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Angela C. Ferguson

---Visit CreAtiques at the UnityFirst.com Business World Summit, Atlanta, GA, May 3, 2007---"The unique and handcrafted items of Angela C. Ferguson, CEO & Creator of CreAtiques, will be on display May 3 during the UnityFirst.com Business World Summit Expo at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta. Ms. Ferguson will be showcasing three of her handcrafted products: 27" rag dolls lovingly named 'Tudes (which is short for attitudes), one-of-a-kind jewelry, and glycerin-based soaps filled with essential oils and botanicals. Ferguson stepped out on faith in November 2005 and left her government job in Washington, DC and relocated to metro Atlanta to turn her part-time business into a full-time adventure. "The process of going full-time began several years ago, but I just didn't know 'the when' and 'the how' of taking the leap. However, God always has a plan for you, if you just trust and pay attention to the signals," Ferguson said. Her one-of-a-kind jewelry is designed to make a statement when worn and are made out of semi-precious stones. Ferguson's jewelry has been on display at the Smithsonian's National Museum of African Art gift store in Washington, DC. Don't miss this event! You will be encouraged, inspired and positioned for greater success with contact, contract and relationship potentials. Professionals of color may attend the event and submit their resume to UnityFirst.com's Minority Professionals Resume Bank to tap top jobs nationally. Register for the Summit at UnityFirst.com or call (413) 734-6444.

News beat.....

Marc H. Morial

Darnell Williams(center)

Stephanie Tubbs Jones

Bill Cosby

Business World Index

---Go to UnityFirst.com for the following stories---
----State of Black America 2007: Bringing the Invisible Man to Light, by Marc H. Morial, President and CEO, National Urban League. Prominent African-American scholar and author Ralph Ellison once depicted the Black man as socially invisible in his watershed novel Invisible Man. His hard-hitting portrayal of life in 1940s Black America suggested that it'll take more than a major civil rights movement to bring the nation out of its racist past. That was in 1953. For the full story by Marc Morial go to UnityFirst.com.

---Boston: National Black MBA Association and Future Focus 2020 to present "Living, Learning and Thinking in the Year 2020" and a Power Diversity Career Fair on Tuesday, April 24 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. For more information, go to UnityFirst.com.

---National Urban League Annual State of Black America---
If the United States does not take immediate steps to address the Black male crisis, the nation risks losing its "greatest untapped resource," said National Urban League President Marc H. Morial in presenting the League's annual State of Black America (SOBA) report, which assesses conditions within the Black community. "Empowering Black men to reach their full potential is the most serious economic and civil rights challenge we face today. Ensuring their future is critical, not just for the African American community, but for the prosperity, health and well-being of the entire American family," he said. This year's report, officially titled State of Black America 2007: Portrait of the Black Male, includes op-eds by Dr. Michael Eric Dyson and Marian Wright Edelman and essays by NAACP Legal Defense Fund head Theodore Shaw and Dr. Silas Lee as well as a foreword by Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. It contains the Equality Index, a statistical measurement of disparities or "equality gaps" between Blacks and Whites across five different categories - economics, education, health, civic engagement and social justice. According to SOBA, African-American men are more than twice as likely to be unemployed as white males and make only 74 percent as much a year. They're nearly seven times more likely to be incarcerated, and their average jail sentences tend to be 10 months longer than those of White men. In addition, young Black males between the ages of 15 and 34 years are nine times more likely to be killed by firearms and nearly eight times as likely to suffer from AIDS.

---Boston: Urban league of Eastern Massachusetts celebrates its 90th Anniversary---For nine decades, the Boston's Urban League has been a vital resource to African Americans and the Greater Boston community. Since its founding in 1917 by Eugene Kinckle Jones, an organizer for the National Urban League, the Boston Urban League, now known at the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts, has marched through history for equality in employment housing and health in Massachusetts. Williams is proud to follow in the footsteps of the league's history-makers and organizational leaders including Matthew Bullock, the first president of the Boston Urban League. (Photo credit: Don West)

---Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones receives top awards---Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones received two awards from the National Urban League and the North-American Interfraternity Conference (NIC), Inc.On Tuesday, April 17, 2007, Rep. Tubbs Jones became the first woman representative to be presented with one of the highest honors the NIC presents, the NIC Silver Medal. The medal is presented to fraternity and sorority alumni who have provided significant leadership for causes that advance the highest ideals of fraternalism and who champion causes that positively impact the fraternal community. Additionally, on Wednesday, April 18, 2007, Congresswoman Tubbs Jones was presented with the 2007 Congressional Leadership Award for her ascension to the Chairmanship of the House Standards of Official Conduct Committee and her leadership within the Congressional Black Caucus. "I would like to thank National Urban League President Marc H. Morial, and the entire membership of the Urban League for this honor and their continued support," said Rep. Tubbs Jones.

--Shooting at Virginia Tech---
In the wake of the tragic shooting rampage at Virginia Tech, extremists and White supremacists and conspiracy-oriented Internet forums and web sites have focused on the ethnicity of the killer in an attempt to blame Asians, immigrants and other minorities for the deaths and to spread a message of hate. "Extremists are using the Virginia Tech shootings to spread a message of hate against immigrants, particularly Asians," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director. "They are using the shooter's Asian ethnicity as an excuse to pile on hate against Asians, Blacks, Jews and immigrants. It is yet another example of how the neo-Nazis and haters are seeking to createan atmosphere of divisiveness around the immigration debate and to engender fear of minority groups living in America." Some White supremacists groups have posted virulently anti-immigrant, racist and anti-Semitic videos on YouTube, the popular mainstream video sharing site, with deceptive titles such as "Virginia Tech Shooting Update" that make them appear as if they were legitimate news clips dealing with the aftermath of the shooting.

---Top cities for African Americans---
BLACK ENTERPRISE revealed its most recent list of top cities for African Americans as featured in its May 2007 issue. On this year's list, the No. 1 city for African Americans is the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, which includes parts of Northern Virginia and Maryland. Residents who enjoy living in our nation's capital and surrounding region cited the robust job market and top-notch cultural
activities as grounds for their overall satisfaction. "The perception of the city has changed. There's a lot more business development," says D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty. At $404,900, D.C. has the highest median home value of all the cities on BE's list. D.C. also has the lowest foreclosure rate (0.3%), property taxes, and sales tax (5.75%) among the top 10. Survey respondents are very dissatisfied with the quality of education, however, stating that the public schools are in desperate need of repair. Ironically, the D.C. metro area has the best-educated black population of the cities, boasting the highest percentage of high school and college graduates. The No. 2 pick, Atlanta, GA, continues to impress. The city is home to 64,000 black-owned businesses and continues to offer extensive entrepreneurial opportunities. No. 3, the metro area of Raleigh-Durham, NC, boasted a 3.4% rise in job growth, the highest employment statistic among the cities ranked. Rounding out the 10 best cities for African Americans list is: No. 4, Houston, TX; No. 5, Nashville, TN; No. 6, Dallas, TX; No. 7, Charlotte, NC; No. 8, Indianapolis, IN; No. 9, Columbus, OH; and No. 10, Jacksonville, FL.

---"Come on, People!" New book by Bill Cosby and Alvin Poussaint---"Come on, People!" is a vital message to restore hope, save lives, and reclaim our threatened families and communities. In communities across the country, Bill Cosby has publicly drawn attention in the last three years to the dire crises in black America: more young men in prison than in college, 50 percent high-school drop-out rates, too many children born to teen-aged parents, children whose parents are ill-equipped and disinterested in parenting. These problems have been fermenting for years, but few have called them out with as much force, determination, passion, and credibility as has Dr. Cosby. Now Cosby, one of America's most beloved and revered cultural icons, and Alvin F. Poussaint, professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and a civil rights veteran, lay out their message of hope and empowerment in a new book with Nashville-based publisher Thomas Nelson, entitled "Come on, People! On the Path from Victims to Victors," scheduled for publication in Fall 2007.