This blog post again references the need for the support of local businesses, expansion and job creation within our communities. Tell me, what’s the incentive for our young people entering the work force to remain a part of the village? What do they have to invest in? What is there for them to build upon? Are we actually supporting a premise for them to desire to leave and never look back?

While I travel about the city and nearby areas searching for community-based black owned businesses to frequent, I have observed that many, if not most of our local businesses are owned and operated by proprietors who are employed full-time. I understand that for many, the full time job is the consistent flow of resource fueling and funding the business venture. This is not an impossible feat, however, organization and discipline around schedules is very important.

In this segment of the Elder’s Ledger, I thought I’d speak a bit about the origins and grass roots of our publishing company, DeeClare Publishing, LLC. I am the Co-founder and my daughter, Deneen Matthews is the Editor-in-chief.

A young man approached me and inquired about going into business part time. My response to him was phrased in the form of question. I asked him, “What are you good at? 

Though many have learned that business is a degree obtained in an institution, and being in business is seeking after positions and success attributed to the established system, I now challenge us to color outside the lines and think beyond what has been traditionally taught.

A few weeks ago, I attended a meeting where I engaged in a discussion with one of the gentleman who attended. The topic of our discussion was in reference to black people and going into business.

We raise our children, then instruct them to go to school, study hard, get good grades, attend college and “GET A GOOD JOB.” Now, I absolutely agree with the importance of getting a good education, yet realistically, college is not for everyone.

The blog post this week is directed toward the consumers,  yes, the customers. We have a tendency to be very hard on the merchants in our community. We place more stringent rules and guidelines for patronage on our local merchants than on the larger stores and mall merchants we often frequent.

In this and future blog posts, we will tackle and discuss the issue of economics and its impact  in our community. 

As best we can, we need to make a concerted effort to commit to making our hard-earned dollars work for us. As the largest consumers, if all we earn is spent outside of the community, how can we sustain? Even if you have left the community, or moved outside of the immediate area, visit and seize opportunities to give back. Be intentional.

Keeping in step with the stated theme of "It Takes a Village to Raise a Child," and the appropriated action to "Reclaim the Village," I believe we must look at the inner workings of the village and take proper action, yes, the necessary steps to arrive at our desired outcome.

The village community is about the people, but we the people must commit to becoming productive participants within our village.