Indianapolis Recorder, Indianapolis, Marion County, 18 January 2002 — Page 28

THE INDIANAPOLIS RECORDER

FRIDAY, JANUARY 18, 2002

PAGE D2

Celebrating

over

100 years of Black history

10 Blacks to watch for economic development in 2002

Business Exchange

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Their rising tides could help lift all boats By WILLIAM REED Who do moneymakers turn to make more money? So, why do Black Americans leave their economic development to the empty suits of traditional “Black Leadership”? Who’s better suited to educate and assist Blacks’ businesses in getting fair shares of private and public sector contracts, ensuring deteriorated housing and commercial sectors are revitalized and African Americans get access to jobs and job training? Blacks would be making more money if African Americans whose personal fortunes are rising can create rising tides, and yachts, for others. Here are 10 Blacks to watch in 2002: Richard Parsons — Some of us think that Parsons being CEO of AOL-Time Warner provides us no direct benefits. As head of America’s leading information company. Parsons is positioned to assure his company provides

Blacks equal employment opportunities in jobs and supplier contracts. On the community level, he serves on the boards of directors of Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone Development Corp. and the Apollo Theatre Foundation. Robert L. Johnson — No matter the rhetoric of his detractors, the founder of BET is an innovative capitalist. In 20 years, he grew business in entertainment, retailing, publishing and hospitality, creating African-American jobs, while becoming one of the nation’s richest people. Johnson is a dealmaker who can lead alliances of Blacks to multiple ventures. Cathy Hughes — CEO of the nation’s largest Black-owned network of radio stations, Radio One. Hughes uses 60 stations as focal points for promoting local businesses and community programs and distributing information directly affecting African Americans. Alexis Herman — The 23rd U.S. Secretary of Labor, Herman now chairs Compliance Task Force created by Coca Cola after losing the largest discrimination case in U.S. history. Herman will joinCoke in a senior management outreach position, or take the helm of the

National Council of Negro Women upon Dorothy Height’s overdue retirement. Robert Woodson — Head of National Center for Neighborhood Development, Woodson is a Washington insider who lobbies funds for neighborhoods. He has been successful in assisting grass roots housing and development projects inside public housing and lowerincome areas. Rep. J.C. Watts — The 4th ranking Republican in Congress, Watts is sponsor of Community Renewal Act local economic development and faith-based legislation that can pump billions to build and alleviate poverty in the nation’s inner cities. Rev. Al Sharpton — Never mind his inane bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, Sharpton’s National Action Network is the vehicle that is one of the best hope to Blacks. NAN has already helped Black-owned media with crusades for more advertising revenues and opportunities.

Alphonso Jackson — Newly appointed deputy secretary for the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Jackson is a housing specialist who can see need and places to direct billions into hands of Black developers to develop thousands of urban housing and

commercial projects.

Ervin “Magic” Johnson — Sports star turned entrepreneur. Magic’s making marks in many urban areas across the country with dollar restaurant and entertainment facilities investments. If he can get current stars the likes of Shaq, Kobe, AI, and C. Webb to invest at a similar level in local community development corporations they can commercialize urban landscapes. Rev. Floyd Flake — An excongressman, Flake illustrated there’s more to life than holding onto a seat for decades. After resigning from the U.S. House, Rake returned to his church congregation and led their construction of multiple housing projects for tens of thousands in New York City.

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Keith Rand Joyce Rand Owners

Multi-part forma, •aa Carda, ato. 5410 Emerson Way, Suite 3 Indianapolis, IN 46226 Phone 255-2748 9:00 a.m. • 5:00 p.m Monday - Friday

Business Briefs

IHFA helped almost 6,500families in 2001

Program receives support from Kroger Co. Foundation The International Center of Indianapolis received a $5,000 grant from the Kroger Co. Foundation to support its Bridges to the World: Connecting Youth Around the Globe program. The program is a collaborative educational effort which will introduce Central Indiana youth, educators, youth serving organizations and families to opportunities for international learning, service and work. The program will begin in March. Program sites include the Madame

Walker Theatre, the Indianapolis Children’s Museum and the Indianapolis Arts Center. Home buying classes The Near Eastside Community Organization (NESCO) and partners Realty Mart and Fairways Independent Mortgage will present a How to Buy a Home series. Participants can learn about the homebuying process, renovating and refinancing. Classes will be 6-7:30 p.m. Thursdays Jan. 17, Feb. 21. March 21 and April 18 at the John H. Boner Community Center, 2236

E. 10th St.

FIND OUT FIRST. On the net or in the book, a few minutes in here can save you hours out there.

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Special to The Recorder Helping to address the affordable housing needs of Hoosier families is the goal of the Indiana Housing Finance Authority (IHFA). In 2001, through homeownership, rental housing and community development programs, IHFA allocated more than $328 million in resources to meet that goal. Those resources stimulated $411 million in investments in Indiana, which in turn helped 6,473 families move into safe, quality houses and apartments. Here is a summary of IHFA’s programs and highlights from

2001.

' Homeownership IHFA makes homeownership a reality for many Hoosier families through below market interest rate mortgages, down payment assistance and Mortgage Credit Certificates (MCCs). The mortgage program is made possible with the issuance of taxexempt Mortgage Revenue Bonds (MRBs). Federal HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) funds are used to finance the majority of down payment assistance. There were 1,714 Hoosiers who bought their first homes with more than $130 million in IHFA mortgages. The average income of these households was $33,746 and the average purchase price was $75,945. Of these loans, 676 received down payment assistance totaling more than $2.2 million. There were 295 MCCs issued, totaling almost $27 million. The average income of these households was $37,871 and the average purchase price was $94,392. Rental housing IHFA awards Rental Housing Tax Credits (RHTCs) and Multifamily Bond allocations to finance affordable rental housing developments. RHTCs are

federal tax credits that can be used by developers or sold to raise funds for a development. Multifamily Bonds are a form of Private Activity Bond that is taxexempt and issued by state or local government entities. Both of these resources are allocated on a competitive basis to forprofit and not-for-profit developers of affordable rental housing. There were 2,015 affordable rental units in 33 developments across the state which were allocated $107 million, over a 10-year period, in RHTCs. Community development Community development programs utilize federal HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) and Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds and the Indiana Low Income Housing Trust Fund to finance a variety of housing activities. Community development programs also support operating funds for Community Housing Development Organizations (CHDOs) and pre-develop-ment activities. There were 103 units of emergency shelters and transitional housing which were funded with $924,837. There were 295 units of affordable rental housing funded with $6.8 million. There were 105 single-family homes for sale or lease-purchase to low- and moderate-income families funded with $3.9 million. There were 322 owneroccupied homes rehabilitated with $4.4 million. And 366 families received homeownership counseling and down payment assistance with $1.5 million. For more information about IHFA and its programs, check out our Web site at www.indianahousing.org or call toll free in Indiana, 800-872-0371.

TAKEOVER Continued from D1 funeral homes in the country but conducts about 14 percent of the nation’s burials. Currently, the company has halted its acquisition of small independent homes and is focusing on managing the 1,350 it has, said Terry Hemeyer, an SCI spokes-

man.

He said the company does not target market segments to go aftdr. “We look at the market and We look at which markets are growing,” Hemeyer said. “We do not track statistics as to race. We don’t have an African-American division of SCI. We don’t do that.” Loewen Group Inc. of Toronto, Canada, has nearly 900 funeral homes and 318 cemeteries in North America and also has scaled back its acquisition program. After years of aggressive acquisitions, Loewen is now trying to restructure in federal bankruptcy court in Delaware. An acquisition feeding frenzy, including the purchase of Black funeral homes, followed by the economic downturn affected both companies, industry officials said. But they also admit the market is there once the economy again favors acquisitions. There are, however, a number of small, but growing, Black companies acquiring Black-owned funeral homes. “We don’t have a desire to run Black businesses out of business,” said Slivy Edmonds Cotton, the president of Perpetua, a four-year-old Black firm based in Tucson, Ariz., that acquires funeral homes. “We want to be an alternative.” Applying sound business practices with maintaining a personal touch are doable goals, she said. “They are not mutually exclusive,” Cotton said. “Our goal is to have a balance.” TECH Continued from D1 is what is responsible for capturing the image that you see when you look through the viewfinder of your camera. Think of it as a tiny grid with millions of these tiny pixels that we just mentioned. Each pixel on the grid is responsible for making up a portion of the picture that you ate about to shoot. The more pixels your camera has, the more information the picture will contain; therefore the more detail or sharpness it will have when you enlarge it. Photos from anything less than a 3 megapixel camera should not be enlarged to sizes greater than a 5x7 if you want them to look sharp like pictures from a regular camera. Cameras rated at 1 megapixel or less are considered to be useful for Web photos or images that will primarily be viewed on the computer screen only. Although they also can be printed, it is not recommended for sizes over 3x4. Now you already know more than most of those so-called specialists in the camera stores. Most photo labs offer digital photo processing at the same rate as conventional film processing. Just bring the storage card from your camera to the processing lab and they will copy the data to their master computer, hand you back the card and in an hour or less your prints. In some cases you can walk into the photo lab and stick your storage card into a machine yourself and get seif serve pictures. Others may choose to print them from their home computer instead.

Workers to be honored with ROSE awards

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Special to The Recorder The Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association’s 11th Annual ROSE Awards, presented by the NCAA Hall of Champions, celebrates one of the greatest reasons why Indianapolis is known as an outstanding place to host meetings and events. More than 70 honorees will be feted and the recipients of the ROSE Awards announced at a banquet on March 13 in the Sagamore Ballroom of the Indiana Convention Center.

ROSE is an acronym that stands for Recognition Of Service Excellence. The awards honor employees who positively influence a visitors' experience in Indianapolis, whether through one-on-one contact or behind the scenes actions. Supervisors nominate honorees based on their courteous attitude, knowledge of the workplace and the city, ability to meet and exceed customer expectations and problem solving skills. These individuals have one-on-one contact with convention delegates, tourists.

business travelers and meeting planners, or are behind-the-scenes people who positively influence a visitor’s experience. They represent their companies and city as true ambassadors of good will. ; A panel of community leaders will serve as judges to select ROSE Award recipients for lifetime achievement and for exceptionjd service during 2001. Service awards will be given in the following categories: attractions, restagrant, hotel, retail, transportation and corporate.

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