Author: anwaryusef

Anwar Y. Dunbar is a Regulatory Scientist. Being a naturally curious person, he is also a student of all things. He earned his Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the University of Michigan and his Bachelor’s Degree in General Biology from Johnson C. Smith University (JCSU). Prior to starting the Big Words Blog Site, Anwar published and contributed to numerous research articles in competitive scientific journals reporting on his research from graduate school and postdoctoral years. After falling in love with writing, he contributed to the now defunct Examiner.com, and the Edvocate where he regularly wrote about: Education-related stories/topics, Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), Financial Literacy; as well as conducted interviews with notable individuals such as actor and author Hill Harper. Having many influences, one of his most notable heroes is author, intellectual and speaker, Malcolm Gladwell, author of books including Outliers and David and Goliath. Anwar has his hands in many, many activities. In addition to writing, Anwar actively mentors youth, works to spread awareness of STEM careers, serves on the Board of Directors of the Friends of the David M. Brown Arlington Planetarium, serves as Treasurer for the JCSU Washington, DC Alumni Chapter, and is active in the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace Ministry at the Alfred Street Baptist Church. He also tutors in the subjects of biology, chemistry and physics. Along with his multi-talented older brother Amahl Dunbar (designer of the Big Words logos, inventor and a plethora of other things), Anwar is a “Fanboy” and really enjoys Science-Fiction and Superhero movies including but not restricted to Captain America Civil War, Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice, and Prometheus. He is a proud native of Buffalo, NY.

Simone Griffin of HomeFree-USA discusses homeownership and the African American community part three

This is the conclusion of my interview of Simone Griffin of HomeFree-USA regarding Homeownership and the African American Community.  In part two of our discussion, we talked about some of the impediments of Black homeownership, some things our youth can start learning at an early age regarding financial literacy, and finally, the effect of the housing market boom and crash on African American wealth.  In part three of our discussion, we talked about Reverse Mortgages, and general recommendations and considerations for first time African American homebuyers.  This entire interview addresses all of the principles of my blog recently added to the site.

Anwar Dunbar:  What is a Reverse Mortgage and why are they bad products?

Simone Griffin:  They aren’t necessarily bad.  It is about the type of reverse mortgage you get and what you need it for.  A Reverse Mortgage is for people 65 years and older who wish to borrow against the equity in their home. This is a loan which has to be repaid when the homeowner dies. The homeowner still has to maintain the property, and pay property taxes and homeowners insurance.

Reverse Mortgages can come with high fees, so they should really only be utilized if there are no heirs to the house, or if the homeowner truly has no other money to live on.  Let’s say you own your home outright and have no other ways to pay your bills.  If you get a reverse mortgage and there’s nobody who can step in and pay that loan off when you die, the only way to get it paid off is by selling the house.  You’ve lost way more than you’ve gained.  Your family and future generations have just lost a piece of property that they could have lived in.

Consider Brooklyn, NY, where the difference between the average income and the cost of a home is astronomical.  Imagine a Black family who bought a home in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, who may have come in through the great migration from the south and bought a home in the 1960s or 1970s – now those Brownstones are going for well over a million dollars.

In 2010 Grandpa took out a reverse mortgage for $300,000, plus fees.  He died last year, and now the family can’t come up with the amount owed to the bank, so the only thing they can do is sell the house.  That’s a million-dollar house which they could never afford today, and $700,000 in equity has gone to the bank.

This is why we have to train our people in their working years about how to afford retirement. Aside for a reverse mortgage you can’t borrow for it.  If you don’t have anyone to leave the home to and you need the money, then it’s fine.  However, it should be a choice, not something you do because you didn’t plan well for retirement; especially if you have kids and grandkids who can utilize that property.

AD:  Redlining.  Are you seeing a lot of that in DC?

SG:  After the housing, boom shady investors went door to door saying, ‘We want to buy your house. We’ll offer you $300,000 cash if you move tomorrow, and we’ll take care of all of the repairs.’  Except that the house is actually worth $500,000.  When you’re paying cash for a house, an appraisal is not required.  So people didn’t bother to spend the money on one, they just took the $300,000 and ran.  If the homeowner had the property appraised, they could have sold it for a much higher amount.  Or they could have kept it. Unfortunately, many of the same people in DC with parents or grandparents who purchased houses for $30,000 or $40,000 sold them at the wrong time.  Now the neighborhoods are turning and they’re saying, ‘I want to move back,’ but they can no longer afford to.

AD: I used a first time homebuyer’s 3% down program with cash back at closing when I bought my condo.  That came with several caveats and nuances that I didn’t understand – I just saw that it was 3% down with cash back at closing.  I also bought into the sentiment that I was wasting money by renting and making someone else rich – a common motivation for first time homebuyers.  What advice would you give first time African American home buyers who are looking to purchase a home?  What things should they stay away from and what would you encourage?

SG:  I would encourage them to stay away from Adjustable Rate Mortgages (ARMS) and creative financing.  A 3% down payment is fine.  Right now those the 3% down loans are often an FHA product, which means you have to pay Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI), around 1% of the total loan until you have about 20% equity.  There are also 5% and 10% down products that don’t require PMI but the additional down payment may delay your purchase.  Using an organization like HomeFree-USA will help you leverage the home buying opportunity since we’re familiar with many different products, as well as different loan officers.

Lenders are now starting to understand the drawbacks that requiring 20% down or PMI brings. As a result, more are offering lower down payment products. Our job at HomeFree-USA is to be aware of these products, and marry them with local, state and federal funds that will help decrease the cost of homeownership for the buyer.  Now is a very good time to buy.  But don’t fret if you can’t find a product right now – we know where they are.

If there is any way to pay down your debts as much as possible, you should do that.  I know this is easier said than done, but if you can do it, it’s incredibly important to your peace of mind and  for affordability.  People get intimidated by their debt pay down process and what they have to sacrifice.  They’ll say, ‘Well it’s two whole years,’ and then I flip it and I say, ‘It’s only two years.’  In the grand scheme of life, the money you can earn from saving or investing the money you’re paying in debt is substantial.

Let’s say you’re paying $200 in student loans every month, and you’re able to get that paid off in one or two years.  If you put that $200 into a Mutual Fund, that money will grow over time.  You’re paying interest while in debt, so it’s worth it to just drop out of life for two years, or however long it takes, and say, ‘I want this over.  I’m paying off these debts and moving forward with life.’  Then you can take the money you’ve saved and use it towards a down payment on a house and avoid things like financing cars by paying cash.

People assume that they have to finance a car and that’s not the case.  I’ve never financed a car.  I only buy used cars, and each one is better than the last. But many Americans do not take the time to say, ‘I’m willing to put off something that I really want for the greater good (delaying gratification), so I don’t have to spend money financing a car.’  I recommended this to a friend.  She didn’t do it and is still not at the level that she wants to be financially. I thought to myself, ‘If she’d taken the year I suggested to not have a car, her company would have paid for transportation to and from meetings, she could have walked, gotten rides, taken the Metro or Lyft, and after only a year would’ve been in a much better position in life.’

She lives in the center of the city.  It’s an entirely different situation if you live in Odenton and have to drive to DC every day.  But when you live in the city and work in the city, and the metro is only 10 minutes away, there is some leverage.  It’s just a matter of being slightly inconvenienced for now in order to get to a greater position later (delayed gratification).  And many Americans don’t feel comfortable doing that, but the problem is Black Americans have fewer options than non-Hispanic whites.

AD:  That’s absolutely right.  I personally have some higher financial goals and decided to get rid of my car for numerous reasons in 2012; living right next to the metro being one of the main ones.  Some people just can’t fathom the idea of not owning a car.  But I aspire to do things like growing my net worth, and attaining some assets (stocks and eventually real estate, for example).

SG:  My father has a condo in the U Street Corridor.  I was there this week helping him, and it’s very hard to find parking. The metro, and a bike stand, are both 2 blocks away.  There are three grocery stores in the neighborhood and numerous restaurants.  Why would you need a car if you lived there?  If you live someplace that’s not far from the metro, why not take the opportunity do this for yourself so that you can eventually drive whatever you want?  Like Dave Ramsey says, ‘We’re going to live like no one else, so later we can live like no one else.’  Take that opportunity now.  But many people just don’t see it as an opportunity which is unfortunate, because where Black people are concerned, we don’t have as much to fall back on.

AD:  That’s right.  So a lot of this is in how you’re perceiving things, what you know, and what you’re willing to do.

SG:  Exactly.

AD:  Well, Simone, that was awesome.  A lot of people are going to benefit from reading this.  Do you have any parting comments or do you want to introduce HomeFree-USA one more time?

SG: To learn more about HomeFree-USA, go to www.homefreeusa.org. My financial blog is www.moneymagnet.homefreeusa.org.  If they have any questions they can reach out to me at moneymagnet@homefreeusa.org. If your readers are ready to start the homeownership experience, they can contact us at 301-891-8400.  They don’t have to talk to me for that.

We have a free class at our Riverdale, MD office every other Thursday, “Five Home Buying Secrets Everyone Ought to Know”.  HomeFree-USA is judged by the number of successful and sustainable home owners we produce, not just the number of clients we see.  That’s the key difference.

AD:  Okay, well Simone, that’s all I’ve got.  Once again thank you for this interview and for sharing your expertise and your experiences.  If we can do a follow up piece in the future, that’s something I would be very interested in.

SG:  Okay, thank you Anwar.

Thank you for taking the time to read this interview. If you enjoyed it, you might also enjoy:

• Simone Griffin of HomeFree-USA discusses homeownership and the African American community part one
• Simone Griffin of HomeFree-USA discusses homeownership and the African American community part two
• Your net worth, your gross salary and what they mean
• The difference between being cheap and frugal
• We should bought Facebook and Bitcoin stock: An investing story
• Challenging misconceptions and stereotypes in class, household income, wealth and privilege

If you’ve found value here and think it would benefit others, please share it and or leave a comment. To receive all of the most up to date content from the Big Words Blog Site, subscribe using the subscription box in the right hand column in this post and throughout the site. Lastly follow me on Twitter at @BWArePowerful, on Instagram at @anwaryusef76, and at the Big Words Blog Site Facebook page. While my main areas of focus are Education, STEM and Financial Literacy, there are other blogs/sites I endorse which can be found on that particular page of my site.

Mother’s Day 2017: One of My Mother’s Greatest Gifts, Getting Engaged, and Avoiding My Own Personal Fiscal Cliff

A Quick Plug

Hello. Thank you for clicking on this link and I hope you enjoy this essay. Writing a book was the genesis of me blogging and becoming a video content creator. I am close to publishing part one of my book project entitled, The Engineers: A Western New York Basketball Story. Please consider visiting the page to learn more about the project and see promotional content I’ve created surrounding the project. And now on to our feature presentation.

Motherly Guidance

A couple of years ago when still writing for the Examiner, I wrote a sentimental tribute piece about my mother for Mother’s Day discussing everything she did for my brother and me.  In short she put being a mother first above all else.  Looking back at my youth I don’t remember her really partying aside from holiday celebrations at her places of employment.  There were always lots of home cooked meals, togetherness, and church on Sundays, though I didn’t appreciate it at the time.  There was also a lot of love and positive affirmation in our home.

Her motherly guidance continued well into my adulthood.  One of her greatest gifts was given to me a couple of years ago, and I can guarantee that it isn’t a gift that you the reader would expect.  It was a lifesaving gift – one that impacted our immediate family, and that helped stop me from going over my own personal “Fiscal Cliff” and falling to my demise.  I’m sharing this story because I think about it often, but also so that it might help save someone else.  This post will probably likewise touch someone, and maybe draw a laugh or two, or three, or four.

Fiscal Cliffs

Many of you remember the term “Fiscal Cliff” from one of President Barrack Obama’s earliest showdowns with Republicans regarding the financial future of the United States – at the time a potential massive increase in taxes and broad spending cuts.  There are also be personal fiscal cliffs – situations in which a particular set of financial factors causes or threatens sudden and severe economic decline.  While the sizes and scales are different, they both involve needs, wants, how items in question are going to get paid for, and the after effects.

Only those really close to me know that I was engaged to be married two or three years ago.  Not being one to post my personal business all over Facebook, I initially told only a trusted few.  My former fiancée will remain anonymous, and my challenge likewise will be to tell this story in the fairest way possible, without demonizing and piling on her, as it would show very little class, so wish me luck.  Instead, I will focus on something my mother shared with me, and how it stayed with me as my brief engagement unfolded.  There were actually a couple of quotes that stuck with me but hers was special.

Ring Sizes and Customs

“You know it’s the custom for the bride’s father and/or family to pay for the wedding,” my mother told me shortly after my fiancée accepted my proposal (which I botched by not doing the getting on one knee ritual).  I didn’t know the first thing about weddings and in the previous year had to learn quickly about the “Four Cs” for picking out engagement rings: Cut, Clarity, Carat size, and Color.  Depending on the woman, rings can be a really, really big deal – perhaps too big a deal in the grand scheme of things.  That’s a separate discussion.

Living in two different cities, there were a lot of details my fiancée and I had to work out besides the wedding itself.  We loosely mutually agreed that the ceremony should be held out in the city she was from on the Pacific coast.  I think it was around that time a ballpark number for how much we would spend on the wedding emerged; $18,000 which quickly got rounded up to $20,000.  The funny thing is I think I threw the number out there – not because I had dreamt of spending that amount, but because I had heard two friends say that they had spent that amount on their wedding with some help from their folks I believe.

How to Get Married

After she accepted the proposal, things went fast.  Within a week, a close friend sent her a “How to Get Married” book with all of the planning and steps.  There were also plans to go dress shopping in New York City just like the show Say Yes to the Dress.  There is a lot I could say about what all happened next, but for the sake of keeping this focused, I’ll just say that there was a lot of deliberation over the amount to be spent.  While I wanted to keep it at $20,000 or below, my fiancée lobbied to push the number upwards.

“You’re probably going to end up spending a little bit over what you set the budget at,” my mother said, which didn’t make me feel any better.

“How many people are you all inviting?  The dollar amount is going to grow exponentially with the number of guests you’re inviting because you’re going to be feeding all of those people,” a close friend and fellow University of Michigan alumnus said, who had gotten married while we were all still in school.  He and his wife spent a little over $10,000 of their graduate school stipends – a tremendous feat.

It’s the custom for the bride’s father or family to pay for the wedding, my mother’s words continued to roll around in my head.  But whose custom was this?  And what if the bride’s father or family didn’t have any money?  Then what?

Eventually I started to ponder the enormity of spending $20,000 on our big day.  I started thinking that it wasn’t a smart idea even though I was a federal employee with a, “good government job.”  I had only recently gotten rid of my revolving consumer debt and didn’t have a substantial emergency fund in the bank, and neither did she.  I had also only recently started getting the 5% matching contribution on my government Thrift Savings Plan retirement account.  Furthermore, I had my eyes on buying stock, and moving into the wealthy class.

What Can One Do with $20,000?

It’s the custom for the bride’s father or family to pay for the wedding.  What can one do with $20,000?  One can use it as a down payment on a home (depending on the market).  One can purchase a brand new car.  One can invest that money and grow it.  One can donate to charities and scholarship funds for needy kids.  It can also simply be put away for an emergency fund for life’s inevitable calamities.  It can be used to start a business of some sort.  In this case it could also be spent on a one-day bonanza for friends and family who would go back to their lives afterwards.

“What you all need to do is live off of one of your incomes for a year and save the other one,” one of my mentors said when I told him that I was thinking about making the big plunge months earlier.  He was an experienced entrepreneur several years my senior and had seen a lot in his life’s journey.  “You all need to save $50,000 in the bank – actually black people need to have $100,000 in the bank,” he continued.  “Whenever we’re jobless it takes us longer to get hired.”

We need to save $50,000 in the bank?  We need to save $100,000 in the bank?  In addition to my mother’s words about the bride’s family paying for the wedding, my mentor’s words also bounced around in my head.  Was such a thing even possible?  With proper planning and prioritization, something that experts in estate planning like Dean Godfrey can help with, and agreeing in a relationship context, absolutely it was possible.  While I could see the power in doing such a thing however, I wondered how realistic it was for the particular set of circumstances I was in.  My fiancée and I didn’t reside on the same planet money-wise, and in several other key ways, which gets to the being ‘equally yoked’ principal that’s often discussed when long-term relationships come up.  This living off of one income for the first year advice actually wasn’t new.  It was just my first time hearing it.

Michelle Singletary’s Revelation

I found out something else highly relevant to this discussion by chance in the Washington Post.  It was shared by Michelle Singletary to whom I have to give the credit for citing it in her “Color of Money” column.  In an article discussing finance-related topics couples should discuss before getting serious (credit scores/history for example), she cited a study by Emory Professors Andrew Francis and Hugo Mialon titled A Diamond is Forever’ and Other Fairy Tales: The Relationship between Wedding Expenses and Marriage Duration.  They found that couples who spent greater than $20,000 on a wedding and associated costs are 3.5 times more likely to get divorced than couples who spent $5,000 and $10,000.  CNN and PBS covered this as well.

“You know Anwar, $20,000 is actually the low end for the amount spent on a wedding,” another close friend and Michigan alumnus said in the aftermath of the whole thing.  That may have been true, but the question in my mind once again centered around whose role it was to pay for all of it.  Was it the couple or the bride’s family?  Both families?  And what were the long-term consequences?  Furthermore, was it sane for a couple with no inheritances, and collectively no assets, to invest that type of money in something like that?

My gut told me no, but there is something sentimental, warm and fuzzy when it comes to women, engagements, weddings and shows like Say Yes to the Dress – something that defies all logic and reason.  As a man, you can easily get swept up in it all because well – it’s what many women like and what many women want to do.  Many have dreamt about their ‘Big Day’ since they were little.

Retrieving Investments?

As alluded to earlier, it wasn’t exactly a stable partnership and life’s many circumstances caused the whole thing to implode.  It was actually biblical in magnitude – something made for TV.  I thus didn’t have to proceed down the path that was unfolding in front of me which I saw leading me over the edge of my own personal fiscal cliff onto the rocks below.  No, I never got the ring back.  I got that question a lot – mostly from females I shared the story with, and from one guy – a cunning salesman who was trying to get me to purchase one of his insurance products in a coffee shop one morning.  I gladly told everyone no, as it paled in comparison to the money that I would’ve spent had the whole thing gone forward.

A Pakistani Wedding

About a year after my engagement imploded, a close friend got married – a Pakistani woman.  I was blessed to be invited to one of the three days of their weekend long wedding celebration/ceremony.  That’s right, it was three days in accordance with Pakistani culture – they do it big.  The ceremony I attended was at a beautiful hall and had all the trimmings.  My coworker and her husband, who was also Pakistani, were both dressed in the most immaculate costumes in accordance with their culture.  He actually rode in on a pony.  I looked around in amazement as all of us guests were treated like royalty.

She shared with me that her parents and the groom’s parents paid in the ballpark of $30,000 for the whole thing – that’s right $30,000.  Coming from the eastside of Buffalo, that’s a lot of money, and afterwards I pondered over and over again that their parents paid for it.  It was their culture and the norm in their community.  They also had an abundance of stable families where their parents actually had the funds to put into that type of thing – perhaps a demonstration of Pakistani privilege.

I continued to ponder their wedding weekend.  Because their parents footed the bill, they as a young couple didn’t take a huge financial hit.  They were able to just continue on with their lives and build – saving into their retirement accounts, planning vacations, pondering purchasing a home, etc.  They were able to start in a good place.  The same was true for another friend.  She and her spouse came from two stable families and themselves didn’t personally make huge investments on their big day.  The bride’s diamond ring was not purchased at some extravagant store like on TV, but instead, it was passed down through the generations in the groom’s family – again a benefit of coming from a stable family. Up this point, I’ve mentioned the concept of retirement twice. To get a feel for why this is so important, I recommend reading 6 last-minute retirement planning strategies by Brian Perry.

A Big Waste of Money?

“Weddings are a big waste of money,” said a professor on my thesis committee at the University of Michigan with a look of disgust on his face.  He was kind of conservative, and had homes in both Ann Arbor and Jackson Hole, Wyo.  He had been around a while and had seen a lot of stuff.  I didn’t understand any of it at the time so I thought he might’ve just been being an old curmudgeon.  He was probably thinking that there were better things that could be done with the tens of thousands of dollars spent on weddings.

Are weddings, engagement rings, and all of the associated costs a waste of money?  As with most things it depends on your point of view.  That said, as a couple, before dumping tens of thousands of dollars into something like that, I think it’s important that both agree on it and ask each other several key questions.  Are you going into debt for it?  Have you already started building wealth individually?  Can your relatives afford to kick in?  Where will you two be after the festivities once everyone else has gone home?  Is spending an astronomical amount of money a need or a want?

“It’s the custom for the bride’s father and or family to pay for the wedding.”  I don’t know that my mother knew that her words would stay in my mind as they did.  The words made more and more sense to me as I thought about them.  From a logical standpoint, if I as a man have just saved for an engagement ring – a month’s salary or more, does it now make sense to dump more money into a one-day extravaganza leaving us financially exposed?  For me at the time, no, it didn’t make any sense.  By the way, this wasn’t the only advice my mother gave me.  As a spiritual woman, there was much more.  My father?  He didn’t give me much of anything advice-wise.  His greatest anxiety/concern was having to fly out to the west coast to attend the ceremony.

Personal Decisions

Everyone has to decide for themselves what’s right as families and cultures are different.  As mentioned earlier, after a life of making financial mistakes out of ignorance, and only recently discovering some of the key secrets to wealth building such as knowing what a Net Worth was, my focus was more on savings and investments.  Furthermore, having been bailed out of a couple of jams by one of my uncles for example, asking him for more money at that time felt unacceptable.  The same was true for my father of whom I also decided it was unacceptable to ask for financial support of any kind at my current station in life.

For any men reading this and thinking about taking the plunge, this stuff is a big deal.  Many of the ladies (not all) dream about their wedding and will even critique and mock each other over them, as I witnessed a couple of high income-professional ladies do about a peer who paid for her wedding expenses out of pocket.  To cut costs, she and her fiancé wisely did things like cater their reception.  He was a master chef and put in some sweat equity of his own on the food.  I think they spent ~ $10,000 on the wedding, maybe a little less.  Also, some ladies think a spectacular ring is owed them, and will make them feel better during those inevitable rough marital patches.  Some will concede the wedding for a $20,000 or ring.

Think about your life, your goals and the long-term ramifications if you’re paying out of pocket.   Be real with yourself and your partner.  Determine whether or not you’re dealing in needs or wants and where you’ll be on the back end of the wedding.  If the two of you can’t agree there then that should, ‘give you pause,’ as my mother would say.  Interestingly my father’s second wife felt that past a certain age, there shouldn’t be any expectations for families to help pay for anything, and that’s assuming again that you had parents and families who had the means to begin with.

A $10,000 Gift for Eloping

“My friend’s father told her that he would give her a $10,000 gift if she and her fiancé eloped,” a woman in my former lab said at a recent science conference.  Her friend’s father had clearly done the math in his head and projected what a wedding would cost him, and determined that $10,000 would be a fraction of that cost.

Closing Thoughts

While the majority of this story was about me I’m going to close out by going back to my mother as this post is in celebration of Mother’s Day.  It was her words that stayed with me throughout this whole experience.  That being said, one of the challenges to growing up is having the discernment to reconcile your parent’s experiences/beliefs and words of wisdom with your own situation as the two don’t always go together.  Sometimes you do inevitably deviate from what they recommend for any number of reasons – sometimes disappointing them and even going through the hardship they tried to protect you from, and sometimes not.

The Big Words LLC Newsletter

For the next phase of my writing journey, I’m starting a monthly newsletter for my writing and video content creation company, the Big Words LLC. In it, I plan to share inspirational words, pieces from this blog and my first blog, and select videos from my four YouTube channels. Finally, I will share updates for my book project The Engineers: A Western New York Basketball Story. Your personal information and privacy will be protected. Click this link and register using the sign-up button at the bottom of the announcement. If there is some issue signing up using the link provided, you can also email me at bwllcnl@gmail.com . Best Regards.

Michael I-Zayah discusses new single release and the music industry

One of my goals for starting the Big Words Blog Site was to provide exposure for other talented individuals around me looking to launch their own unique endeavors.  One of my first interviews was with the Swamp Media Group, the creators of the Space Detective Movie, which has grown in international exposure.  Another up and coming artist is vocalist Michael I-Zayah who hails out of Atlanta, GA.  He has been working on perfecting his craft over the past several years and is looking to get signed by a music label sometime soon.  His latest single and video are titled, ‘New Panties’ (see the YouTube link below).  In this short interview, Michael I-Zayah talks about his background, his influences, his new single and his career goals.

Anwar Dunbar:  First of all, Michael, thank you for agreeing to do this interview.  We’re actually cousins and as such, I know how hard you’ve been working on your music career.  I’m honored to help you get exposure for your art.  For all artists and creators of things, exposure is definitely critical.  Now I may know who you are (laughing), but let’s start off by telling the readers a little bit about yourself and your background.  Where are you from and how did you decide to get involved in music?

Michael I-Zayah: I was raised in Atlanta, but I also represent Buff-City because much of my family is from there.  If anyone doesn’t know, that’s Buffalo, NY.

AD:  Do you go by the name Michael I-Zayah?  Or just by I-Zayah?

MI:  I go by Michael I-Zayah.  At one time I did go by just I-Zayah, but after dealing with so many stage names, I decided to go with Michael I-Zayah.  My middle name is Isaiah, like the prophet in the Bible, but I re-created it as “I-Zayah” because it has a unique look to it.

AD:  So you created this yourself and it’s spelled I-ZAYAH and sounds like Isaiah?

MI:  Yes.

AD:  That is very unique.  How did you get interested in music?

MI:  Ever since I was a kid I’ve always been interested in music.  When I was a baby, my mother would tell me that every time we were in the car listening to music, I would dance to it and move my head around.  I also always liked to play with my toy microphone, and I always had dreams of music and acting.  I was going through a lot of stuff in my teens and I just didn’t have the drive to pursue it, so I had to put it on hold.  Music and acting are my main passions.  That’s what I love to do.

AD:  So you’ve always been interested in the arts, and you’re in your mid-20s now.  Who are some of your influences?  Who did you listen to when you were coming up?

MI:  I listened to a lot of music from the 90s like Jodeci, Ginuwine, and Boyz II Men, just naming a few.  I can go on all day, but I just like to tell people that I was really influenced by the 90s R&B era.  It was my favorite time.  He’s not from the 90s, but I always get comparisons to Barry White because of my baritone voice, and to The Weekend because of my background melodies.

AD:  Yes, that was a great time for Hip Hop and R&B – one of my favorites too.  Much of today’s music sounds strange to me.  As I told you once, it took me a minute to catch on to Fetty Wap and appreciate his unique vocal sound.  Today’s stuff is cool when I’m out, but when I’m alone or at the gym working out, I usually go back to the 80s and 90s sounds, though it could be just because I have personal attachments to those eras similar to you and the 90s.

As an artist yourself, how would you describe the changes in Hip Hop and R&B from then to now?  Has it become more about making one hit?  Is it more for the club?  Has it become more about image?

MI:  You know what, I would say that it’s honestly all of the above.  I would also say that not all of the R&B music in this era is the same.  You have different sections and categories, and you have different sounds.  The younger generation of R&B is more popping now, but there are some artists who still turn out music like that from the 90s like Jodeci – they just released a record in 2015.

AD:  Do you like any of the music pre-1990 or that you heard you mother listening to?

MI:  My mother loved listening to Marvin Gaye, Chaka Khan, and Maze featuring Franky Beverly.  Some legendary heavy hitters I’d like to work with one day if I could, are Rodney ‘Darkchild’ Jerkins and Kenny ‘Babyface’ Edmonds.  Darkchild produced for groups like Destiny’s Child (Say My Name) and artists like Brandy and Monica (The Boy Is Mine).  I remember that prior to Babyface going solo, he was in the group ‘The Deele’; they made hits like ‘Two Occasions’ and ‘Sweet November’.  I’m also a fan of Barry White.

AD:  How would you describe your style?  Is it R&B, or would it be more like music for the club?  Talk about your musical style and genre.

MI:  That’s a good question because in terms of my style, I do R&B, R&B Soul and R&B Pop.  As far as my flavor, when people see me – how I dress and how I look, some people wonder if I’m a rapper and that’s not the case.  I do have an urban look, but I can also dress classy.

AD:  You just released a new single and it’s called ‘New Panties’.  When I first saw the image for the single, I wasn’t sure if this was good for the brand I’m trying to build (laughing), but when I heard the song and saw the video I thought it was pretty hot.  It’s a track that I can envision nodding my head to slowly while sipping a drink at happy hour at a club or a lounge like The Park at 14th here in DC on a Friday evening.  You can keep playing it over and over again and start feeling nice.  It definitely has a modern sound to it in terms of the way you’re delivering the lyrics rhythmically and the sound of the beat – the keyboards in the background and the drum beat.  It’s also very sexual (laughing), so exotic dancers could also use it.  What’s it about and where did it come from?

MI:  Well honestly (laughing), that was my songwriter’s story, and I want to send a shout to Carlos, aka Mr. Nine Dimensional.  He was telling me about an incident that he and some other people had experienced.  He had it stuck in his head and he told me about it.  So we tried to figure out how we could make it into a song.  In terms of the hook, we talked a lot about how it should sound.  He told me what the words were and I worked on coming up with the rhythm, added some more stuff in there and voila – it turned into the song and the rest is history.

To see the “New Panties” video, click the following link:

AD:  Who created the track – the instrumental you’re singing over?

MI:  It was a producer named DK and I’d like to send a shout out to him as well.  He’s an up and coming producer and he created the beat.

AD:  Have you guys approached any DJs or nightclub promoters about putting it in rotation during an event?  If not, you definitely should.

MI:   It’s been played at clubs and events, and I’m going to try to get it on the radio very soon.

AD:  So you have a video to go with the single as well.  How many singles  have you released?

MI:  I have three tracks.  My initial goal is to have at least three to six tracks.  All of them are going to have a unique sound and flavor.  Besides DK, I’m also working with Four Front Beats – shout out to them.  I’m working with BricksDaMane.  I’m also working with Frank Bank who is a producer, an artist and a CEO from California – shout out to him.  I want to send a shout out to Tony Sway.  BricksDaMane has a lot of heavy connections in the music business and industry.  I’ve known him since 2013 and I found out that he either produced or engineered Drake’s last album.  He also produced or engineered one of Young Thug’s projects.  These are the people I’ve been working with and producing my singles with.

AD:  So what are the next steps for your career?  What can we expect next from Michael I-Zayah?

MI:  You can expect to watch me grow, to go through my journey – the good and the bad times.  Lord knows I’ve been going through a lot when it comes to my music career, and I’m literally now just getting things back on track.  I’m going to be getting my name back out there, doing performances, going to radio stations, talking to the media, magazines, etc.  I have a lot going on and God is blessing me so I’m just trying to stay focused.

AD:  Where can people go and find some more of your music?

MI:  Well, I have some of my older music.  People can find it on YouTube or on SoundCloud.  I want to show people the type of work that I’ve done in my past compared to now.  What people don’t know is that even though I do Hip Hop, I’m transitioning more over to R&B.  I feel like I have a lot more to offer on that side.  It’s not that I can’t make music with my hip hop, but a lot of people haven’t seen me do R&B and I want to show people that side of me.

AD:  So when you say Hip Hop do you mean working with rappers or doing more club tracks?

MI:  I’m just referring to when I did some rap in the past.

AD:  Okay, yes.  I remember that when you first started you were rapping.  Okay, Michael, what have you learned about the music industry so far since being in it?

MI:  Wow (laughing).  What I’ve learned – what I’ve learned is that there are pros and cons to the music industry.  People have to realize that there is a difference between the Music Industry and the Music Business.  The Music Industry can be very cut throat.  A lot of people can have ulterior motives to get what they want out of you and as soon as they’re done, they don’t want to deal with you anymore.  A lot of people only care about themselves, and if it’s not all about them then they don’t care.  For me personally, I’d rather just stay in my lane and mind my business and just worry about me.  I feel like whoever I have a genuine connection to in the business and the industry, then it’s cool, and that’ll be a blessing.  All you have is you at the end of the day.

AD:  So the last question is how can the readers and listeners purchase “New Panties” if they want a copy of the track for their collection?  And in terms of social media, how can they connect with you?  You’re on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  Are you on any other Social Media?

MI:  They can download my track on iTunes, Amazon or Google Play.  In terms of Social Media, I have all of those.  I have Snapchat, Tumblr, YouTube, Linkedin – I have a whole bunch of social media sites where people can reach out and find me.

AD:  Okay, I’m not as familiar with Sound Cloud.  Is that something people can just go to and type your name in, and your music will come up?

MI:  Yes, I’m on SoundCloud too.  Oh by the way, I want to say that I was in BET’s The Quad and Oprah’s Greenleaf both as a casting extra.

AD:  Okay that’s all I’ve got.  Thank you for talking about your new single and your budding career.  As you pump out more material, perhaps we can do some future update pieces.

MI:  Okay, cool.

Thank you for taking the time to read this interview.  If you want to hear more of Michael I-Zayah’s music, look him up as described above.  If you liked this interview, please share it and or leave a comment. Interested in making like Michael I-Zayah and taking off in the music industry yourself? Well, it’s time to start gaining some exposure. Upload your music onto Soundcloud and get involved with real soundcloud promotion. This can help to increase the plays on your tracks and get the ball rolling towards recognition and success!

To receive all of the most up to date content from the Big Words Blog Site, subscribe using the subscription box in the right hand column in this post and throughout the site

Simone Griffin of HomeFree-USA discusses homeownership and the African American community part two

This article is a continuation of my interview with Simone Griffin of HomeFree-USA regarding homeownership and the African American community.  In part one, Simone discussed the inception of her organization HomeFree-USA, and why homeownership is critical to the African American community in the United States.  In part two, we discuss some of the historic and recent impediments to black homeownership, some of the things our youth can start learning at an early age regarding Financial Literacy, and finally the effect of the Housing Market Boom/Crash on African American wealth.

Anwar Dunbar:  You touched upon this earlier when you discussed disparities in income, but what are the other main impediments holding African Americans back as a group in terms of homeownership?

Simone Griffin:  There are a couple of different things.  Number one, lenders aren’t as open to lending to people with lower credit scores.  Because they’re over-correcting after the housing crisis, they prefer to lend to people with a 750 credit score or higher.  Many black people don’t have that, but it doesn’t mean that we can’t pay our mortgages.  They simply may not have learned the importance of credit and how to manage it.  And it has nothing to do with your education status – they don’t teach personal finance in college, and are just beginning to do so in high schools.

AD:  No, they don’t.

SG:  If your family doesn’t know anything about credit and you don’t learn about it in school, then how could you be prepared with a 750 or greater score?

AD:  Yes, that’s a very good point.

SG:  A big difference between us and non-Hispanic whites is that between the Great Depression and the 1960s when America was building its wealth, black people were locked out due “Redlining” and other discriminatory tactics.  The Fair Housing and Fair Credit Laws were enacted in the late 1960s and early 1970s, which made it illegal to discriminate against people of color.  The problem was, when we tried to buy homes we were expected to make a 20% down payment, and many black people simply didn’t have that type of money. So when home appreciation soared during the 1970s and 1980s, many moderate income black people were unable to buy, which further crippled their ability to build wealth.  Many are still trying to catch up, and it’s 2017!

Meanwhile there are other ethnic groups who have money saved and may be able to give their kids a leg up.  Their kids may have student loan debt, but they can help them pay down their debt faster, or with a down payment on a house.  Mostly though, we’re starting over with every generation.  There are still many first generation college students in our communities – and college is a big indicator of how much more money you’ll make throughout your career.  So we’re still playing catch up to a degree.  This is why HomeFree-USA is so important, because you need that type of knowledge and access to get ahead.

Likewise, we’re positioned to tell the mortgage industry, ‘You say you want diversity, and want to lend to all kinds of people, but your 750 credit score requirement is locking black people out – black people who really could qualify.’  We’re not suggesting they throw a mortgage product out there and tell everyone they’re eligible. We never did that.  There were so many people we met with during the housing boom and said, ‘You should not be buying right now.’  But there were certain things they could do to improve their position, and we’re here to guide them through the corrections.

What’s important is a level of education to the borrower and to the lender.  The lender needs to understand what the borrowers are dealing with right now – what black people are dealing with.  We may have excess student loans, but if you look at non-traditional sources of credit, you will see that these borrowers are typically paying their rent on time for example, something that’s rarely reported to the credit bureau.  Cell phone and utility bills are also not always reported.

Many African Americans are unbanked or under-banked and we’re not used to working with the traditional lenders.  But that doesn’t mean that we’re not paying our bills, and these are the kinds of things that we’re communicating to the lenders.

AD:  I help teach the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University Ministry at the Alfred Street Baptist Church.  As I’ve gone through as a student and a group leader, I think about the things that I was taught home (and not taught).  My mother says that she taught us about mortgages, but I don’t remember getting any of that – or I was just too caught up in the distractions of being a young adult.  Is there an age that’s too early for our kids to start learning this stuff?  Ideally how early should our kids be getting these things?

SG: I think you can start early, but age appropriately.  The sooner someone can start working and making their own money, that’s a big thing.  But in the interim just teach kids about giving, saving and spending, and allow them to hold their own money.  Kids for example, may know that money comes out of an ATM but they don’t understand what goes into making the money.  They may ask, ‘Can we get this?’, and you might reply, ‘No it’s not in the budget,’ allowing you to go into an understanding of what the budget is.

My friend has a nine-year old son who is in love with Pokémon cards and always asks her to buy them so he can trade them in school.  The problem is, he has no concept of how much the cards cost.  I suggested she give him an allotment of money every month for the cards, and once he spends it, it’s gone and that’s it. When it’s his money, as opposed to asking her to spend her money, it will change the level of focus he has on the purchase and care of the cards.

AD:  Earlier you talked about African Americans not having access to homeownership when other groups did from post the Depression era to the 1960s.  How did the 2008 Housing Market Crash affect African American homeownership since we were already playing catch up and were just getting into the game?

SG:  It obliterated our wealth.  One big mistake African Americans made is that we looked at our houses as investments.  We would buy a house, but not put any money into savings or other investment vehicles.  In the 1960s, 70s and 80s, our parents and grandparents had pensions, but most companies have replaced those with 401k plans, which they may not contribute to.  We now have to be conscientious about our entire financial life, including retirement.

When the housing crisis hit, it wasn’t all our fault.  Some people were truly led astray, and there were certainly many people who shouldn’t have been approved for such large mortgages.  I lived in Atlanta during the crisis, and the city was hit brutally by the crisis.  I met so many older people whose houses were paid off, and somebody at their church convinced them to get a Reverse Mortgage, which needlessly got them back into debt.  They didn’t even know what they were signing.  There were so many scams going on in Georgia at that time, including one where people thought they were signing up for one mortgage payment, only to find that there was a carbon copy of the real mortgage document underneath the original one, which required them to pay a far higher monthly payment.

Buyers were often blamed and told they bought too much house.  No, some of these people did their best to buy affordably, but were led astray – another reason why HomeFree-USA is so important.  If you’re working with us, we teach you the questions to ask your loan officer, realtor, inspector and appraiser.

During the housing boom loan officers were saying, ‘Oh, I can get you qualified for a $400,000 house even though you only make $40,000.’   Couple that with an agent who says, ‘I see you’re qualified for $400,000. Let me show you a house that’s worth $450,000 and we can negotiate down to $400, 000,’ and it ends up finally being around $425,000.  You say to yourself, ‘It’s fine because my loan officer says I can pay $500 every month.  So, today your payments may be an affordable $500 a month, which makes you feel comfortable in using your credit cards to pay for your new furniture. But five years later you receive a letter stating that you owe $20,000, due within 30 days. After the 30 days and $20,000, your new mortgage payment will be $5,000 per month. This actually happened to several people.  The homebuyers were either completely unaware of the balloon loan, or were told by their loan officer that they could simply refinance.  But the housing market crashed and they now owed more than their house was worth, meaning they were stuck.

This is why I avoid thinking of a home as an investment.  It can go down in value, especially at the beginning of your mortgage before you’ve built any equity.  We go financially awry when we make our house our only real investment without understanding that you have to diversify your portfolio.

This interview will continue in part three of Simone Griffin of HomeFree-USA discusses Homeownership and the African American Community.  To read some more of Simone’s financial writings, visit her blog at www.moneymagnet.homefreeusa.org.  She can also be contacted directly at moneymagnet@homefreeusa.org.

Thank you for taking the time to read this interview. If you enjoyed it, you might also enjoy:

• Simone Griffin of HomeFree-USA discusses homeownership and the African American community part one
• Simone Griffin of HomeFree-USA discusses homeownership and the African American community part three
• Your net worth, your gross salary and what they mean
• The difference between being cheap and frugal
• We should bought Facebook and Bitcoin stock: An investing story
• Challenging misconceptions and stereotypes in class, household income, wealth and privilege

If you’ve found value here and think it would benefit others, please share it and or leave a comment.  To receive all of the most up to date content from the Big Words Blog Site, subscribe using the subscription box in the right hand column in this post and throughout the site.  Please visit my YouTube channel entitled, Big Discussions76. Lastly follow me on Twitter at @BWArePowerful, on Instagram at @anwaryusef76 and a the Big Words Blog Site Facebook page.  While my main areas of focus are Education, STEM and Financial Literacy, there are other blogs/site I endorse which be found on that particular page of my site.

Your Net Worth, Your Gross Salary, and What They Mean

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“The interesting thing about one’s net worth is that it can’t be negotiated with one’s employer.”

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Note.  The subject matter of this blog post is not new.  It has been known for years by those who learned about it in their families, or who have discovered it on their own.  It’s simply a discussion from my personal perspective which I think is worth visiting.  The pictures displayed throughout this post are from the eastside of my hometown of Buffalo, NY.  My first money lessons started there – a lot of what not to do, and they capture the essence of some of the money challenges facing my brothers and sisters in my hometown and across the country.

Money Lessons From Your Family

Life is literally a lottery and regardless of your color or nationality, one of its immutable truths is that you can’t control the family you were born into.  You can’t control the parents you are born to, which likewise dictate the privileges and advantages you have access to.  We often think of privilege in terms of black and white (White Privilege), but there are also black families that have privileges over other black families.  The family you are born into in large part guides your start in life, the information, and the values that will dictate your early life choices – good or bad, though they don’t necessarily shape all that comes afterwards – a good thing for some.

Neither of my parents talked about what a Net Worth was when I was growing up.  As described in the Big Words Blog Site Story, my mother and her siblings were first generation college students – descendants of parents who were a part of the Great Migration.  My father’s situation was similar.  They were children of the Civil Rights Era, and thus the big goal for them was earning college degrees and then securing stable jobs on equal footing with their white peers.  That for them was winning and it was also a surpassing of their elders.  For those of us born from their generation (Generation X), going to college was also expected, but what would be the next level for us?  What was winning for our generation?

One’s Gross Income Vs. Their Net Worth

These days I have a lot of discussions with via text messaging with my brother Amahl, and three close friends from Hutch-Tech High School in Buffalo, NY: the twins Alim and Raheem Gaines and our other buddy, Hestin Brown.  All week long we discuss topics including sports, politics, and some of the silly stuff we see in the media, on Black Twitter and on Facebook.  We discuss social issues as well, particularly as they relate to the black community.  We’re a “Black Male’s Support Group”, or even our own little “Think Tank”.  Recently in a group dialogue that started out with a controversy regarding Tyrese Gibson’s spouse and whether she was actually black, something else much more important came up, the concept of one’s net worth.

Alim cited something he heard about listing what black men in the United States earn in terms of average gross income.  I responded wondering what the breakdown was for black women and Alim on cue cited the 2010 study by Mariko Chang describing Black and Hispanic women having average net worths of only $100 and $120.  I quickly pointed out that there was a difference between one’s gross income and their net worth.  My brother, the eldest in our group, asked what a net worth was.  For perspective, we’re all just above the age of 40.  Alim and I both knew the answer and gave it.  I shared that I was first introduced to the term in my late 20s, but didn’t completely grasp it until my mid-30s – very, very late in the game.  I pondered the fact that my brother still hadn’t grasped it yet – not a knock on him by any means, just our life’s circumstance.  I then wondered how our own life decisions would have been different had we known this important concept in our teens.

What Is Your Net Worth?

Just briefly, your net worth is the numerical difference between what you own and what you owe – your savings and your assets minus your debts and obligations (liabilities).  Your savings are self-explanatory – the amount of liquid cash you have available and can access quickly.  Assets can be anything from securities such as stocks, gold or silver, real estate investments, equity in your home, or profitable businesses.  If you’re an employee, a major contributor to your net worth is your retirement savings – that’s if you’ve been disciplined enough (and able) to steadily set money aside, which is something that the experts at Horan Wealth Estate Planning can help you with.  Debts/liabilities are self-explanatory as well.  Common forms of debt are: credit cards, car notes, mortgages, home equity lines of credit, loans against your retirement savings, etc.

I only started learning about what a net worth was in my late 20s, out of curiosity and chance.  Books like the Rich Dad Poor Dad talked about it, in addition to the Millionaire Next Door.  In Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University (FPU), the term is not explicitly addressed, but FPU’s ‘Baby Steps’ ultimately lead to a steadily increasing net worth.

A Metric Of Your Wealth

Okay, so what’s the big deal about this somewhat abstract and nebulous term that only few understand?  The answer is that your net worth is a metric of your wealth which is very, very different than your gross salary.  This is a critical distinction because a high gross salary doesn’t necessarily translate into a high net worth.  A person or a couple can have high gross salaries and still have a negative net worth(s).

In Black America we’re often enamored and impressed with individuals who make six figures.  Similar to one’s occupation, making six figures by itself can be deceptive.  You would assume that a medical doctor, a lawyer, or a news anchor would be very comfortable, but not necessarily – the same is true for someone who makes six figures.  Imagine if a person has a gross salary of $100,000 and their expenses are $95,000.  They’re still essentially broke right?  Beyond a certain point, your gross income is what Malcolm Gladwell in his book, Outliers, calls an ‘Entrance Criteria’ – an attribute that allows you entry into a club, though it isn’t a predictor of greatness.  ‘Excellence Criteria’ is what separates the great from the average and the underachievers.  These are the things that allow one to become wealthy in this case.

Contrary to the images we’re bombarded with in the media, the excellence criteria for building your net worth don’t necessarily involve a lavish and high consumption lifestyle, but instead being frugal and careful with one’s money.  Dr. Thomas Stanley wrote extensively about this in his Millionaire Next Door series.  This means that many people are chasing after the wrong things in life and not knowing it until it’s too late.

Increasing Or Decreasing Your Net Worth

What are some keys to growing your Net Worth?  Some of them include:

  • Budgeting one’s money and controlling costs – learning to run a surplus vs. a deficit;
  • Saving money gradually in an emergency fund, retirement and then potentially for investments and;
  • Carrying the least amount of debt possible.

What are some keys to keeping and maintaining a low/negative net worth?  Some of them include:

  • Spending more than you earn – spending everything you earn;
  • Not saving anything and;
  • Carrying large amounts of debt – particularly on the things that lose value or don’t justify borrowing the money – cars, sneakers, and degrees which don’t lead to well-paying jobs.

In his Rich Dad Poor Dad series, Robert Kiyosaki actually defines wealth as the amount of time one can go without working while still being able to cover expenses.

But what are the greater implications of growing your net worth and wealth?  They can position you to do things like build businesses.  They can be used to donate to charities, and to give other students, for example, the chance to go to school to better themselves – something sorely needed in Black America.  This is the importance of organizations like the United Negro College Fund for example.  They can be used to fund political candidates and campaigns, and have a true seat at the table when national and local policy decisions are made.  At the end of the day, politics is all about money right?

In Black America right now discussions, like the ones my buddies and I have, are actually taking place about the differences between having a high net worth and having a high salary – again two things which don’t necessarily correlate.  One gentleman on Twitter, a Nigerian I think, who regularly beats the net worth drum often rebutting people who think they’ve made it because they’ve attained a high gross salary and have luxury items like Mercedes Benzes and BMWs.  While these are prestigious toys, they gradually lose value and deceptively don’t translate into wealth.

Can You Negotiate Your Net Worth With Your Employer?

The interesting thing about one’s net worth is that it can’t be negotiated with one’s employer – it’s something that must be decided and acted upon by the individual once they understand it – like choosing to eat healthy or choosing to continue to eat an unhealthy diet.  It can’t be legislated or forced upon groups of people, nor should it be.  It’s a personal choice just like practicing a religion or choosing a spouse.  Speaking of which, I’ve read that judges actually consider a couple’s net worth during divorces and usually just split everything down the middle – a source of tension particularly when one of the spouses hasn’t earned the assets being split.

“Tasha and Ron are living large.  She’s a School Administrator and he’s a Fireman,” my mother said about couple in their 40s who are friends of the family.  She was looking at their professions and what she thought their salaries were and concluded that they were winning financially.

“Actually you don’t know that, Mom,” I said in reply.  “People can look like they’re making it on the outside, but without knowing their savings, their bills and their debts are, you don’t really know how they’re doing.”  My response echoed Robert Kiyosaki’s books where he stated that an individual’s financial success is actually dictated by their income statement and balance sheet – two things you can’t see by looking at someone – but things banks weight highly when qualifying individuals for mortgages or business loans.

What prevents individuals from growing their net worths?  Several things actually.  One is ignorance.  If no one ever tells you about it and you don’t stumble upon the information, you’ll never know.  Secondly, personal choices prevent one from doing it.  It takes discipline and drive, and many individuals lack those.  As a man, if you’ve recklessly had a bunch of kids and are bogged down with child support payments, you’ll probably never get there.

If you’re a single mother also with many kids, you’ll also have a hard time getting there as well.  It’s not impossible, just exponentially more difficult.  In one of his videos, Dr. Boyce Watkins stated that the average cost of a child is $250,000 up until it turns 18 years of age.  The other piece is that in some instances, particularly in Black America, only a handful of people in a given family get educated and earn a decent salary.  Those individuals are often looked upon to take care of everyone else – a potential, “Siphoning off of the wealth,” as Dr. Michael Eric Dyson said, partially joking, at the 2015 Congressional Black Caucus Annual Legislative Conference.  That day he was leading a Wealth-Building panel.

Who Can Become A High Net Worth Individual?

Growing a high net worth doesn’t necessarily involve going to get a Ph.D., an M.D., a Pharm D., or a J.D.  You actually don’t necessarily need a college degree to do it.  It simply requires a steady stream of income, understanding debt, and priorities.  This is what Dave Ramsey meant when he said, “Money is 20% knowledge and 80% behavior.” 

This is also one of the key principles in Robert Kiyosaki’s Cashflow game where players must choose their profession before playing.  One would think in the game that it would be easier to get out of the “Rat Race” by being one of the higher income professionals like the doctor, lawyer, or the airline pilot, but it’s actually easier as the web designer or the janitor.  While they generate less gross income, they also carry less debt and have fewer bills.  Their cost per child is also less than the higher income professionals.

Understanding what a net worth is and then making the decisions to grow it is a paradigm shift and a powerful one.  As with most things, we all have lives and everyone’s situations are unique.  We all have relatives and friends who may not necessarily understand the decisions and temporary sacrifices being made, and thus it’s important to know your own motivations – you have to know your ‘why’.

Concluding Thoughts

Again, a net worth is not a salary that you make every year.  It’s a result of spending habits and specific money choices.  How often should it be calculated?  One of my mentors told me that it should be calculated quarterly.  If you haven’t been paying attention to it, your initial assessment may not look pretty, but it gives you a place to start from – kind of like a doctor’s checkup.

So what’s your net worth?  Don’t answer that.  From experience, just like your gross income, it’s best if you keep it to yourself and only share it with a trusted few if anyone at all.  Money does different things to different people, and when people think you have it, it can do strange things to your relationships – your relatives and friends.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you enjoyed this post, you might also enjoy:

• The difference between being cheap and frugal
• We should’ve bought Facebook and Bitcoin stock: An investing story
• Challenging misconceptions and stereotypes in class, household income, wealth and privilege
• What are your plans for your tax cut? Thoughts on what can be done with heavier paychecks and paying less tax
• Who will have the skills to benefit from Apple’s $350 billion investment?
• Mother’s Day 2017: One of my mother’s greatest gifts, getting engaged, and avoiding my own personal fiscal cliff

If you’ve found value here and think it would benefit others, please share it and or leave comments.  To receive all of the most up to date content from the Big Words Blog Site, subscribe using the box in the right-hand column in this post and throughout the site, or add the link to my RSS feed to your feedreader.  Please visit my YouTube channel entitled, Big Discussions76. Lastly follow me on Twitter at @BWArePowerful, on the Big Words Blog Site Facebook page, and on Instagram at @anwaryusef76.  While my main areas of focus are Education, STEM, and Financial Literacy, there other blogs/sites I endorse which found on that particular page of my site.

Simone Griffin of HomeFree-USA discusses homeownership and the African American community part one

One of the goals of the Big Words Blog Site is to discuss Financial Literacy-related topics, particularly as they relate to the African American community.  A key aspect of wealth building is homeownership.  Coincidentally, for my very first interview for the site, I had the privilege of interviewing the very knowledgeable Simone Griffin of HomeFree-USA.  Simone and I met at the reception for the National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB) at the 2016 Congressional Black Caucus Annual Legislative Conference.

During our interview, Simone discussed how HomeFree-USA was conceived and its mission, why homeownership is critical for African Americans, the effect of the 2008 housing market crash on African American homeownership and wealth, and the overall challenges the Black community faces in securing and maintaining homeownership.  Based on the wealth of information shared by Simone, our very candid and insightful interview will be posted in three parts.

Anwar Dunbar:  First of all, Simone, I want to thank you for your willingness to talk.  When I finished school, I realized that there were gaps in my financial knowledge.  Homeownership and real estate fall under that umbrella so I want to disseminate information that can help individuals, like myself, who want to have a firmer grasp on these concepts much earlier in life.

How did you get involved in real estate?

Simone Griffin: HomeFree-USA is a family business, which my parents started in 1995.  My father was in Mortgage Servicing for almost 20 years before that.  The servicing entity collects your mortgage payments and pays out the property taxes and homeowner’s insurance.  If you fall behind on your mortgage, they’re the ones you speak to.

My mother was in the retail business, and had a marketing background.  My parents noticed how many minorities in the DC area were locked out of homeownership, primarily because they didn’t know that they could afford it.  Many were government employees with very stable jobs, but no one in their family had ever owned a home.  My mother started HomeFree-USA, and my father later joined her, for those who had no one to guide them through all facets of becoming a successful, sustainable homeowner.

Realtors are often the default vehicle for helping people with their credit and debt issues, but that isn’t their job.  Their real job is to help you find a house.  It’s the job of the financial institution to make sure that you’re financially capable of repaying the loan, but as any homeowner knows, there’s far more that goes into owning a house than just the paying the mortgage.  And when you’ve been renting your whole life and don’t know any homeowners, it feels like a lofty feat.

HomeFree-USA walks with you so you know what you’re doing, are confident that you’re getting a good loan, and are buying well within your affordability range.

Ninety-six percent of the people who fell victim to the Housing Boom and subsequent Foreclosure Crisis didn’t see organizations like HomeFree-USA when they were buying their homes.  Had we seen them, there’s a high chance that they wouldn’t have been in those situations.  They worked with realtors and loan officers, but again it’s not their job to educate and prepare.  Their job is to help you get a loan and into a house.  Because there are shady businesses everywhere, you have to have enough knowledge to know when you’re being lead in the right direction and when someone is trying to take advantage.  That’s why HomeFree-USA is in existence.

AD:  Okay, so in summary, what is the mission of HomeFree USA?

SG:  The mission of HomeFree-USA is to:

  • Strengthen people through sustainable homeownership, financial education and coaching;
  • Enhance communities by creating affordable homeownership opportunities through the acquisition, rehabilitation and sale of Real Estate Owned (REO) properties; and
  • Elevate our partners with capacity building assistance and mutually beneficial programs and initiatives.

AD:  Before we move on you mentioned when the DC market was, ‘Affordable.’  For readers who don’t live in the DC area, what was affordable price-wise versus where we’re at right now?

SG:  Most of our homebuyers at that time were moderate income single mothers – making $35,000 to $55,000 a year.  You could buy a home in DC at that time making that kind of money.  Even if you adjust for inflation today, you cannot buy a house unless it’s an affordable set-aside (of which there are few) with that income.  I made $30,000 when I bought my house.  I could do that in the District then: now, no way.  The average income has also increased in DC, but not to the point where it makes homeownership affordable for all.

AD: They say that DC is no longer Chocolate City.

SG:  No, it’s definitely not Chocolate City anymore.

AD:  Why is homeownership so critical for the African American community in the United States?

SG:   First, one of the big misnomers is that homeownership should be used as an investment vehicle.  I don’t necessarily look at it as an investment vehicle, although homes typically appreciate in value over time.  Most importantly, homeownership stabilizes your expenses, which is invaluable when building wealth.  It also gives your family a foundation that they always know they can come home to.

On average, people of color are still paid less than non-Hispanic whites in this country.  I believe Black women are paid 60% less than their non-Hispanic white male counterparts, so we have to create ways to stabilize our income and expenses as much as possible, while continuing to work on income disparities.  Also, homeowners are typically more focused and invested in the state of their community.  If you have kids, the school system becomes really important.  Holding legislators accountable for actions which may affect your home value also becomes really important. There is a direct correlation between the health of a community and the number of homeowners.  You also get the advantage of having a tax write off.

I just don’t want people to look at homeownership purely as an investment.  Some people feel like it’s a given that their house should go up in value, and that’s not true. It’s an investment and investments are risky.  In the long run though, real estate tends to beat even the stock market in returns.

AD:  I was talking to a coworker recently and we were in fact discussing that when you rent, your rent tends to go up every year, and when you have a mortgage it tends to stay stable.

SG:  That’s true.  Your property taxes and homeowner insurance may increase, but if you have a consistent mortgage payment every month, you can stabilize your overall budget and begin to build true wealth.

This interview will continue in parts two and three of Simone Griffin of HomeFree-USA discusses Homeownership and the African American Community.  To read some more of Simone’s financial writings, visit her blog at www.moneymagnet.homefreeusa.org.  She can also be contacted directly at moneymagnet@homefreeusa.org.  A special tank you is extended to Simone Griffin and HomeFree-USA for participating in this interview and also for providing the picture for this post.

Thank you for taking the time to read this interview. If you enjoyed it, you might also enjoy:

• Simone Griffin of HomeFree-USA discusses homeownership and the African American community part two
• Simone Griffin of HomeFree-USA discusses homeownership and the African American community part three
• Your net worth, your gross salary and what they mean
• The difference between being cheap and frugal
• We should bought Facebook and Bitcoin stock: An investing story
• Challenging misconceptions and stereotypes in class, household income, wealth and privilege

If you’ve found value here and think it would benefit others, please share it and or leave a comment. To receive all of the most up to date content from the Big Words Blog Site, subscribe using the subscription box in the right hand column in this post and throughout the site. Pease visit my YouTube channel entitled, Big Discussions76. Lastly follow me on Twitter at @BWArePowerful, on Instagram at @anwaryusef76, and at the Big Words Blog Site Facebook page. While my main areas of focus are Education, STEM and Financial Literacy, there are other blogs/sites I endorse which can be found on that particular page of my site.

JCSU DC Alumni Chapter President Robert Ridley discusses the 150 and Beyond Campaign

One of the focuses of the Big Words Blog Site is Education – all aspects.  Higher education is not just a means to a career and upward mobility, but it’s also a business with both benefits and costs to the student, parents, the institution, and society.  Likewise, one of the major concerns of parents and students, in addition to getting into a school, is actually financing the college tuition, room and board.  The amount of money awarded students was, in fact, one of the major discussion points recently at the Richard T. Montgomery High School and the Alfred Street Baptist Church HBCU College Fairs.  Students received both onsite admissions and financial awards from prospective Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).

Like many of my peers I have two alma maters – one a predominantly white institution (PWI), and a the other an HBCU institution.  When I think about the University of Michigan I tend not to think about financial challenges.  The opposite is true for my first alma mater, Johnson C. Smith University (JCSU) and other HBCU’s.  I first heard about anemic alumni giving to HBCU’s in one of Spike Lee’s earliest films, School Daze.  These discussions continued throughout the years, and when writing for the Examiner I had an opportunity to interview Allstate’s Cheryl Harris, a Florida A & M University.  She talked about low alumni giving and the Allstate campaigns with the Tom Joyner Foundation for raising money for HBCUs.

Four years ago, I became active in the JCSU DC Alumni Chapter which has been a very educational experience.  Alumni Chapters at smaller institutions are critical for steering new students to schools and helping to raise money so that they can remain open; again, something critical for HBCUs.  Since becoming the Treasurer for the local Alumni Chapter, I have had the privilege of working alongside my fellow Class of ‘99 alumnus and Chapter President, Robert “Big Philly” Ridley (Community Health Education).

Through his love for JCSU and the DC Alumni Chapter, Robert has worked tirelessly over the years to give back to our alma mater and future generations of Smithites.  Under his leadership, our chapter has recently embarked on the “150 and Beyond Campaign” to raise money for the JCSU DC Alumni Chapter’s scholarship endowment.  To help get the word out about the campaign and encourage participation, Robert recently agreed to talk about the DC Alumni Chapter and the 150 and Beyond Campaign.

Anwar Dunbar:  First, Philly, thank you for allowing me help get the word out about the 150 and Beyond Campaign.  I’ve learned a lot about higher education, what Alumni Chapters do, and some of the inner workings of JCSU by working alongside you, Brenda Jones-Hammond and Marion Massey (and others) in the JCSU DC Alumni Chapter.  We’re all volunteers and do what we do because we love Smith and as President, you’ve basically driven this whole movement.  In my opinion Smith is very fortunate to have someone like you advocating and being an ambassador on its behalf.

So first, let’s get some background information.  How did you come to be the President of the JCSU DC Alumni Chapter?  What are your goals for the Alumni club?  What have been some of the challenges?

Robert Ridley:  I have been the President of the JCSU DC Alumni Chapter/Club for the past eight years.  When I became President, I was originally designated to be the Vice-President.  The designated President accepted a position overseas a month before the election.  Without any additional candidates, I was voted to become the youngest President in the history of the Chapter.

My primary goal as President is to increase membership and awareness about our Alumni Chapter.  During my tenure, I’ve increased membership from 24 members to more than 100 at its peak.  The biggest challenge in leading the Chapter is ensuring that our activities reach all alumni regardless of age.  Membership is trending down currently because it’s a constant struggle to provide activities to such a broad range of alumni age-wise.  We struggle as a chapter to create narratives to encourage younger alumni participation.

AD:  Yes, we’ve scratched our heads quite a bit in terms of the “Young Alumni” (the Millennials) and their participation, or the lack there of, and we haven’t figured it out yet (laughing).

You’ve actually talked to the younger alumni in the DC area about the kind of things they’re looking for and their lives post JCSU.  You’ve also done some research on Millennials and their needs and tendencies, and the bulk of our chapter participants/members are interestingly over 30 years of age.  Do you want to say anything about this?

RR:  As it relates directly to the younger alumni, I encourage them to participate, share their voices and don’t become frustrated with the more seasoned alumni.  I have found in my time as President, that the seasoned older alumni are open to any ideas you have as long as you can support them and they’re well thought out.  The JCSU DC Alumni Chapter offers a perfect opportunity for you to be engaged with others from your alma mater, along with providing you an opportunity to shape the HBCU landscape for future generations.  I don’t want to be the President for life and I am looking for young leaders to step forward and make the position their own. I encourage them to share their ideas and ways of communicating, and I ensure you it will be rewarding.

AD:  That’s interesting Philly.  And yes, to any younger alumni reading this, questioning your ideas and trying to better understand them isn’t necessarily rejecting them.  Sometimes it further helps in their development.  It’s also true that, depending the generation, individuals can communicate and interact very, very differently.

What is the 150 and Beyond Campaign?  Where did the idea come from?

RR:  The 150 and Beyond Campaign was created to bring awareness to JCSU’s 150th Anniversary.  We’re looking for 150 alumni to give at least $150 to JCSU by June 30, 2017.  The idea came from myself and others within our chapter when we made a strategic commitment to have everything we do in 2017 speak to the University’s 150th anniversary.

AD:  For the lay person, what exactly is an endowment and why are they important?  I remember frequently hearing talk about endowments when I was student at JCSU, and the DC Alumni Chapter recently started one.  As students enrolled at universities and alumni, it’s often not clear what goes into the health and maintenance of an institution.  Why should alumni give to the endowments at their alma maters?

RR:  Approximately five years ago, the University reached out to the Alumni Chapter to switch our annual scholarship to an endowment.  The endowment for the Chapter was created to ensure that funds are there to support students from the DC, MD, and VA (the DMV) attending JCSU.  Students currently enrolled at JCSU who are sophomores, juniors, or seniors with a GPA of 2.7 or higher are eligible for scholarship awards from the Chapter’s Endowment.  The award is given to students with the most need and who meet the above criteria.

Endowments are important because they allow universities to provide funding assistance for students.  They increase the financial health of the institution and it shows perspective funding corporations that your school can raise funds.

AD:  Who can donate to the 150 and Beyond Campaign and where can they donate?

RR:  We are asking for 150 of the 900 plus alumni in the Washington, DC area to give towards the 150 and Beyond Campaign.  Friends of the University are also welcome and encouraged to participate.  To date we have about 30 donations to the campaign which include longtime friends of the chapter like Ms. Glenda West and Mrs. Wade.

AD:  Okay, Philly, thank you for allowing me to help get the word out about this.  Smith (JCSU) did a lot for us, and it’s very important to make sure that the Smithites who are coming after us get the same chances to succeed and advance.  Are there anymore announcements or upcoming events regarding our Chapter?

RR:  Yes, we’re hosting our annual Bulls Brunch on June 1, 2017, which is also a fundraiser.  The details will be on our website.

AD:  Okay, thank you.

To make a donation to the 150 and Beyond Campaign, go to the JCSU DC Alumni Chapter website at: www.jcsualumnidc.org.  The Chapter can also be followed on Facebook, and on Twitter and Instagram at @JCSUAlumniDC.  Thank you for taking the time to read this interview.  Please share it and or leave comments.

An Interview With Dr. Vernon Morris Regarding The Atmospheric Sciences And STEM Education Part Two

This is the continuation of my Black History Month interview with Dr. Vernon Morris of Howard University’s Department of Chemistry and NOAA Center for Atmospheric Sciences (NCAS), originally published on the Examiner in February of 2016.  Not only is he a scientific peer, but he is also a hero of mine.  In addition to his duties at Howard University, he regularly takes his team out to the schools in the DC Public Schools system to conduct science demonstrations.  He is an example of regularly being visible, and working to fulfill the needs of students in the community.  In part one of the interview, we talked about his scientific path and his research.  In part two, we discussed his efforts to expose the students in the DC Public Schools to science.  Our discussion actually delves into some of the complexities and challenges of teaching science in the DC schools – only someone involved on the grassroots level would know and understand.

*  *  *

Anwar Dunbar:  At the 2015 Congressional Black Caucus Annual Legislative Conference there were numerous Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) panels discussing what needs to be done to get African American kids involved in STEM.  You actually go out and do it on the grassroots level though.  You and Miles Holloman, you guys get the chemistry experiments and scientists together, and you go to the various schools in Washington, DC, which is very, very impressive and it’s very necessary.  How did you all get started doing the Community Science festivals?  Also, what was your motivation for doing so?

Vernon Morris:  We started in 2009 and part of our motivation is that we were seeing fewer and fewer students from Washington, DC who were coming to chemistry, or even coming to Howard and majoring in STEM at all.  Secondly, Miles is from DC. He grew up here and went to Dunbar High School and was thus familiar with the school systems close to campus.  I had become more and more familiar with the school systems and some of the deficiencies that needed addressing: retention in science, challenges to science education, and so it was really a response to the fact that our kids weren’t getting science.  They weren’t getting access to science mentors.  They weren’t getting access to why science is fun and it’s an exploratory kind of thing.  Even when I was young, while I didn’t get encouragement from the school, I was always encouraged to get out and explore nature.  I had telescopes.  I had microscopes.  I had computing machines and equipment that my father would buy.  There was no resource for science that I didn’t have access to in the house.  It’s just that when I went to school, I had teachers shuttle me to things like woodshop.

But here in DC, Howard is sitting right in the middle of the community and there wasn’t an effort that I could readily latch onto that was readily going into the community or to the schools and saying, “Here is a network of Ph.D.s and professionals in STEM, and now here is your resource for your teaching or for your classes.”  I couldn’t find anything, so I said let’s just start going out a little bit.  We can put together some experiments, and it will help both the undergraduate and the graduate students communicate science, and build some of that giving back mindset towards the community.  It has been sustained, which is great, and I think the students have picked up on it and really enjoy it.

AD:  So the kids at the schools you’re going to, they really enjoy it?

VM:  Yes, the kids really enjoy it in addition to the Howard undergraduate and graduate students.  I think we’re getting better at it as well.  At the most recent American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS science) Day, the coordinator actually came over to our booth, thanked us and told us that we were one of the favorite tables there.  I think we find things that are engaging and bring the science to the kids’ level.  And the community is important.  Its good to have those more polished events and venues to go to, but I think it’s equally, if not more important, to get out into the community because it not only brings experience and exposure to the kids, but we can also talk to the parents about how to support them, and I think that’s what is missed.

All of these diversity programs are great, but the parents and the schools are deficient, we know that.  One of the things I notice about our Caucasian and Asian counterparts is that their parents are heavily invested.  Even for me, without my parents encouragement, it was not going to happen.  And so one of the things we try to stress when we go out is that the parents come.  So before they drop off the kids, or when they’re standing around watching, we always have a student or someone talking to them saying, “Your child really likes this.  Do you know about this or that resource?  We’ve got these camps that they can come and apply to, some of which are free.”  We try to get information to their parents to support their kids, so that’s what the difference is going to be.  We’ve had STEM programs for the last 30 to 40 years, but the percentage of African Americans going into STEM hasn’t changed, and it’s because we haven’t engaged the parents.

AD:  So regarding the low participation in STEM in the DC schools, would that just be in Southeast DC?  And would you say that’s due to budgeting?  Is it an economic or a cultural issue when the parents aren’t really pushing their kids to be involved in or fostering that love for science?

VM:  I don’t think it’s cultural.  I think it’s socioeconomic.  I think you’d find a similar thing across all cultures if the economic stresses are great enough.  If the economic stresses are lower, parents have more time to go to the family science fairs or AAAS for two days.  There may be some cultural aspects, and I wouldn’t say that its limited to southeast, but we know which Wards have the majority African American populations, and we target those Wards preferentially.  The schools we know in those Wards tend to have the least parental engagement and that tends to be the case wherever schools are disadvantaged or challenged.  You find that the parents aren’t necessarily involved and making sure the standards are met.  I think cultural is too strong a way to say it.  I can’t accept that as an African American culture, we don’t expect the highest in educational standards.

AD:  Are the schools you go to receiving adequate resources from the school system?

VM:  I think it’s changed over the last couple of years.  Some of the schools have significant investments, while at other schools, there’s not enough.  There’s a big differential in who gets what in DC.  If you look at the overall budget in DC, people argue that it gets more money per student than a lot of other school districts that are performing better.  I think some of that is the culture of the school system and the dichotomy between the governance of the school systems in Washington, DC.  That’s always been vulcanized and it’s tough to enforce standards when the body who generates the standards has no authority over what goes into the schools.

There is a separate body that governs what goes into the schools.  The politics of the DC schools, Michelle Rhee and all of these education gurus, its seen as a big experiment to a lot of people and the investment in the child has not been there, from what I’ve seen until recently, and I think they’re trying to do some good things now.  The turf wars also create a lot of turnover of good people.  It’s tough because the charter school system has degraded the amount of money that goes into the public schools and most of the schools. Now the private schools actually have access to government funding for education in DC.  So you have rich kids who get additional resources, the best teachers and the smallest classroom sizes, at the expense of schools who really need novel solutions to improve education in general, but STEM education in particular.

Dunbar High School did not have a lab.  There was no teaching lab in Dunbar High School until they built the new school a couple of years ago.  You’ve got one of the more famous high schools in Washington DC, and they couldn’t possibly teach a lab in that school.  They couldn’t teach any biology or chemistry.

AD:  So when you say a turf war, are you referring to competing for dollars between public and private schools?

VM:  Typically, you’ll have a public school office and the state, but since DC is a district and not a state, you have two different offices; DC city public office and then you have another office to govern the schools, but it doesn’t make any sense.  You have two offices that are in charge of the public school system.  So the way that it was drawn up I think is that when the schools were failing, the federal government created another office that would then take over.  The authority of that office, however, never quite usurped the powers that the city already had in existence.  The money goes to this other office, so they get to implement programs, but they don’t have the authority to tell the teachers what they need to do.  That comes from the office that doesn’t have the money.

So you have this schism in managing the school system.  And because you have that infighting there, you have the charter schools that have edged their way in, insisting they’re a part of the school system and should get some of the money, and you have the private schools that have been able to make a similar argument, because charter schools are essentially private schools as well.  You have some very elite private schools in Washington DC (the International School for example), but I don’t know that they need the resources from the DC government.  At the same time, you’re shutting down historical schools in the District because there are so few kids left going to them.  The students get shuttled off to another school that gets over crowded as far as teaching goes.  It’s very nuanced here in DC.  It’s different than a state school system where you have counties and districts and where you have a well-defined hierarchy of management.  Here it’s split.  It’s bifurcated.

AD:  What advice would you give to young African American students who are interested in science, or those who have a curiosity about it, but are not sure that they can do it?

VM:  I would say this about a science career in general, it’s a very rewarding career.  I really enjoy what I do and I love coming to work every day.  It’s part exploration, mentoring and teaching, and writing and being creative.  It’s being quantitative and using both sides of your brain.  And you can give back to the community and the nation in a very unique way.  And I think there are so many opportunities in science.  People think, “I don’t want to do chemistry and I don’t want to sit in a lab and mix chemicals”, but there’s a whole world of stuff outside of the lab that you can do.  It’s the same thing for physics or mathematics, or biology.  It’s an area that if you study it, the world is open to you.

If you study science for example, you can become a writer, but if you study writing only, you won’t necessarily be able to become a scientist.  I think you have much greater opportunities if you study science and follow that pathway.  And I think the fulfillment is a wonderful thing for me.  I love what I do and couldn’t imagine doing anything else.  My advice would thus be: do not fear it, really engage it, and see where it can lead you.

AD:  Well Vernon, thanks a lot.  There were a lot of valuable nuggets that you shared and a lot of people will benefit from this.  Keep up the good work and I will definitely see you soon at one of your community science festivals.

VM:  Okay, that would great.  We’d love to have you come out and help out Anwar.

Thank you for taking the time to read this interview.  A special thank you is extended to Dr. Morris and NCAS for providing the pictures in this post.  As described earlier part one of this black history month interview with Dr. Vernon Morris was published in a separate post.  If you’ve found value here and think it would benefit others, please share it and or leave a comment. To receive all of the most up to date content from the Big Words Blog Site, subscribe using the subscription box in the right hand column in this post and throughout the site. Lastly follow me at the Big Words Blog Site Facebook page, on Twitter at @BWArePowerful, and on Instagram at @anwaryusef76. While my main areas of focus are Education, STEM and Financial Literacy, there are other blogs/sites I endorse which can be found on that particular page of my site.

An Interview With Dr. Vernon Morris Regarding The Atmospheric Sciences And STEM Education Part One

I originally conducted this interview with Dr. Vernon Morris in February of 2016 and published it in both the Examiner and the Edvocate.  Not only is he a scientific peer, be he’s also a hero of mine.  In addition to his duties at Howard University’s Department of Chemistry and NOAA Center for Atmospheric Sciences (NCAS), he regularly takes his group out to the schools in the DC schools system to conduct science demonstrations.  He is an example of regularly being visible and helping to fulfill the needs of students in the community.

*  *  *

While Black History should be celebrated throughout the year and not just in February, the month provides the opportunity to not only recognize African Americans who have made significant contributions in the past, but also those who are presently making history.  As there are numerous African American scientists and innovators who are typically celebrated during Black History Month in Science (Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)), there are also quite few African American scientists in modern times that are worth recognizing.  One such scientist is Dr. Vernon Morris of Howard University.  On Feb. 16, in honor of Black History Month, Dr. Morris granted an interview to discuss his background, the path to his current career, and potential avenues for under-represented minorities to get involved in STEM.

Anwar Dunbar:  First Vernon, thank you for this opportunity to interview you.  My writings in February tend to focus on Black History Month.  There are African American scientists that we usually recognize such as George Washington Carver, Charles Drew, Mae Jemison and Percy Julian for example, but I realized that there are many African American scientists and innovators who are currently in the trenches expanding our scientific knowledge, and in your case making a difference in the community.  You’re doing great things in and out of the lab so I thought it would great to get your story out.  So with that, let’s get started.

Talk a little bit about your background.  Where are you from?

Vernon Morris:  I’m an Air Force brat so I don’t have a traditional home to claim, because I’ve lived in 14 different places growing up.  I finished high school in eastern Washington State; Spokane.  I’ve been living in Washington, DC longer than any other place, so this is my home now.

AD:  Now growing up, were there any scientists in your family who you were exposed to at an early age?  What got you interested in science?

VM:  No, I actually was not exposed at all.  I never had the chance to do science fairs or any of that stuff.  I think my first exposure to anyone who was in science was actually one of my mother’s friends, Carolyn Clay, who was an engineer from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI).  I used to talk to her a little bit and she actually got me into an engineering camp late in my high school years.  After that time though, I wasn’t even thinking about going to college to be perfectly honest with you.

Both parents were in the Air Force.  For much of my later youth my mother was a teacher and then a principal.  Truthfully, the only post high school institution I was thinking about was the Air Force Academy because they had a good boxing program.  I loved boxing and I thought I was pretty good.  My decisions throughout most of high school revolved around how to pursue boxing.

As I said, my mother’s friend got her doctorate in chemical engineering from RPI.  She had to be one of the few at that time, and I think she was working at Hanford Research Labs in Richland, Washington, which was a nuclear facility.  She worked there so I would see her from time to time when she would come visit my mother.

I always did well in science, but there wasn’t much encouragement to actually do science.  I liked math a lot.  I liked any kind of science; physics, chemistry, biology, all of those, but I got more discouragement in school than encouragement.  So she was one of the first people to say, “You know, you’re good at this stuff, so think about doing it.”  So the opportunity arose to go to Seattle (University of Washington), a more populated part of the state, where the camp was held and to see that engineering was cool.  I actually linked up with one of my father’s friends (a Mason) who was a steam engineer at the camp.  I apprenticed with him the rest of the summer on different projects.  It was interesting to see how things are being built, and how to apply the science, but it didn’t really change my course.

I ended up going to visit some friends and relatives in Atlanta.  There I saw the Atlanta University (AU) complex a little bit later and frankly speaking, that had a greater influence on me.  I received scholarships to go to other places, and visited them, but they didn’t have the same appeal as the AU Center.  Seeing my father complete his Bachelor’s Degree toward the end of high school, really made an impression on me as well.

AD:  So you went to the famous AU Center.  Did you go to Clark-Atlanta, Morehouse, or Morris Brown?  Which one?

VM:  I went to Morehouse and I had not made up my mind on a major.  I was literally running around trying to find a job and ran into Henry McBay, who is a very distinguished scholar and mentor for a lot of folks who got their chemistry degrees at Morehouse; and he basically offered to buy my books and a calculator, and take care of my school supplies if I would major in chemistry.

AD:  Really?

VM:  Yes, and I didn’t have enough money to say no (laughing).  I said, “Sure, it’s no problem.”  He told me that I would have to major in math if I majored in chemistry so that I’d understand the upper level courses.  And that’s actually how I selected my major in math and chemistry.  It was through Henry McBay.  I was literally running to get to another part of the campus and it was oriented in such a way that the Chemistry Building was my cut through.  He happened to be in the hallway and I almost ran into him.  He literally told me to slow down and then asked me about where I was going, what I was trying to do, asked what my major was, and through that conversation I wound up choosing my major.

AD:  Had the two of you met before?  You must have made quite an impression on him for him to make that offer.

VM:  No, I had never met him before.  It was my first or second week at Morehouse, and he was curious about whether or not I liked Chemistry.  He also introduced me to another professor who actually became my mentor later and who gave me a research job, Mr. John Hall.

AD:  So you earned your Bachelor’s Degree from Morehouse.  Where did you go after Morehouse?

VM:  From Morehouse I went to Georgia-Tech.  My doctoral studies were in Atmospheric Sciences, with applications in physical chemistry, so I took a lot of courses in physical chemistry and all of the core courses in atmospheric sciences.  My thesis was a combination of theoretical and experimental investigations of inorganic chlorine oxides, and the chemistry of the stratosphere.  It involved the application of matrix isolation, infrared spectroscopy, some ultraviolet spectroscopy to look at short-lived intermediates, free radicals that form from low pressure and low temperature reactions.  I performed quantum chemical calculations to help interpret the experimental results.

AD:  And just briefly, what did you find?

VM:  We found that some low temperatures stabilize some novel free radical structures that are completely unstable in the gas phase, and influence some of the heterogeneous reactions, and some of the actual gas phase chemistry that showed depletion.  It was actually related to the stratospheric depletion of the ozone.

At that time the stratospheric ozone hole wasn’t a well-understood phenomenon and they were trying to figure out whether it was dynamic or if it was chemical, and it turned out to be a combination of both.  We looked at the chlorine oxides in particular, extensively, and then some of the nitrogen oxides and how they contributed to the ozone depletion.

AD:  Now one last question about your thesis; what got you interested in atmospheric sciences?

VM:  It was John Hall.  I was again in a quandary about what I wanted to do, but it was either go into chemical physics, which is what he had done, or go into a more applied field.  At that point the ozone hole and stratospheric depletion of ozone in general was a really big deal and there were a lot of open questions.  It just seemed like a really exciting way to take the math, the chemistry and the physics and go after these larger scale environmental problems that were presenting themselves.

A single discipline wasn’t enough to address them.  You had to come in with a very multidisciplinary background.  I liked physics.  I tried to triple major in physics, but I it would have taken too long to finish so I just minored in it, and majored in the other two.  I liked applying chemistry and physics, and I liked understanding the environment.

John Hall actually had a joint appointment between Georgia-Tech and Morehouse, and while he was encouraging me to go to UC-Berkley or to Harvard, or some of his alma maters, the opportunity to go to a different school and still work with him was appealing, and actually my first daughter was born before I graduated, so weighing the prospect of leaving and not being near her sort of factored into my decision.

AD:  So at Howard University you interestingly go out to the ocean and conduct research there.  Just briefly, talk about your research.

VM:  We’re working on a lot of stuff, but the work revolves around trying to get a better quantitative understanding of how atmospheric particulates influence the chemistry of the atmosphere and climate across multiple scales.  These are multiple spatio-temporal scales.  There are time scales because the lifetime of aerosols tends to be days to months, but their influence in the atmosphere tends to range from that time scale to much longer time scales as clouds change their optical properties; that influences radiative balance and seasonal fluctuations.  If you look at particle evolution, once an aerosol is formed and injected into the atmosphere from the ground layer, how does it influence and have these multiplying effects across larger spatial fields as it moves around the atmosphere, and through larger temporal scales as it effects something that has a multiple “follow on” effect?

The ship experimental cruises allow us to look at the transport of aerosols that are transmitted from Africa either from the Sahara Desert or as a result of burning biomass from “Slash and Burn” agriculture.  Particles get into the atmosphere and influence tropical cyclone development, and they influence acidification of the upper ocean. They also influence microbiological transfer, the transfer of microbes across hemispheres.  They influence cloud properties and precipitation properties downstream and food security.  So they have all of these implications that are much longer and much larger than a particular fire, or a particular dust storm.  You have to connect that with field observations, laboratory studies and with space-based observations as well.

AD:  My first time meeting you was here in DC at the 2012 National Organization of Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE) annual conference where you won the Percy Julian Award for excellence in teaching.  Was that for your teaching activities at Howard, or was it for the community outreach that you do at various local schools?

VM:  I think it was for the combination of teaching and mentoring.  In fact, I think it was the Henry McBay award actually, though there was a separate award for Percy Julian.  That was very special for me because I was a McBay mentee.  I think it was a combination of teaching and producing students at the university, the outreach internationally, and then the outreach locally, the way we try to get science to the community; the underserved communities in particular.

AD:  I’m a pharmacologist, so my knowledge of all of the notable African American chemists is admittedly limited.

VM:  Percy Julian actually designed the chemistry building here on the Howard campus.  He designed this building, designed the labs, and then laid out everything and then, because of a personal dispute with the provost and the president at the time, actually left before the building was commissioned.

AD:  You know, Vernon, as you were talking just now, I was just reflecting on how important it is to know these things.  A couple of years ago a mentor who himself isn’t a scientist, but who saw that I was trying to develop my own writing and mentoring voice, gave me a copy of “Forgotten Genius”, the documentary about Percy Julian.

When I was I watching it, I couldn’t help but feel that Dr. Julian’s story would have been so valuable to know when I was going through my own doctoral studies.  I didn’t deal with the racism that he endured, but just the scientific process; so many experiments have to be done before you finally get to the ones that actually work and generate quality data.  That documentary conveyed the essence of science, and it took me a while to figure that all out while I was working on my own thesis.  It would have been so valuable to know beforehand.

VM:  We actually screened that film here.  We used to show it on a regular basis to our chemistry majors because it’s very eye opening and shows the commitment that you have to have, in addition to some of the resilience you have to have for things to work out.  That guy was brilliant.

AD:  Yes, and there is a whole culture to what we do as scientists, and the story conveyed that as well.

This interview will continue in part two of A Black History Month interview with Dr. Vernon Morris.  A special thank you is extended to Dr. Morris and Howard’s NCAS for providing the pictures in this post.  If you’ve found value here and think it would benefit others, please share it and or leave a comment.

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Endless forms most beautiful: Exploring evolution & celebrating Darwin day

From Feb. 10-12, the Friends of the David M. Brown Arlington Planetarium hosted their second weekend of 2017 titled “Endless Forms Most Beautiful: Exploring Evolution & Celebrating Darwin Day”.  The weekend was dedicated to the study of the formation of life on earth.  On Friday Feb. 10 there was a viewing of the short film “The Origin of Species” which told the stories of Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace.  On Saturday Feb. 11 there was a viewing of the full dome show “Natural Selection”.  On Sunday Feb. 12 there was a second showing of Natural Selection.

In addition to the shows, this Friends’ weekend also featured a lineup of speakers from the science community.  Friday’s and Saturday’s speakers visited the planetarium on behalf of the Michigan State University’s “Darwin Road Show”.  On Friday, students from George Washington University’s Department of Biological Sciences discussed their graduate research projects.   Tiffini Smith discussed her thesis project which focused on “Sexual Selection” and its role in evolution.  Chris Day discussed his project which looked at the abilities of Cancer cells to evolve and develop resistance to pharmaceuticals.  On Saturday, Alexis Garretson of George Mason University discussed her research on native wildlife and ecosystem interactions.  On Sunday, Dr. Thomas R. Holtz, Jr., a Professor at the University of Maryland and a Research Associate of the National Museum of Natural History discussed “The Evolution of Dinosaurs”.

The Friends will host special events at the David M. Brown Arlington Planetarium one weekend every month until the end of the school year. Each weekend will be geared towards increasing STEM education/awareness for all ages and will feature a specific theme.  For more information, visit the Friends’ website: http://friendsoftheplanetarium.org.  The theme of March’s weekend will be: The Art of Science: The Creative Side of Our Natural World.