January 05, 2017 

By Stacy M. Brown 

NNPA Newswire Contributor 

A year ago, the makers of the Toyota Corolla were recognized as having the auto industry’s highest number of new vehicles registered to ethnic consumers.

 

At this year’s second annual Diversity Volume Leadership Awards in Detroit, Toyota faces competition from Honda, Nissan and Chevrolet – among others – when winners are announced at the invitation-only event scheduled for 5 p.m., Sunday, January 8.

 

The special presentation takes place during the North American International Auto Show at The Cobo Center in Detroit, Mich.

 

“Last year went excellent and it exceeded both my expectations and [the expectations] of my awards co-creator Damon Lester,” said Marc Bland, the vice president of Diversity Inclusion for IHS Automotive, a London-based organization that’s widely considered the most trusted source for vehicle and consumer insights and registration information. Lester is the president of the National Association of Minority Automobile Dealers (NAMAD). “Damon and I decided to do a fact-based diversity awards show and we looked at those brands and models and their supporting agencies who put forth a strategy of selling to ethnic consumers including women of all race and backgrounds and also millennials, because they’re the future.”

 

Bland continued: “Instead of putting together a panel of people who based recognition on opinions or perceptions, we said why not look at facts. Our awards are based on new vehicle performance. If you sell to mostly African-Americans, to Asian-Americans, to women, then you’ll get to get on our stage and accept an award. If you don’t, you get to be recognized based on facts.”

 

At the first awards ceremony, Toyota and its luxury brand sibling, Lexus, took home 10 of the 20 awards that were issued. Honda captured four awards while Chevrolet earned three.

 

Buick, Mercedes-Benz and Ram each grabbed one award.

 

Meanwhile, the top vehicle registration winners were handed out in the areas of women and ethnic millennial consumers, which were based on more than 13 million new-vehicle registrations of 2015 model year cars and light trucks between October 2014 and September 2015.

 

This year the ethnic volume leaders, as determined by IHS Markit regions, in the Great Lakes Region are: Chevrolet Malibu, Ford Escape, and Honda Civic.

 

In the Mideast Region, the ethnic volume leaders are: Honda Accord, Honda CR-V, and Honda Civic. In the New England Region: Honda Accord, Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV-4.

 

In the Plains Region, the ethnic volume leaders are: Chevrolet Silverado, Ford F-Series, and Toyota RAV-4. In the Rocky Mountain Region, the ethnic volume leaders are: Chevrolet Silverado, Ford F-Series, and RAM.

 

In the Southeast Region, the ethnic volume leaders are: Honda Accord, Toyota Camry, and Toyota Corolla. In the Southwest Region, the ethnic volume leaders are: Chevrolet Silverado, Ford F-Series and Ram.

 

And, in the Western Region, the ethnic volume leaders are: Honda Accord, Honda Civic, and Toyota Corolla.

 

The nominees for volume leaders for Top Women’s Luxury Vehicle are: Buick Encore, Lexus RX, and Mercedes Benz C-Class. The volume leaders in the Top Ethnic Millennial Vehicle category are: Honda Civic, Nissan Sentra, and Toyota Corolla.

 

Awards will also be handed out for Top Vehicle for African-Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, and Asian Pacific Islander.

 

The awards are unique to the industry and Bland said more than 13 million personal new vehicle registrations have been analyzed to identify which consumer groups are winning and driving sales with top global automotive brands.

 

“High tide raises all boats,” Bland said. “Therefore, what we do reveals who’s doing what. What Damon Lester and I are doing is putting some facts into the market place so that when publications and others publish the information, they can provide the facts to the consumers and when in the [diversity] marketplace, someone wonders what is the number one selling vehicle last year, they can see it was the Toyota Camry.”

 

Bland continued: “This year, we will have to wait until January 8 to see who is number one. We will have to wait until January 8 to see who has the top-selling luxury vehicle to Latino consumers.”

 

Bland noted that the awards have also helped to clear up the false perception that Latino-Americans don’t fare well financially.

 

“Last year, the Lexus IS was the number one luxury vehicle for Hispanic-Americans. They don’t give Lexus IS away, they’re not cheap,” Bland said.

 

Bland said he and Lester have been thrilled with the response they have received from industry insiders, auto enthusiasts and consumers

 

“We’re working together to educate the entire auto industry,” he said.

 

Despite major snowstorms last year, the event was sold out and is again sold out this year, Bland said.

 

“That says a lot about us being the only fact-based, diversity focused event. The fact that we’re sold out and there are CEOs who have already RSVP’d,” Bland said. “There’s proper attention being placed on this fast-growing consumer industry.”

Category: Business

December 29, 2016 

Associated Press 

 

A group says some Virginia Wal-Mart stores are discriminating by using security packaging on black hair products.

 

The Virginian-Pilot reports members of the Making Change at Walmart campaign held a news conference earlier this month, saying security boxes were being used on hair products for African-Americans at two Suffolk and Norfolk stores.

 

The national campaign is run by the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union.

 

This week, the group launched a television ad, asking viewers to call Suffolk Mayor Linda Johnson and “tell her to demand Wal-Mart stop.'”

 

Wal-Mart spokesman Phillip Keene said in a statement that the allegations are false and offensive. Keene said some products are more frequently targeted by shoplifters, thus the company takes “normal” measures to protect the items against theft.

Category: Business

December 22, 2016 

By Roz Edward 

Michigan Chronicle, NNPA Member 

The Impact Network, the only independent African American-owned and operated Christian television network in the United States, will now be available in even more homes, thanks to an expanded distribution agreement with Comcast’s Xfinity TV platform. The Impact Network features programming on urban ministries, gospel music, lifestyle and entertainment.

 

“We’re excited about the commitment Comcast has made to continue to increase diversity in all communities and to the African American community by expanding distribution of The Impact Network,” said Bishop Wayne T. Jackson, the co-founder and CEO of the Impact Network.

 

The Impact Network’s mission is to provide Christian and educational programming designed to “empower the spiritual, physical, financial and emotional needs of the community and viewers.”

 

The network line-up includes television ministries by The Impact Network’s co-founder Bishop Jackson, Bishop T.D. Jakes, Dr. Creflo Dollar, Pastor Paula White, Pastor Rod Parsley, Bishop I.V. Hilliard, Bishop Charles Blake, Bishop Stanly Williams, Bishop Paul Morton, Bishop Henry Fernandez, Pastor Joel Olsteen and more. It also offers original programming such as Dr. Beverly Jackson’s “Living Free,” “The Jewel Tankard Show,” and “Impact Better Health/Diet Free Life” with Dr. Robert Ferguson.

 

The Impact Network was founded in 2010 by Bishop Wayne T. Jackson and Dr. Beverly Jackson in Detroit, Mich., and is the fastest growing African American-owned and operated independent, Christian television network in the U.S.

 

Expanding on Comcast’s Xfinity TV, The Impact Network will now reach over 75 million households in the U.S., Africa, The Bahamas, and Virgin Islands on various distributors. Before Jackson purchased the station in 2010, there wasn’t a single African American Christian-owned television network in the country or the world. Black preachers were at the mercy of mainstream networks, that were prone to pull the plug on their Sunday morning shows for reasons as simple as personal disagreements and as complex as racial and religious oppression.

 

“Anytime we wanted to [air] broadcasts, we always had to go to other people to get our ministries shown to television audiences,” said Bishop Jackson.

 

With the assistance of broadcast programming veteran Terry Arnold, former president and CEO of Bell Broadcasting Company (WCHB and WJZZ), Jackson was able to form an unprecedented alliance with AT&T’s DIRECTV and on November 30, 2015, the bishop was able to extend The Impact Network family of programs with a launch on the multi-channel platform. This was not the first partnership of its kind for the fledgling network.

 

“In 2011, we were able to partner with Dish Network, which gave us a much broader national audience covering the continental United States. Then we got with Comcast which gave us Michigan, Arkansas, Kentucky and Indiana,” said Bishop Jackson.

 

Impact Network would go on to strike similar deals with The Bahamas and several African nations, placing faith-based programs in 950 million households worldwide, a real coup d’état for African Ameri¬can Christian television. The addition of DIRECTV access adds 20 million more viewing households to Impact Network’s viewing audience.

 

Minority- and women-owned broadcasts currently represent only five percent of all broadcasts currently airing in the United States.

 

Bishop Jackson admitted there was some initial discussion about basing the network’s headquarters in the suburbs, but decided to keep the network based in Detroit.

 

“We are helping to power the revitalization of Detroit. While we have Dan Gilbert, Roger Penske and Mike Illitch who are doing great things in our city, there are African Americans doing great things in Detroit, and we are going to tell those stories,” he said.

 

Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr., the president and CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), said that the partnership between Comcast and The Impact Network is good news for Black America.

 

“We congratulate both Comcast and The Impact Network for working together to significantly enhance television broadcast opportunities for Black America,” said Chavis. “The NNPA and Comcast are also business partners in the marketplace across the nation and we support Black-owned businesses like The Impact Network.”

 

The Impact Network is now broadcasting 24-hours a day, seven days a week and can be viewed on DIRECTV’s channel 380 or on channel 268, DISH Network Channel 268 and Comcast’s Xfinity TV channel 400. Check local listings in your area for more information.

Category: Business

December 15, 2016 

By Freddie Allen 

NNPA Newswire Managing Editor 

The Black unemployment rate improved from 8.6 percent in October to 8.1 percent in November, according to the latest jobs report from the Labor Department.

 

The White unemployment rate ticked down from 4.2 percent in October to 4.1 percent in November, likely because White workers dropped out of the labor market. The labor force participation rate for White workers, which is the share of workers either employed or looking for jobs, continued a three-month slide and was 62.7 percent in November.

 

Meanwhile, the labor force participation rate for Black workers edged up slightly from 61.8 percent in October to 61.9 percent in November and the employment-population ratio, or the share of Blacks that have jobs compared to the total population, also took steps in the right direction, increasing from 56.5 percent in October to 56.9 percent in November.

 

Black men over 20 years old showed the most gains among the adult worker groups in November, but they were also in the biggest hole. The unemployment rate for Black men improved from 8.7 percent in October to 7.7 percent in November. The share of Black men who held jobs also increased from 61.7 percent to 62.3 percent. The unemployment rate for Black men was still higher than the jobless rate for White men, White women, and Black women.

 

Last month, the jobless rate for White men fell below 4 percent to 3.9 percent, but the labor force participation rate also ticked down from 71.9 percent in October to 71.7 percent in November.

 

Employment prospects for Black women over 20 years old showed small gains in November. The labor force participation rate for Black women increased from 62.3 percent to 62.6 percent and the employment-population ratio also increased from 57.9 percent to 58.2 percent. The jobless rate for Black women was 7.1 percent in November, unchanged since October.

 

The unemployment rate for White women over 20 years old also decreased from 3.8 percent in October to 3.7 percent in November and the share of White women that held jobs slipped from 55.3 percent in October and 55.2 percent in November.

 

The Labor Department reported that the national unemployment rate fell to 4.6 percent in November, and the economy added 178,000 jobs in November.

 

“In November, 1.9 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force, up by 215,000 from a year earlier,” the Labor Department report said. “These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey.”

 

In a post on EPI.org, the website for the Economic Policy Institute Elise Gould, senior economist for EPI, wrote that the national unemployment rate declined, “largely because of a drop in labor force participation.”

 

Gould also noted that even though wage growth is now faster than it was in the first five-plus years of the recovery, when it averaged two percent, “It doesn’t reflect full employment wage growth, or even the wage growth we experienced before the Great Recession hit — by no means a full employment economy.”

 

In 2016, the economy has added about 180,000 jobs per month. Last year, the monthly average was 229,000 jobs.

 

In a statement about the report, the Republican National Committee (RNC) noted that the manufacturing sector lost 4,000 jobs in November.

 

“The 4,000 manufacturing jobs that disappeared last month come on top of the over 300,000 that have been lost under President Obama, more proof that President-elect Donald Trump’s efforts to stand up for the American worker is the commitment our country needs right now,” said RNC Co-Chair Sharon Day, in the statement. “This election showed that millions of Americans don’t trust Democrats to create good jobs and opportunity, and President-elect Trump’s determination to save 1,000 jobs in Indiana is just a preview of his agenda of prosperity for all.

 

Day continued: “Even before taking office, President-elect Trump has proven that protecting and creating jobs will be among his highest priorities as president, and Americans who have spent years struggling under President Obama can look forward to a brighter future for themselves and their families.”

 

The Carrier jobs that President-elect Trump took credit for saving come with strings attached. Reuters reported that, “Indiana state officials have agreed to give United Technologies Corp $7 million worth of tax breaks to encourage the company to keep at least 1,069 jobs at its Carrier unit in Indianapolis.”

 

Carrier still plans to send about 1,300 jobs to Mexico.

 

Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.) also offered his take on the Labor Department’s report. Scott said that the numbers show that our economy continues to move forward from the worst economic crisis in a generation.

 

“There is no doubt we have made great strides the last eight years, but our commitment to creating a more balanced and fair economy remains a priority,” said Scott.

 

Scott lamented the federal court’s decision to block an updated overtime rule that would have helped more than four million workers.

 

“Prior to the court’s decision and even before the overtime update was finalized, my Republican colleagues launched a campaign to stop and dismantle this meaningful rule that would serve working people,” said Scott. “With a new Congress and new Administration fast approaching, I urge my colleagues to stand behind their promises of building an economy where working families can succeed.”

 

Scott continued: “One of the very first bipartisan steps we can take is to ensure working people aren’t robbed of the hard-earned pay that they deserve. That means standing behind the updated overtime rule.”

Category: Business

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