News Briefs

NYC Seeks Science and Engineering Facility
New York City is seeking a partner, foreign or local, to build a state-of-the-art applied sciences research facility to help attract technology companies and the jobs they create. Invitations were sent to more than 100 colleges and universities to submit ideas for the project, with a March 16 deadline to respond. To sweeten the deal, the city is offering capital and four city-controlled sites for the new campus: The Brooklyn Navy Yard, Governors Island, Goldwater Hospital Campus on Roosevelt Island and Farm Colony in Staten Island, and promises support from the city?s wealthy business and real estate communities. Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently cut the ribbon on the new Alexandria Center for Life Science at the East River Science Park and launched the New York City Urban Technology Innovation Center to foster the development and commercialization of Green building technology.

Magic and Vibe
Magic Johnson Enterprises and Ron Burkle?s The Yucaipa Companies became major investors in Vibe Holdings L.L.C., the parent company of such brands as Vibe and Uptown magazines and the Soul Train entertainment franchise. MJE and Yucaipa, an investment firm that buys consumer businesses and repositions them in the market, will share ownership of Vibe Holdings with the company?s existing owner, InterMedia Partners. The deal makes MJE chairman and CEO Earvin ?Magic? Johnson chairman of Vibe Holdings and positions the company to become, in Johnson?s words, ?A pertinent message vehicle for major advertisers [and] the center of influence for the coveted urban audience.? Johnson is charged with fueling the growth of Vibe Holdings through targeted brand extensions and the creation of diversified advertiser-friendly platforms.?

AT&T Boosts Capacity in Harlem
AT&T is increasing investment in its mobile broadband network to improve wireless service in New York City?s Harlem community. AT&T recently launched two more cell sites (towers) in the Harlem area and tripled the amount of radio spectrum providing mobile broadband capacity in Central Harlem. It plans to add new layers of frequency, also known as ?carriers,? to more efficiently manage available spectrum and increase mobile broadband capacity at local cell sites. Lloyd A. Williams, president and CEO, of The Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce, said the high-tech expansions will help businesses, provide new jobs, assist the local economy and improve the overall quality of life in Upper Manhattan. AT&T currently operates three corporate-owned stores in Harlem and plans to open a new store on 181st Street this summer.
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UNCF Moves to D.C.???
The United Negro College Fund will move its national headquarters to Washington, D.C., from Fairfax, Va., in 2012 in a bid to expand its support and advocacy for the rights of low-income and minority students and push for education reform. It has begun construction on a 50,000 square-foot office at Progression Place, located at 1805 7th Street, N.W., in Washington?s surging Shaw neighborhood. Progression Place will feature the UNCF College Knowledge Center, a 5,000 square-foot resource center offering students standardized test preparations, college application assistance, financial aid assistance, a clearing house for internships and extracurricular activities, r?sum? writing skills, interview training and career fair, and job placement assistance. The nation?s largest minority education organization, UNCF represents 39 historically Black colleges and universities and awards 10,000 college scholarships each year.???

Dual Language Immersion
New Jersey will open its first public school with dual-language immersion in Chinese and English in September. The Princeton International Academy Charter School will be the third public school in New Jersey offering dual-language immersion, after a Spanish/English immersion school opened in Hoboken and a Hebrew/English immersion school opened in East Brunswick. It will serve the residents of three New Jersey school districts, but it can also accept up to 10 percent of its enrolled students from outside these districts. Increased support at the national level for foreign language fluency is motivating many communities around the country to open
K-12 dual-language immersion programs, primarily Spanish/English or Chinese/English, in the public-school system. The goal of these programs is to produce students who are better prepared to collaborate and compete in a globalized economy. ?

More Than Food
New research from the National Restaurant Association shows that nearly 50 percent of restaurants are owned by women. Restaurants, primarily small businesses with 93 percent of them having fewer than 50 employees, are one of the top private-sector employers in the country, adding more than $1.7 trillion to the economy. The association?s research shows that restaurants employ more minority managers than any other industry and that Hispanic restaurant ownership has increased 42 percent in the past five years. Nearly half of all Americans have worked in the restaurant industry at some point in their lives and more than one in four adults had their first job experience in a restaurant.?Eighty percent of restaurant managers got their start as front-line employees. The association launched a yearlong ?America Works Here? advertising campaign to highlight some of the industry?s most impactful statistics.

Gender and Money
Men and women aren?t on the same page with regard to money, according to PNC Wealth Management?s ?Love and Money? findings in its Wealth and Values Survey. Forty-nine percent of women versus 39 percent of men say they?re planning their financial affairs more carefully than before the recession, whereas 51 percent of men and 38 percent of women say ?nothing has changed.? More women than men express worry about the recession (69 percent versus 54 percent of men); inflation (51 percent versus 44 percent of men); money to support lifestyle (46 percent versus 40 percent of men); declining real estate values (45 percent versus 35 percent of men); and not being able to support lifestyle in retirement (45 percent versus 34 percent of men). Forty-one percent of men describe themselves as high or moderate risk investors versus only 27 percent of women who tend to describe themselves as balanced (46 percent) or conservative/no-risk (27 percent). More men (55 percent) than women (45 percent) say they derive pleasure from wealth accumulation.
This represents a slight shift from five years ago when an equal number of
men (52 percent) and women (50 percent) shared that sentiment.???

Figuratively Speaking: Women in the United States

? Number of females in the United States as of Oct. 1, 2010: 157.2 million;

? Number of males: 153.2 million;

? Number of married women 18 and older in 2010: 65.1 million;

? Estimated number of mothers of all ages in the United States: 82.8 million;

? Average number of children that women 40 to 44 had given birth to as of 2008: 1.9 (1976: 3.1);

? Percentage of women in this age group who had given birth in 2008: 82 (1976: 90);

? 2009 median annual earnings of women 15 or older who worked
year-round, full time: $36,278 (2008: $35,609);

? Amount women earned for every $1 earned by men in 2009: 77 cents;

? Number of women 25 and older with a bachelor?s degree or more education in 2009: 29.9 million;

? Number of men: 28.7 million
(more men had a
professional or doctoral degree);

? Percentage of female citizens who reported voting in the 2008 presidential election: 66 (males: 62);

? Percentage of females 16 and older in the labor force in 2009: 59 (about 72 million);

? Percentage of females 16 or older in management, professional and related occupations: 39 (males: 33);

? Proportion of the armed forces who were women, as of Sept. 30, 2008: 14%;

? Number of female military veterans in 2009: 1.5 million;

? Percentage of married couples in which the wife earned at least $5,000 more than the husband in 2010: 20.7;

? Number of stay-at-home mothers (where spouse is in the labor force) in 2010: 5 million (stay-at-home fathers: 154,000).
Source: U.S. Census Bureau (most current figures) Number of stay-at-home mothers (where spouse is in the labor force) in 2010: 5 million (stay-at-home fathers: 154,000).

Source: U.S. Census Bureau (most current figures)