Mayor Kevin Johnson opened up the Indivisible meeting at the Guild Theater, Monday, December 17, 2012. Indivisible has been meeting since February 2011. “Indivisible” is a diverse group of citizens who are dedicated to addressing the most pressing issues that African Americans face today. Indivisible holds monthly meetings with Mayor Kevin Johnson in which the members participate in discussion and action in the following areas:
1. Educational Achievement: Closing the achievement gap between African American students and their counterparts
2. Political Influence: Political and civic engagement amongst African Americans
3. Economic Empowerment: Economic well-being of the African American community
Indivisible is active and engaged in giving voice to more than 70,000 African American citizens and constituents in the Sacramento region. There are 309 million people in the United States. 42 million African Americans making up 13.6% of the population. Out of $543 million in earned income, they spend $339 billion.
The Urban Leagues’ equity index: education, economics, civic engagement, health and social justice. The problem is that any category that is good African Americans are at the bottom. Conversely any category that is bad African Americans are at the bottom. These are horrific statistics; the government is not going to change these. We need to come together to change this as a people. Indivisible is here as a movement to not just close the gap but reach our god given potential. “Success runs in our race”. We have millionaires here in this door, along with doctors, elected officials, etc. We have everything we need.
95% of African Americans voted for president Obama; that is an amazing feat. When it mattered, we came together. Our goal in 2013 is to get 10 coalition leads. In 2012 they’re still trying to suppress the vote of the African American. If any of us do not exercise out right to vote, shame on us! Too many people fought for this right.
Whites elect people to protect their economic interests. The whole slave trade was an economic, free labor, it still hasn’t changed. If we want to be taken seriously we must turn people (voters) out and raise money. PAC15 raised $50,000 to top out campaign contributions. It is hard to raise that kind of money. Roland Martin was here for one meeting and he said this is not being done anywhere in the country; that’s a tribute to us. If we get our act together collectively, with an African American president and others in key positions we can reverse our trend of not having anything for our kids. We must have a transfer of wealth. African Americans leave $7,000 to their children; whites leave $49,000, 7 times as much because of challenges in our community. We leave our children debt and bad credit.
The biggest challenge we have is trust; it started back in slave days, house slaves vs. field slaves. We need wealth, wealth is the accumulation of assets that bring income. We need everybody for what we’re trying to do.
Mayor Johnson and Councilmember Bonnie Pannell presented Mellody Hobson with a proclamation from the City Council for Mellody Hobson Day, December 17, 2012. Mellody thanked them and began educating us.
She is the youngest of 6 kids; the closest sibling to her in age was 9 years older than her and her oldest sister was 25 years older than her. Her single mom was in real estate and they experienced boom and bust; no lights, eviction, etc. Because of this as a child she was desperate to understand money. She was the only kid in her family to graduate college, she attended Princeton University; some of her siblings didn’t graduate high school. She met her business partner John W. Rogers, Jr. in college, his father was a child of the depression and a Tuskegee Airman. He gave John stocks instead of toy, starting at 12 years old. John started Ariel Investments at the age of 24. Today, he, and Mellody manage $5.4 billion dollars in investments.
To this day it’s hard for Mellody to sleep past 6 a.m. because her mother made her get up early even on weekends. She’d tell her to get up the world is passing you by. She was crazy about school and obsessed as a child with not missing any school.
Insane work ethic, hard work and success go hand in hand and is hardwired in us. Too many times we’re asking for permission. I’ve never been afraid to speak my truth or opinion; I never felt I had to hold back.
Mayor Johnson asked, “Mellody how old were you when you knew you were a mutant?” She answered I was 5 and had to adapt in a hurry.
When we are presenting things, own the room, don’t diminish yourself. Too many of us do that. When speaking, do it with conviction don’t deliver what you’re saying like you’re looking for approval from your audience. Don’t speak to only one person in the group; this is your chance to reach everyone, so do it. Do not stay in the women’s or minority box.
The power is the noun not the adjective. How can we be the noun? I.e. the black woman should not be meant in a diminishing way.
I read a quote in Cosmo magazine from Judy Collins, she said “As women we’re raised to have rescue fantasies and I’m here to tell you, no one is coming.” This can be said for us as African Americans too. At 22 I realized how do I live my life like no one is coming? We have to take financial responsibility for ourselves. We did a study of people who make $50,000 to see how much they invest in stocks. 815 of the whites did only 57% of African Americans did. But we have more pulls on our income: taking care of aging parents, lending money to family, etc. When it comes to 401K’s African Americans and Hispanics are under invested in equities. Whites put away 8% of their pay, African Americans under 6%. They are also 167% more likely to take out a loan on or withdraw early from their 401K’s. 4 out of 10 Blacks get loans from their retirement accounts, 40% more than their White counterparts. That’s why Ariel Investments has been on a mission.
Your retirement money is sacred. If you keep lending to family, you may wind up living with them.
1) 2/3 of Blacks don’t invest because they don’t know about stocks
2) They have misinformation and bad facts
3) They don’t trust because they are terrified of being scammed a la Bernie Madoff
4) They have not been exposed to investing
Ariel has funds to invest in for only $50 a month. Invest in what you know; do you have a lot of information on the company you work for or a competitor? Buy stocks for your kids’ birthdays and Christmas. If they like IPods buy them Apple stock, explain it to them. One thing kids want to be is big; if they’re part of the stock market they love it, like a game.
Melody was appointed the Chairman of the Board of DreamWorks. One of the great things about this is I was able to have a hand in getting Peter Ramsey from Compton and he brought on his brother. Peter just directed the animated movie “Rise of the Guardian”; the movie has a $150 million budget. There are thousands of public companies, only 1 other Black female Chairman of the Board at Xerox: Ursula Burns; we have a long way to go.
The Board is where the power is, some companies have no Blacks on their Boards, and some of the biggest companies in California have none. We need to have more of us there, more people of color on Boards and they don’t forget why they’re there. We have to teach our children financial literacy; what can you do? Start small.
We all know a Black grandma can make change out of a penny. I challenge you to save $1 a day for 3 months, after the next 3 months save $2 a day and the next 3 months save $5 a day; you will wind up with $1,000 in a year. We all say we don’t have money but no matter how much money we don’t have, we all waste it on cigarettes, soda, etc. $262 billion is spend on Lotto tickets in the united States the average income of Lottery players is $13,000, 9% of players spend $25 a week. The poorest housing project in Chicago spent $80 million on the Lotto; so we have the money to invest, we just invest/spend it in other things.
When social security was first enacted the age to collect was 65 and they weren’t worried about paying out because the life expectancy wasn’t that long. But now women are living to 82 and men 78; of the people who are under 30, 1 in 16 will live to 100. Every year you live your odds of living longer actually increases; it doesn’t start decreasing until 90.
A gentleman asked how someone 70 years old, on a fixed income can invest. Mellody told him to invest 10% in something well known like Cocoa Cola, etc. or in a mutual fund to diversify your assets.
Ariel Investments has developed a financial literacy program for 6 year olds; we start them out with the barter system. Do you want a cupcake or a Barbie? This makes the kids assign a value to each item. We give the class $20,000 real dollars to invest and as the kids get older they become increasingly more responsible for them.
We hold the keys. My boyfriend says a lot, “Here’s the thing about the human condition, the bars are in front of our face and we’re holding the key. (Incidentally her boyfriend is movie producer George Lucas). We hold the keys. My boyfriend says a lot, “Here’s the thing about the human condition, the bars are in front of our face and we’re holding the key. (Incidentally her boyfriend is movie producer George Lucas).
Submitted by Senior Staff Writer, Donna Michele Ramos
Mellody Hobson (born April 3, 1969) is the president of Ariel Investments, LLC, a Chicago investment firm managing over $3 billion in assets. It is also one of the largest African American-owned money management and mutual fund companies in the United States She is also theChairwoman of the Board of Trustees of Ariel Mutual Funds. Hobson is a regular contributor on financial issues to ABC’sGood Morning Americaand a spokesperson for the annual Ariel/Schwab Black Investor Survey. Hobson serves on the board of many organizations, including the Chicago Public Library, the Field Museum, the Chicago Public Education Fund, and the Sundance Institute. She is also a director of the Starbucks Corporation, The Estée Lauder Companies Inc., Dreamworks Animation SKG, Inc. and Groupon. Hobson has been acclaimed in selections such as Ebonymagazine’s “20 Leaders of the Future” (1992), Working Women Magazine’s “20 Under 30” (1992), the World Economic Forum’s “Global Leaders of Tomorrow” (2001), Esquire’s “America’s Best and Brightest” (2002), The Wall Street Journal’s 50 “Women to Watch” (2004).
