By Lawrence A Robinson
It is strange to me that in our community, the criticism of our churches seems to be exploding. It is almost like everyone has something negative to say about the church. You know what, I agree with some of them because the church isn't the building, the church is you.
Bishop Carroll Johnson of Lifevision Church Orlando discusses the mandate of our community to start providing for ourselves, using Bible Scripture to prove his point. Bishop Carroll Johnson has been a leader and advocate for self improvement for several decades and in this series, he drives the point home.
According to the last Census, the average Black business generates less than $80,000 annually and 67.3% of those generate less than $30,000 annually. They have zero or maybe one employee and little training in how to actually manage a business.
Because of low income, they can't usually afford to invest in training or advertising campaigns to generate clients.
Urban Orlando Business Directory and The BootStrapping Project team have designed a cloud and community based system to support the average Black business with very low cost and very high quality solutions that solve the top three issues that Black business struggles with.
Read more: The Top Three Reasons Why Your Side Hustle Should Be In Urban Orlando Business
Many problematic issues facing the Black community could be mitigated if the average household income was a little higher. The average monthly rent payment in Orlando is out of reach for minimum wage workers.
The low income populations sometimes have to decide whether to make a partial payment on rent so that they will have enough money to catch the bus to a minimum wage job or delay rent for two weeks, so that they can buy groceries. Too often, this is a fact of life when living near the Mickey Mouse tourist world.
Mayor Dyer and Mayor Demings are aware of homelessness and other dire consequences facing the underemployed, yet they and others continue to promote a flawed project that does nothing for this population. They provide no hope that things will get better. They don’t even have a plan.
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The ‘Housing for All Initiative’ says that the major cause, driving the need for affordable housing is low income.
At a town hall meeting, I asked a City of Orlando housing specialist if there was a plan to address the low income issue. She indicated that there is no plan.
Rep. Anna Vishkaee Eskamani interrupted my questioning by saying that she has a plan. I asked Rep Eskamani for a copy of the plan and have received nothing but excuses and diversions from her.
“The Virtues of Fortitude and Temperance are the foundation for a happy and successful life.”
Politician, civic leader, entrepreneur, Mayor Ernest Page has been one of Orlando’s most influential leaders over the past three decades. Born in Orlando to the Rev. Edoras Page, and AME minister, and Arizona Page, he graduated from Jones High School. Page earned his bachelor’s degree at Morehouse College and completed post graduate studies at Atlanta University in mathematics and Nova University in business administration. Since then, he has been actively involved in advocating for achievement in education, civil and human rights, and social and economic justice.
Read more: Ernest Page - Political Leader and Orlando’s First Black Mayor ONYX Publisher’s Award
The expression side hustle was first used in 1950, which makes the term much older than many realize. The term became popular during and after the last recession, when traditional jobs disappeared and enterprising people had to make ends meet. Well, here we go again.