Alabama governor: ‘You killed my brother’
The sister of Nathaniel Woods confronted Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey on Thursday, a week after the state’s chief executive allowed his execution to go forward, despite desperate pleas to spare his life.
Pamela Woods came to face-to-face with Ivey at a census kick-off event in Montgomery. While the governor stood before reporters during a presser, Woods walked beside Ivey and stared directly at her face.
“I’m the sister of Nathaniel Woods,” she said. “You killed my brother. Gov. Ivey, you killed my brother.”
READ MORE: Nathaniel Woods executed hours after Supreme Court granted temporary stay
Moments later, Ivey was escorted away from Woods and the cameras. Woods, however, continued to pursue her, WSFA reports.
“He’s an innocent man and you killed him,” she said.
‘YOU KILLED MY BROTHER’: The sister of Alabama inmate Nathaniel Woods, who was executed last week for the deaths of three Birmingham police officers, confronted @GovernorKayIvey in Montgomery Thursday https://t.co/xLxJJbaVe8 pic.twitter.com/k7fpJNyqcH
— #WVTM13 (@WVTM13) March 12, 2020
After the encounter, Pamela Woods told the TV station that the state executed her brother out of revenge.
“He had bad legal counsel,” she said. “That’s the only thing that went wrong in his case.”
Woods said she wants Ivey to abolish the death penalty. She proposed that any cases involving police officers should be investigated by the FBI, not the police department that employs them.
“These were dirty cops, everyone in Ensley knows this, everyone knows this,” she said. “So why? Why execute an innocent man?”
READ MORE: Why is the death penalty still a thing in 2020? (OPINION)
Nathaniel Woods was executed on March 5 after being convicted of capital murder for the 2004 shooting deaths of three police officers. His co-defendant, Kerry Spencer, has maintained Woods’ innocence. Despite not firing the gun that killed the officers, the state successfully argued that Woods conspired with Spencer in the murders.
In the days leading up to Woods’ execution, his family and supporters pleaded with Gov. Ivey to commute his sentence. Even Martin Luther King III tried to get Ivey to stop the execution, which he called an injustice.
“‘My father said, injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,’ and so I pray that God grants you the courage to do the right thing: to delay his execution,” King wrote.
Attempts to sway Ivey, however, were unsuccessful. Minutes before Woods was set to be executed, the Supreme Court issued a temporary stay in his case. But hours later, the high court reversed its decision and allowed the execution to proceed.
Ivey, through her general counsel, announced that she would not use her executive powers to commute Woods’ sentence.
“Governor Ivey does not presently intend to exercise her powers of commutation or reprieve in this case,” general counsel William G. Parker Jr. wrote.
“While Governor Ivey reserves the right to grant clemency at any time before an execution is carried out, she has determined, based on her review of the complete record, including the matters presented in your letter, that clemency for Mr. Woods at this hour is unwarranted.”
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Thursday, March 12, 2020
3Q: Collaborating with users to develop accessible designs
Academic researchers and others have long struggled with making data visualizations accessible to people who are blind. One technological approach has been 3D printing tactile representations of data, in the form of raised bar graphs and line charts. But, often, the intended users have little say in the actual design process, and the end result isn’t as effective as planned.
A team of MIT researchers hopes to fix that. They used a collaborative project with staff and students at the Perkins School for the Blind as a case study of the accessible design process, and generated a list of “sociotechnical” considerations to guide researchers in similar work. A paper detailing the work appears in the journal IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics. Co-authors Alan Lundgard, a graduate student in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS); Crystal Lee, a graduate student in the Program in Science, Technology, and Society; and EECS and Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory professor Arvind Satyanarayan spoke with MIT News about the case study and their findings.
Q: How did you land on this idea to record “sociotechnical considerations,” and what are some notable examples?
Lundgard: Crystal and I met during an intersession workshop in participatory design, where researchers collaboratively designed products with and for particular communities. We worked with the Perkins School to co-design a 3D-printed visualization of a time-series chart for people who are blind. Coming from MIT, there was this idea that we’d come up with a high-tech, flashy solution — but, it turns out, that wasn’t really the best approach. In that regard, I think a first-order sociotechnical consideration is, what degree of technological intervention is necessary, if any? Could the intervention take a more social approach without the need for a fancy technological design? Would a low-tech solution meet the needs of the community better than a high-tech solution?
Another big consideration is planning and communicating the extent of the collaboration, which is especially important when collaborating with marginalized communities. That means researchers clearly communicating their intentions and goals. As researchers, are we aiming to produce academic research, or a design solution that is immediately adoptable within the community? What is the duration of the project and what are the available resources? Failing to communicate clearly can leave community collaborators out of the loop in ways that are actively harmful.
Lee: We realized there were tons of intermediate steps before you start to even design a product. What does collaboration actually mean and what does participatory design look like? We got frustrated at certain junctures thinking about what product to make. While we talked to teachers, occupational therapists, and the Perkins School staff, we’d come up with a prototype and realize it was an idea that didn’t actually meet the needs of the community. Thinking through these tensions helped us come up with a list of sociotechnical considerations for other researchers and collaborators who may feel these same frustrations when working on co-design projects.
One notable consideration from our case study: As researchers, don’t assume that your resources are the same as the community’s resources. For example, don’t make something for a small school if it requires a $300,000 3D printer that only MIT can afford. In our 3D-printed visualization, we at first tried to use a cheap and accessible 3D printer that’s often available in libraries. But, this affordability imposed other constraints. For example, using the inexpensive printer, it was hard to actually make something legible in braille, because the resolution is too low to be useful. It can’t capture the detail you need to accurately represent the data. So, using the affordable printer, our graph failed to meet certain accessibility guidelines. On the other hand, MIT’s high-resolution, industrial-grade printer isn’t affordable or available to the Perkins School — or most schools, for that matter — which is hugely constraining if the design is supposed to satisfy the students’ daily needs.
Satyanarayan: It’s also very important to compensate participants fairly, especially with marginalized communities. In participatory design, we don’t treat folks we work with as target users. Rather, they are collaborators throughout the process, and with specific skills. For instance, people who are blind have far more experience reading braille. We consider that a highly specialized skill that should be compensated accordingly. A key tenet of participatory design is recognizing that people in the community have lived experience that is valuable and necessary for a design to be successful.
Q: In your paper, you say you hope to avoid pitfalls of “parachute research.” What is that and why is it important to address?
Lundgard: “Parachute research” is where researchers — particularly from wealthy universities — drop into a community; take advantage of local infrastructure, expertise, and resources; write an academic paper; and then take off. That is, after publishing a research paper, they completely disengage from the community. That’s harmful to community members who engage in the collaboration in good faith and help to facilitate the research, sometimes without reciprocal benefits.
Lee: In accessible design, you often make a prototype based on some abstract knowledge of what a given community may want. Then, the people in that community evaluate the efficacy of the prototype, instead of being directly involved in the design process. But that can diverge from creating solutions that are beneficial for the communities the designers are purporting to help. In our paper, we didn’t just build something, test it, and report on it — we thought it would be more important to contribute guidelines for approaching similar participatory design problems.
Q: What does the future look like for you and for your work?
Lee: I’m starting a collaboration with Massachusetts Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired. They have a large group of senior citizens who are experiencing blindness later in life, and have to learn to interact with technology in different ways. Understanding how people interact with technology ethnographically will be necessary for understanding accessibility — in technology, in the built environment, and in digital infrastructure. That’s a big part of my research moving forward.
Lundgard: Really, our paper is not just about data visualization, but also about how to approach accessible design more generally. In that sense, our paper tees up how to do future work, with a concise set of guidelines that researchers — ourselves and others — can apply to different problems. For example, I’ve recently encountered researchers at a loss for how to describe their visualizations in ways that make them more accessible. When visualizations appear in, say, textbooks, scientific publications, or educational materials, they might appear as braille translations of the image, but more often they appear as textual descriptions. But what is the best way to describe a visualization? Does it make more sense to refer to its visual or statistical properties? Maybe we can collaboratively come up with different encodings that are more intelligible to someone who’s not used to interpreting information visually.
Satyanarayan: Along those lines, one thread is captioning online visualizations. There’s a lot of work to do in figuring out what’s important to caption to present some high-level insight of what the visualization is saying, as well as find a way to automatically generate those captions. That’s a deep technological solution. But we still have to make sure our sociotechnical considerations are adhered to.
Looking long-term, we’re interested in alternative ways of encoding data that are usable and accessible to people who are blind. Before braille, text was embossed on paper, but that’s not really how people who are blind process language. Louis Braille, who was blind himself, came up with something vastly different that became the standard way for blind people to read text. We first need to take a step back and understand the audience for and with whom we are designing, and work directly with them.
To do that, we have to address several things. How do people who are blind think about data? I was introduced to data through line graphs and bar charts. What is the equivalent for people who don’t process information visually? Once we answer those questions, we can start thinking about what the best way to encode data, because we’re not sure 3D-printing a line chart is the best solution.
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Letter regarding cancellation of Friday classes and undergraduate move-out by March 15
The following letter was sent to the MIT community by the Office of the Chancellor.
With the declaration of a state of emergency by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the doubling of Covid-19 cases in the Greater Boston area, the Institute is increasingly concerned for the safety of the community and is therefore taking extraordinary steps.
First, we are cancelling all classes tomorrow, Friday, March 13. This decision was made after consultation with Academic Council, the faculty officers, and MIT Medical.
We are also strongly advising all undergraduate students to accelerate their move out plans. MIT will reimburse travel change expenses and new reservation costs up to $500 for undergraduates who move up their departure to before Sunday, March 15, at midnight. Additional resources for an accelerated move out, including free pick up and storage of belongings, can be found here.
All students who have requested an exception from moving off-campus and have not yet received a determination will be contacted tomorrow with a decision.
Thank you in advance for your swift attention to and cooperation with this advisory.
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Charles Barkley self-quarantines while waiting for coronavirus test results
Charles Barkley has announced that he is self-quarantining while awaiting coronavirus test results.
The Hall of Famer called into TNT Thursday evening and shared he was waiting to hear what the results of his COVID-19 test were. He began to feel sick earlier in the week while traveling.
Charles Barkley says he has been feeling ill and has self-quarantined himself. pic.twitter.com/p2E5Jl99qH
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) March 13, 2020
“I spent the earlier part of the week in New York City. When I got to Atlanta yesterday, I wasn’t feeling well,” Barkley said. “I talked to a couple people at Turner and a couple doctors and they told me to self-quarantine for the next 48 hours. I started yesterday, this is my second day.”
READ MORE: Charles Barkley selling trophies and memorabilia to build affordable housing
It was stressed to Barkley, who is an analyst for TNT’s Inside the NBA, that he not take any chances.
“I went and took the coronavirus test late this afternoon, I have not gotten the results back. So I’m just kinda in limbo right now. I’m really hoping it was just a bug,” the 57-year-old said.
The news about Barkley comes on the heels of the NBA suspending the season due to the coronavirus Wednesday after Rudy Gobert tested positive. The Utah Jazz center has since apologized for not taking the pandemic more seriously.
READ MORE: Rudy Gobert apologizes for being ‘careless’ before coronavirus diagnosis
Days before his diagnosis, Gobert mocked the coronavirus by intentionally touching microphones that belonged to news outlets during a press conference. The disease is easily spread between people. Donovan Mitchell, his teammate, also tested positive for COVID-19.
“I want to thank everyone for the outpouring of concern and support over the last 24 hours. I have gone through so many emotions since learning of my diagnosis…mostly fear, anxiety, and embarrassment,” Gobert said in a statement posted on his Instagram Thursday.
Gobert wanted his actions to be a valuable lesson to others. He wanted people to learn from his mistakes.
“I was careless and make no excuse. I hope my story serves as a warning and causes everyone to take this seriously,” he said.
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MTV cancels final ‘Making the Band’ auditions amid coronavirus pandemic
Auditions for the Making the Band reboot have been put on hold amid the coronavirus outbreak.
The final two open casting calls— one in Charlotte on Friday and March 21 in NYC— have been canceled over COVID-19 precautions.
READ MORE: Diddy and his sons announce the return of hit MTV show ‘Making the Band’
MTV said in a statement released on Twitter, “As a precautionary measure to ensure the health of our production crew, talent and aspiring artists, all public auditions for MTV’s “Making the Band” in Charlotte, NC on March 13-14 and New York City on March 21-22 have been canceled. Safety remains our utmost priority, and we’re continuing to defer to health officials and the CDC for guidance.”
[PLEASE READ] Important updates regarding #MakingTheBand auditions. pic.twitter.com/7yEE6HUQyc
— makingtheband (@MakingTheBand) March 12, 2020
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, who was set to attend the NYC auditions at MTV Studios, tells TMZ, “We want to make sure everyone is safe during these times, so we had to make the decision to cancel the in-person casting events.”
Adding, “But at the same time, I want to provide an opportunity to everyone to audition from their homes. So I’ve put together a team of A&Rs that will be checking #MTBcasting on all social platforms 24/7 to find gems. Everyone be safe!”
TheGrio previously reported that though it has been over a decade, Diddy and his sons will team up to revive the music mogul’s hit reality show.
Combs and his three sons, Christian Combs, Quincy Brown, and Justin Combs, announced in a video that they are reviving the MTV show, with Diddy once again starring as the mentor and his sons serving as judges, along with show veteran, LaurieAnn Gibson, creative director, and celebrity choreographer.
The reboot is set to premiere later this year although an official date has not been set.
“We not settling for just anybody,” Quincy said in a video clip announcing the show’s revival. “If you feel like you got what it takes to compete in today’s industry—y’all know how our pops does it. So expect nothing but the best to be showing up.”
READ MORE: Dave Chappelle and Dylan from ‘Making the Band’ finally meet
The show kicked off a multi-city casting tour in Atlanta on Feb. 28-29.
Making the Band first ran on ABC in 2000, culminating with the band O-Town. Two years later, Diddy took over the show and moved it to MTV. Acts that came out of it include Da Band, Danity Kane, Day26, and Donnie Klang.
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VP Nadia Quarles Relies on Her Intuition to Take Risks She Won’t Regret
Featuring a broad cross-section of women who have distinguished themselves across a rich variety of careers, our Portraits of Power series is a celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Black Enterprise, and of black women. It’s a place for today’s businesswomen to share their own favorite images and their own stories, in their own words. Today’s portrait is diversity and inclusion strategist Nadia Quarles.
Nadia M. Quarles, Esq.
Title Assistant Vice President for Business Diversity at the University of Chicago
My first job was a salesperson at Woolworth’s five-and-dime store on Main Street in New Rochelle, New York.
My big break came when … I’ve had multiple big breaks in life. One that I am most proud of is my work to diversify the University of Chicago’s endowment with minority and women-owned money managers. Thirteen years ago, I created a Professional Services Symposium where I invite diverse professional services firms to the University to meet with our vice presidents and other key leadership. As a result, in 2010, the Endowment Office hired our first African American money managers. Due to the success of my work, I was promoted from Director to Assistant Vice President for Business Diversity. The Symposium has since become a national model, and I’ve gained the trust and respect of University leadership as well as Trustees. To date, a total of 26 minority and women-owned managers are now investing endowment funds for the University of Chicago.
I’ve had to work hardest at passing the Bar Exam. I’ve never been a very good standardized test taker.
I never imagined I would be more fit in my 50s than I’ve ever been. I’m living a healthier lifestyle and I actually enjoy working out.
I wish I’d learned how to make self-care a priority sooner.
The risk I regret not taking is …Thus far in my life, there isn’t a risk that I regret not taking. For me, it’s important to assess risks and determine if a specific risk is even worth taking. I tend to ask a lot of questions before taking risks and I have a great sounding board of friends (my personal Board of Directors) that help me weigh pros and cons. I’ve learned to rely on my intuition and trust my gut feelings as well. If a risk doesn’t feel right, I have not regretted not doing it.
If I could design my fantasy self-care day, it would be spent chilling with Barack and Michelle at their vacation home in Hawaii; sitting by the pool, drinking their favorite champagne, eating barbecue and pineapples, while listening to Barack’s Spotify summer playlist!
I take a dose of Melatonin before bed and I keep my cat and cellphone out of my bedroom. So, nothing keeps me up at night.
When I’m struggling, after calling on Jesus and praying, I say to myself, it’s going to be okay, this is just another bump in the road and like everything else this too shall pass. You got this!
I am unapologetically always showing up as my authentic self.
Portraits of Power is a yearlong series of candid insights from exceptional women leaders. It is brought to you by ADP.
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Tony March Talks About Transition From Poverty to Running One of the Nation’s Most Lucrative Black-Owned Businesses
Over the last 25 to 30 years, successful black car dealer and entrepreneur Tony March figures he has given countless millions of dollars to charities. But more importantly to him, he estimates that he has spent hundreds of thousands of hours volunteering and working with charitable organizations worldwide.
The businessman counts helping others as his greatest accomplishment in life, an action that gives him the most joy.
“Anyone can write a check,” March says. “But few go into a homeless shelter, roll up their sleeves and volunteer their time.”
March made his fortune as the founder of an automotive empire that at one of its highest points had 21 dealerships in seven states in 2008. With revenue exceeding $570 million in 2018, his company March Hodge Automotive Group ranked No. 4 on Black Enterprise’s 2019 Top 40 Auto list, part of an annual ranking of the nation’s top black-owned businesses. The company now has 12 dealerships in Tennessee, Massachusetts, Georgia, Connecticut, Virginia, Ohio, and New York.
Co-CEO March projects March Hodge Automotive will add another $100 million in revenue in the next five years, aiming for $670 million by 2025. He expects half of the growth to come from the improved performance of existing stores and the other half from acquisitions.
In his new book, Paying It Backward (Forefront Books; $26) out this month, March provides an eye-popping glimpse of his stunning ride of enduring such forces as poverty, racism, homelessness, sexual abuse, and other challenges and transitioning to become one of the nation’s most lucrative black-owned businesses. More glaringly, March maintains, how regardless of circumstances anyone can rise from the bottom to the top, overcome barriers, and gain a heart for helping and serving others.
Also a philanthropist, March has leveraged a diverse professional career to help those inside and outside of the business world. He has received 32 distinguished car dealerships awards, including the Black Enterprise Auto Dealer of the Year in 1999 and 2013. He has helped several other African Americans open car dealerships or kept some going. That giveback earned him the GM Minority Dealer Association’s Trailblazer Award in 2007.
He received Time magazine’s Quality Dealer Award in 1996 and 2007. “I especially like the fact that the main factor Time considered was the dealer’s charitable contributions to his community,” March writes in his book. But his journey was far from easy. He talks about growing up in the Black Box, a ghetto in Daytona Beach, Florida, along with other impoverished people of color and being on the “other side of the tracks.” The struggle helped March develop survival instincts and a spirit of determination.
With that mindset, March was able to rise up, graduate from high school, and attend Howard University’s School of Engineering, allowing him to land an engineering position with General Motors. Combining hard work and continued determination, March steadily built his company. He teamed with another black dealer, Ernie Hodge, in 1998 to form his auto holding company.
As a community leader, March was entrusted to help manage $1 billion in state funds in Connecticut. Yet, he has never forgotten his painful childhood, something that made him grateful and fueled a willingness to help underserved people, particularly children living in poverty and the homeless community. March was featured on the TODAY Show, talking about his book.
Black Enterprise talked with March to get a peek of his fresh book.
Tony March
As a highly regarded auto dealer executive and an influential model for many black entrepreneurs, what prompted you to write the book now?
I wrote the book as a memoir to my life story. There are two reasons why I wrote the book. One to inspire the underprivileged like I used to be, helping them realize that it’s just their beginning and not their end. Secondly, to inspire those God has blessed with treasures and success for them to realize, especially successful minority car dealers, that it is their responsibility to give back to their communities to make this a better world to live in.
Who would you say influenced your life the most?
I had four teachers, whom I call the HAWKS, that took me under their wings. They gave me the inspiration and drive to be a great student in high school and middle school. They taught me that in order to break the poverty cycle you have to get an education. They were the inspiration for my success.
As I climbed to the top of the mountain, I decided to turn around and look at the bottom of the mountain and help those where I used to be. That is why the book is called Pay It Backward. I started the Pay it Back Foundation in 1995 to inspire those at the bottom end and encourage those with wealth to give back to their communities. I’m trying to pull up my fellow brothers and sisters to stand next to me. That is the essence of the whole book.
Why is Paying It Backward to the community such a passion for you?
In my case, it’s simple. I was one of them. I was hungry and eating out of garbage cans. By the age of 16, I had moved 17 times, including staying in an orphanage home. I want to make sure that as many people I can help never have to grow up like I did.
You write that ultimately—even given the extremely poor hand in life you had to endure—that the greatest source of trauma in your life was your mother. But you also say she was the one who taught you the importance of relying on God. How has having that relationship with God, today and in the past, guided your life as a multimillionaire business executive and philanthropist?
I have a plaque in my kitchen that I look at 30 to 50 times a day. And it says: “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’’ Matthew 25:40. That plaque drives my life and is a description of my life. I wake up every day and ask God, ‘who do you want me to help today?’ My life is driven now by running the foundation full-time, visiting homeless shelters and organizations that are doing something to help the underprivileged.
What are the biggest hurdles stopping black entrepreneurs from becoming successful and how can they conquer them?
The biggest obstacle facing any entrepreneur is raising capital. That will always be the No. 1 reason for any entrepreneur’s success or failure is accumulating capital. And minority entrepreneurs face it 10 times worse than majority entrepreneurs. In my case, I was fortunate enough to obtain loans four times from the GM Motors Holdings division and two loans from Toyota Dealer Development to acquire dealerships—an extraordinary achievement in the auto industry.
You have been a preeminent black businessman for some 35 years. If you had to give the next generation of black entrepreneurs advice, what would some of your top suggestions be before they open or expand a business?
I was fortunate to go to the GM Minority Dealer Academy. The best advice I could give to a young entrepreneur is to know your business. Find a role model in the business you want to be in and learn everything that you can from that role model. They can guide you through all the mistakes they have made so that you don’t make the same mistakes.
from Black Enterprise https://ift.tt/3aTgSBv
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