African American Scholarships

There are many sites that provide information on recent African American scholarships, how to apply, and more.  However, young African Americans don't always take advantage due to a number of reasons leaving relatives and self (sudent loans) having to pay some unnecessary expenses.  It would be wise to choose a school not only for it's quality programs, but the financial assistance it offers too.  What many students do is once they are accepted in a college and receive a scholarship, they stop looking, always check for the latest scholarship information.  You never know what more you or someone you might know could be eligible for if you are already attending college. 

Here are some places to start looking for African American scholarships in addition to helpful college related information.

1.  BlackStudents.com

2.  Scholarships.com

3.  BlackNews.com

4.  Cappex.com

5.  Little Africa.com

6.  Colleges.niche.com

7.  MyCollegeOptions.org

8.  SchoolSoup.com

9.  Tuskegee.edu

10.  FastWeb.com

Minority Scholarships

Sometimes when high school students talk about college and what they plan to study while there, you can't help but wonder if the profession they choose will be outdated or meaningless by the time they graduate from college.  After reviewing some minority scholarships, I thought that if a parent didn't have money to pay for college and knew this well in advance, then why not tailor a child's career path based on what scholarships are available, rather than having them choose something that they can't get any money to support them.  It might seem odd to do this considering that you don't want to step on your child's toes when it comes to their career choice, but seriously if there is a company out there willing to give free money if a student chooses to study in a certain field, then why not?  Besides, beggars can't be choosey!  One's son or daughter can always return back to college, take classes, and even make their career choice a hobby or a business on the side one day.  Research minority scholarships.

African American Scholarships - Scholarships For Minorities!

Are you a high school junior, senior, in college, or considering going to graduate school? Did you know that if you are an African American, then there are many different scholarship that you can apply for? The best part about African American scholarships is that since they are a minority scholarship there is less competition for the actual money. Here are some ways you can go about finding the scholarships you might qualify for.

First, you can start by talking to the universities and colleges you are considering attending. They usually have a list of scholarships that they offer and that are offered from alumni, organizations, and companies that they are associated with. This is a great place to start as they often have some leads for scholarships that would have been very difficult to find anywhere else.

Second, you can also try to find African American scholarships by looking up different organizations that protect the rights of African Americans or are specifically for African Americans. These are all over the place and they range from large to small. Most of these organizations will either have some sort of scholarship fund that you can apply for or they can point you in the right direction to finding these types of African American scholarships.

Last, you can also search for scholarships right online. This is usually free to do and the best part is most of the searches will list the different qualifications and they will help you apply to get the scholarship. This is a great way to cut your college tuition down or even pay for it in full. Make sure you apply for each and every scholarship you can find and when you search online go through all the ones you might qualify for.

By Professor John David

Being Black Isn't Popular With Some Survey Companies

I decided to test some of these survey companies who brag about how much I could make taking their surveys. Many of which consistently emailed me with requests and many who turned me down quite often too. So I thought, "well maybe I just don't fit the demographic they are looking for..." Funny thing is over a year later, some of these companies still have yet to "accept me" so I decided I was going to test them out. So I started off filling out surveys as the black female, they would say that I didn't qualify, not that the quota was already met, but I didn't qualify. However, when I was Hispanic and white, I passed with flying colors. Interesting. Huh?

Written by Nicholl McGuire

African Americans: A Look in the Mirror, Part 1

Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” James Baldwin At present, African Americans stand at the crossroads of great hopes for wealth and freedom exceptional for the great-and great, great-grandchildren of former slaves and great despair caused by family disintegration, generational poverty, educational disparities and the digital divide. The threat is that we will form a permanent underclass is this new society as the demand for skilled and highly educated workers and new business owners reaches a peak. You might not like me too much for the data I present in this chapter that reveals the depths of our situation. Bill Cosby has been speaking out about these things and has taken some heat for his coarse rhetoric. We can’t change our situation until we know what we are changing. I believe that once you see the data, you will be compelled to make some changes. If that is the case, I am confident that you will finish the rest of this solutions-oriented guide.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, over 70% of black children are born out of wedlock. Many times, the father is absolutely out of the picture. Single moms have the toughest job there is in this country. No work demands as much immediate attention and delayed gratification. You cannot pay someone enough to do this job yet the single black mom is the poorest demographic in our society. An unimaginable 39% of black female heads of household and 33% of black children are living below the poverty line compared to 18.6% of white female heads of household and 9.6% of white children. The true shame is that all odds are stacked against these families compounding every challenge normally faced with raising children into healthy, confident and independent adults. They face long odds when it comes to living in poverty, being victimized by violence, lacking quality education, low self-esteem and poor role models. Having a loving father around is a spiritually, mentally, emotionally and financially stabilizing force needed by every child. The numbers bear this out to be true. Only 7.1% of black married couple families live below the poverty line and only 3.3% of white married couple families live below the poverty line. God created the family to consist of both a father and mother and all other arrangements are sub-optimal for children. Be that as it may, everyone must also make the best of their situation as it may be right now. The reality is that 300 years of slavery has devastated the African American family unit. There are many African American families that are loving and meeting the needs of their children that we don’t here about that share in the values and beliefs that stable families are good for our children. The challenge is that we were deliberately denied the benefits of family for too long. Saving the African American family needs to be the number one priority of every organization that says its purpose is to help black people. A father is the first competitive edge any young person can have in this world. A young person of any race that is raised in a fatherless home has several strikes against him or her already. Building and strengthening African American family is the first preliminary step we need to take to get started on the track to building wealth as a people in this society.

The seven critical 21st century skills outlined in the book, The 7 Simple Secrets to Wealth Building: An African American’s Guide to Wealth Building in the 21st Century and Beyond, is a book about overcoming obstacles to wealth that plague a large segment of the Black community and will work for anyone. Realistically, accomplishing anything will always be more difficult for those with so many odds against them that they must overcome and being fatherless is a long odd, indeed. This article is not meant to discourage anyone. Hopefully, it will encourage each of you to more carefully consider the needs of Black children and to find ways to provide them with what they need to flourish in this new economy starting with a responsible, loving father figure.

About the author: Bret Searles is a freelance writer on Black personal finance and business issues, author of an ebook "The 7 Simple Secrets to Building Wealth: An African American Guide" and publisher of the Black Wealth Now ezine found http://www.blackwealthnow.com

African Americans Everywhere Get Ready to Pay: What You Forgot About When You Registered to Vote

"Tell Peaches, Lukesha, JJ, and Rod that the government thanks you for registering to vote and making history, but you need to pay up!" That's right, if you have been hiding from those bill collectors, running from the law, or doing something else to try to keep some cash in your pocket like some of your family and friends, then you may have forgotten that when you registered to vote, your business went out in the street!

According to the California Voter Foundation (CVF), “voter data is widely disseminated to secondary users, including commercial interests in 22 states, typically without any notice to voters that their information will be shared.” This isn’t any breaking news for some readers, because they already knew it. The CVF study was conducted back in 2002, and in that study they report who can obtain your information. Although their findings don’t name specific entities, it does give you general information on who has access to your private information. It also lists the kind of changes they suggest state governments should make to protect our privacy. The study reports, candidates and political parties have access to voter lists, 43 states use the same list as a juror source list, and 22 states allow unrestricted access to the list and permit the list to be used for commercial purposes. There are four states who grant scholars and academics access to voter lists under state statutes and four states grant journalists access to voter lists under state statutes at the time of this writing. The site also reports that some states may distribute phone numbers while others won’t, birthdates, social security numbers, and driver’s license numbers.

The study suggested what changes needed to be made in states to protect voter information, I guess many states either overlooked the report, didn’t know it existed, or felt it not profitable to protect voter contact information. Some of the Foundation’s recommendations included: “limit collection of data on registration forms, protect sensitive voter data, prohibit commercial use of voter lists and voter registration data, and strengthen enforcement of laws that protect voter data from abuses by secondary users.”

For some registered voters, you will know exactly where a collector obtained your information by the way they address you. If you typically don’t use your middle name, but used it when you registered to vote, well they just may have obtained it from the voter list. There was only one way I filled out my recent voter registration form and I knew immediately where the organization got my information from – you guessed it the voter list! What makes me angry is that this is a collector that I have already been making payments to, but still calls me anyway looking for more money!

It’s only a matter of time that collectors will be contacting you about past due bills, maybe child support you owe, or companies looking to sell you something. I recently heard a radio commercial stating that the IRS has hired thousands more collectors. Mind you this was before Barack Obama had been elected, they already knew there would be a record number turnout; therefore, that meant more people would have updated contact information and they would be able to track them down for money owed. So while we were sending emails, reminding family and friends to register, what we didn’t know is that we were helping the IRS and other organizations, update their databases.

When I conducted more research on this issue of voter privacy, I noticed that websites such as Smart Voter (allows users to find their custom ballot and polling place by entering their street address and zip code) will not reveal your street address to anyone; however that has nothing to do with the registration form you filled out and sent to your local election office. So who gives our information out? I found the answer to that question in an article that was published in VanityFair.com back in December 2007 which reported on a voter registration broker named Aristotle. It turns out that Aristotle provides information about you to political organizations, campaigns, and governmental agencies. They are used to validate your identity. There are other voter registration brokers like Aristotle such as Choicepoint and Axciom who also provide information to the federal, state, and local government about you as well.

When I think of the registration form I filled out, I don’t recall anything in big, black, bold text stating that “…upon completion of this form your information will be shared with federal, state, and local government agencies as well as secondary users.” Now I may still have registered, but then again maybe not. Yes this was an historic election, but I’m sure there were many of us who didn’t know that by registering we would be bothered by companies and organizations from the past and the present wanting our time, money and for some, their freedom.

There was more to electing Barack Obama then meets the eye and the government knew it. Think of all of those people who were wanted by government organizations for one thing or another, so they got caught up in the moment of making history with a single vote, and now their lives will be forever changed in more ways than one. Think of all of the people who will be making payment plans with the IRS, student loan agencies, and other government organizations now that the government has their most recent name, address, and phone number. An economic boost to the economy, you be the judge or maybe jury, because it is only a matter of time you or I will be called.

Obama was going to win whether we voted or not, the government would have seen to it, (if you remember early in Obama’s campaign they caught up with him for some past due bills and he paid them.) Uncle Sam knew what kind of crowds Obama drew and what kind of money he attracted. Both in the states and overseas, Obama is a rockstar, like a name brand product, he brings in cash and a whole lot of it!

Written by Nicholl McGuire, Freelance Writer, Poet & Author

The History Of African American Magazines

The African American magazines or the black magazines are a source of information and entertainment for the community with a sense of identity, which makes it the most priceless of all publications. To some the African American magazines or the black magazines are considered as a source of discrimination in reverse. There is a segment of blacks who are of the opinion that African American magazines or black magazines have been used by the blacks to segregate themselves from the rest of the community and would only lead to reverse discrimination in the community. The more discerning of critics are of the opinion that this perception could not be further from the truth considering that the black magazines are more of a necessity of the African American community rather than an exercise in discrimination.

The communication wonder - black magic

The black community uses the black magazines as a media to communicate and circulate exclusively black related issues but at no stage does it communicate hate for other communities so reverse discrimination cannot be further from the truth. The mainstream magazines do not cover African American issues - whether it is police brutality or civil rights issues. On the contrary the mainstream magazines focus primarily on all white issues and rarely if ever focus on the African American issues making it all the more important for the black community to publish black magazines. It is in appropriate to believe that the black community excludes the whites from the black magazines - the reality being that when black issues whether civil rights or otherwise are being addressed the whites would be excluded just as when mainstream magazines are published the blacks are naturally excluded

The merging cultures

The concept of having black magazines like Jet Magazines is not racial - rather it is cultural - to have a all black magazine with all black issues being tackled is not racist for all are invited to comment or read - making it cultural rather than racial. To illustrate - a Chinese restaurant serving all Chinese cuisine by a Chinese staff is barely racial - it is cultural. The black magazines are known to be supported by corporate America - coca cola, wal mart and the likes. This only further reiterates that the black magazines are an asset to the blacks community and not racial or an antipathy considering that corporate America would not support a racial movement - regardless of the fact that they are making a profit out of these black magazines.

On the contrary it is a near amazing fact that the black magazines in some instances are published in collaboration with the white community too making it a highly cohesive move with the sole motive of co existence of two ethically different communities in co - existence with mutual respect for each other - be it the blacks or the African American community as they are known and the whites. The commercial sense associated with the black or African American magazines underlines the need for a black magazine, which would advertise black businesses other than addressing black issues. This further enhances the scope of black businesses like printing, publishing, PR firms and the like making a black magazine more than just a source of entertainment - it is a complete way of life for the black community!

About the Author
David Chase is a fan of African American Magazines. phone: 323-933-9291offers. Or email him: davidc@magmall.com

African American Scholarship

The African American population had been the most discriminated race in the country for the past decades. This resulted to fewer opportunities for the Blacks and lesser chances for them to prove their worth. And the worst hit was their opportunity to study.

Meanwhile, the new generation of African Americans is slowly entering the world of the all-White dominated society including the all-White fields such as Medicine, Sciences, Mathematics, Engineering, and Business. However, the African American’s participation in these mentioned fields is still unnoticed. There is still a great need for African American to take a significant chunk of pie in order to get noticed and be recognized. Although we can say that there are some African Americans who are outshining others in their fields, this is not enough.

Good thing, there are several institutions that are dedicated to provide the African American population with a good opportunity to study and become great in their own chosen fields.

For one, the United Negro College Fund has been helping African Americans to acquire education for years. They have awarded financial aids worth that go directly to 39 Historically Black Colleges and Universities across the United States. They have been receiving money for various organizations that are willing to help the African Americans to go to school. Two main sponsors are The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation funds and the Bank of America.

What are the 39 Historically Black Colleges and Universities?

The 39 Historically Black Colleges and Universities are schools wherein African Americans can study with relatively low tuition fee (as much as 52%) compared to other schools in the country. And with relatively low tuition fee, it never means that these schools are some backcountry community colleges. Some of these schools are well known such as Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, Stillman College in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia.

And with the increasing involvement of women in the world, there are institutions that provide African American women to study and finish with a degree. The National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women’s Clubs, Inc. has 2 scholarships to be awarded to women who want to pursue undergraduate studies.

Another Scholarship institution that focuses in supporting African American students who want to pursue in the field of Science or Technology is the Development Fund for Black Students in Science and Technology.

There are more out there. If you are persistent enough, you will be able to find one for you.

This content is provided by Low Jeremy.