Property is Power! How the Housing Crisis is Affecting Black Homeownership
The current housing market is being called a crisis for good reason. Home prices remain historically high; interest rates are elevated compared to the past decade and inventory the number of available homes is near record lows. For the African American community, where the homeownership rate lags nearly 30 percentage points behind white households, this crisis carries a deeper and more urgent meaning. It not only makes it harder for Black families to buy homes, but it also threatens long-term wealth-building and generational stability. Understanding what’s happening
Matters of Life and Death: Do You Know Lady Bird?
While everyone needs an estate plan, that does not mean everyone’s plan will look the same. Your estate plan is very personal. What makes it different from your neighbor’s or a good friend’s is your unique financial situation, wishes and family. Every plan does not require a thick binder filled with hundreds of pages of documents. In some cases, the main asset to protect is the home someone is living in. Let’s say we have Betty. Betty is eighty years old with one daughter, who is in her
Matters of Life and Death: Who Gets the Final Say?
By Jehan Gibson-Crump For most people, conversations about death are not easy to have. That uneasiness leads to a failure to plan. That failure to plan becomes a one-way ticket to probate. “Probate” generally refers to the process through which a deceased person’s property is distributed. Property can mean a home, a vehicle, a business, financial accounts and more. Probate is necessary when someone passes away with property in their name alone, with no joint owner or living beneficiary. Probate Court is the court that handles this process,
Matters of Life and Death: The Power Is In Your Hands
By Jehan Gibson-Crump A common misconception is that estate planning only applies to death. This could not be further from the truth. A proper estate plan determines what will happen with your assets if you pass away and who will be responsible for carrying out those wishes. It also puts measures in place to determine who will manage your affairs if you are unable, whether it is on a temporary or permanent basis. This is done through Healthcare Powers of Attorney and Financial Powers of Attorney. If done
Jalen Rose Named Recipient of 2025 Ice Cube Impact Award
- Rose to be Honored during Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame’s Enshrinement Weekend - The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame and ground-breaking rap star, renowned blockbuster film producer and actor, entrepreneur, and co-founder of the BIG3 basketball league, Ice Cube, have announced that former player, TV analyst, and philanthropist Jalen Rose will be honored with the 2025 Ice Cube Impact Award. “It’s truly an honor to be recognized by the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame with the Ice Cube Impact Award,” said Jalen Rose. “Cube is family, and we share
Meet Diona Jones, Pittsburgh’s East End Cooperative Ministry’s New President and CEO
The Board of Directors for East End Cooperative Ministry said they executed a nationwide search for their next President and CEO. But, as it often turns out, Pittsburghers know how to deal with other Pittsburghers best, especially those who are experiencing some trying times. Diona Jones is a Pittsburgher. Born and raised on the East Side, graduated from Peabody High School before anyone ever thought to name it Obama, and went through a series of trials and tribulations that one may go through, growing up in urban environments. “Their
JaSaun Buckner: The Girl Who Did It From the South Side [Video]
South Side native JaSaun Buckner reflects on her Chicago roots, creative rise and cultural impact in this powerful interview. Growing up as a kid on the Southside, I always wondered what my friends and I would become. The thought of being something great, as a kid, was as abstract as the color in the sky but I hoped that we’d all grow up to do something meaningful. And we did, as is evident in this amazing interview I was blessed enough to do with JaSaun Bucker—a true cultural
Fatima ‘TNT’ Lister of the Harlem Globetrotters Elevating Women in Sports
"The representation is what's most important, specifically having women in spaces where they might not be in normally." — Fatima "TNT" Lister, Harlem Globetrotters One thing we've learned this month specifically is that the world would be a very dull place to live in without the continuing influence of women from all walks of life. The mere sight of witnessing ladies dominate in areas not seen before can be life-changing for many, especially when it's a woman of color at the forefront. For nearly 100 years, the world-renowned exhibition
NBA Icon Isiah Thomas Has Quickly Become an Entrepreneurial Legend
By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent Isiah Thomas played basketball with the tenacity not often seen in today’s game. Whenever a team outscored his Detroit Pistons, it only meant a negative mark in the loss column, but never total defeat for Thomas. An NCAA champion at Indiana, and a two-time NBA champ with the Pistons, much like basketball, Thomas has followed up his on-court success with an almost peerless triumph in the business world. He told the National Newspaper Publishers Association’s live morning show, “Let It Be Known,”
Black Married Couple Empowering Today’s Black Tech Leaders
Candice Matthews Brackeen and Brian Brackeen are General Partners at Lightship Capital, a firm investing in innovators, E-commerce, Artificial Intelligence, Healthtech, and more. They are the leaders behind Black Tech Week which aims to bring together some of the greatest innovators in technological industries. “As Black people we’ve been inventing things for a long time, we been entrepreneurs for a long time,” said Mrs. Matthews Brackeen. “We just want to make sure they all convene in the same space; they build community, they build network, and they do