Black Women's Equal Pay Day

According to Fortune Magazine, the average Black woman will have finally earned the same amount the average non-Hispanic white man earned a year earlier—eight months later. That’s a problem, not just for Black women who lose out on $900,000 in lifetime earnings, but for everyone.

Black women who normally are the heads of their households (i.e., primary breadwinners) earn 63 cents of every dollar a white man makes. Shannon Williams, director of Equal Pay Today - a project of Equal Rights Advocates stated, "The issue of equal pay is not just a woman’s issue because it trickles down into our families, communities, and the overall economy."

The Black Women’s Wage Gap is a problem for everyone, but everyone isn’t working to address it! One way to close the wage gap is to close the skill gap. The SOFEI Group is working to decrease pay inequity among women of color through free professional, technical, and certification training for women who want to upgrade their skills to elevate their earnings! Please visit our website to view and purchase our NOMORE64 merchandise to empower women to take control of their skills and earning potential!

Getting Unstuck

Where are you? Where do you want to go? How are you going to get there? These are the questions a technical instructor asked to help trainees learn how to change directories using DOS (i.e., Disk Operating System).

Post-DOS days, the technical instructor realized these questions apply to our everyday lives, and we believe these questions can help individuals get unstuck in their careers, relationships, or finances. If you feel stuck, click here and download our guide that can help you get unstuck.

Invest in yourself

"I only take classes my job pays for."

"If my company wants me to stay, they should pay for my training."

"As soon as I get my MBA, I’m out of here!"

"I only enroll in workshops or classes that are free."

If your company pays for training, who’s investing in your professional development, you or your company? If your company pays, what do they get in return? If you pay, what’s the ROI (Return on Investment) for your growth and development?

Imagine hiring a contracting company that specializes in home renovations showing up at your doorstep without the skills, tools, or resources to perform the job. Would you pay for the training and resources the contracting company needs to complete the job? Or, would you hire another contracting company equipped with resources and expertise to meet your requirements and deadline to renovate?

Corporations are discovering better ways to yield returns on their resources and investments. And unfortunately, this doesn’t include ‘human’ capital because too many corporations have witnessed and experienced their education and training investments walk out the door.

If your career has come to a screeching halt, evaluate where you invest most of your time and money. If you plan to excel in your current or future place of employment, you have to transition to self-directed and life-long learners. The library is replete with ‘free’ resources for professional or career development and some organizations are replete with ‘fee-based’ resources. The resource you choose would be based on what you’re trying to achieve and why?

Education has been recognized as an integral path to economic empowerment and wealth. Not designer bags, shoes, or acrylic nails. If you’ve been blessed with these things great! But, if you invest more in these things than yourself, evaluate how these things have positioned you to create the foundation to your financial independence and stability?

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stated, “We buy what we want and beg for what we need”. Education is a needed commodity to evolve and thrive in today’s society and your growth will be measured by what you endow to yourself.

Things or Experience?

A survey from Eventbrite found that 78% of Generation Y respondents would rather spend money on an experience than a thing, and 77% say their best memories come from experiences.

In addition, 72% of millennials shared they would like to increase their spending on experiences, and 69% say that their experiences make them feel more connected to their communities, other people, and the world.

In 1998, B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore published an article - The Experience Economy. In this article, they state businesses must orchestrate memorable events for their customers, and that memory (i.e., experience) itself becomes the product. Savvy businesses use this model and charge for the value of their "experience" product because they know if they create experiences that are exciting and transcendent, they can build a community of fans that will rave about their 'experience.'

Jesus Christ created a community of raving fans because He always gave people what they needed - a spiritual transformation. Example, a Samaritan woman went to Sychar to draw water from a well where Jesus was sitting. Her encounter with Jesus transformed her life when He told her about herself and offered her a drink of 'living' water that would quench her spiritual thirst forever.

After her encounter and transformation, she returned to her town and told everybody about her 'experience' with Jesus. As a matter of fact, she left her pail of water at the well.

Matthew 6:19-21, states, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

Experience is what transforms, things pile up. What are you willing to invest in that will lead to your stronger 'inner' being?

Skeptics of The Poor

Two homeless women contacted The SOFEI Group for housing assistance after eviction from an area shelter. Housing homeless women and their families is not part of our mission; however, we sought assistance (temporary housing, food, and pampers) from area organizations, churches, and people on their behalf. Following are responses to our request:

• Why were they evicted?
• Are they tithing members of a church?
• They must be irresponsible women to be evicted from a shelter.
• Why can't they move to another shelter?
• I don't believe in giving my money to people that don't want to help themselves.
• Why can't they go and stay with relatives?

All responses were valid and The SOFEI Group decided to provide temporary housing and food for these women because they were wandering the street with their children in tote. And, it was discovered their eviction wasn't a result of their carelessness, but their refusal to attend substance abuse (alcohol or drugs) counseling sessions mandated by the shelter.

Some shelters receive different types of funding - funding for emergency or transitional housing. And, when shelters are strapped for cash, it's unfortunate that some women are subjected to unnecessary or unrelated services.

We're all responsible to be good stewards of our resources, and we clearly understand the skepticism associated with giving money to people you don't know. However, here's a food for thought, every time we spend our money, we're possibly supporting an organization or a cause we do not believe in. You know why? Because we don't ask questions about how our money is being used after a purchase is complete. As long as our immediate wants or needs are met, we seldom question the destination of our hard-earned money once it leaves our hands.

So, why the skepticism when money is needed to help the poor?

I’m Not One of Them

My parents raised me different.

My parents told me, "Make sure you can take care of yourself," and I do.

These women need to stop lying on their backs, making babies they can’t take care of.

I’m not giving my money to support lazy women that don’t want to work.

These statements are from single mothers who were approached by The SOFEI Group to help us achieve our mission of empowering women to economic independence. The single mothers were divorced, widowed, and a sole parent with a strong support system.

What’s interesting is how proud they were to share their distinction without knowledge of our current and prospective clients. It will be impossible for women to thrive as a cohesive unit when we’re moved so swiftly to divide. Why talk about the wage gap between men and women or any other gaps that supposedly prevent women from progressing, when women allow social, political, financial, or ethnical differences create wedges?

Many women who have experienced or are experiencing poverty, did not choose it! They do not enjoy relying on the government or others to feed their children or meet their basic living needs. And, it's unfortunate these women experience a different type of judgment when they need assistance to regain their momentum after a divorce, death of a spouse, spousal abandonment, decline in health, or job loss.

Today's society is heading towards a downward spiral because women who carry the weight of poverty aren't participating at their best capacity. Madeleine Albright, (former United States Ambassador to the United Nations and US Secretary of State) states, "There's a special place in hell for women that don't help each other."

Women have the power to transform our society to be more inclusive and not divisive. It's a matter of choice. Which will you choose?

Hate your job, what are you doing about it?

If you’re not happy with your job, whose fault is it? Is it your manager’s, co-worker, the economy, your bills, or you? What impact does your hatred have on the people you serve through your job? To show up every day to a job you hate doesn’t benefit anyone but your creditors. Hatred is difficult to hide. It will resonate through your attitude and your work.

Staying at a job you hate may seem logical with the high percentage of unemployed and underemployed people. But if you choose to stay, why hate it? Why waste your time and your employer's? It’s challenging to have a servant attitude through hatred. If you’re not willing to serve, you’re not willing to work at your best capacity.

Work isn’t solely about us! It’s about service. If we’re filled with hatred about our work, does it mean we’re too full of ourselves? Sure, people can be difficult and challenging, but their actions should not contribute to our hatred. Every day we show up for work, we should know our purpose and the contribution we will make on our employer's bottom line and their clients.

Don’t allow finances and fear hold you hostage to a job you hate. You have the power to transform your job into a career you enjoy and love. If you're ready, you can start here.

Self-Servants Not Wanted

A prospective partner contacted The SOFEI Group to offer their services to build their brand. This person was turned down because their main purpose to join wasn’t about helping us achieve our mission – it was self-serving.

If your ultimate reason to secure employment or start a business is to make money, you’re off to a bumpy start. Many MLM (Multi-level Marketing) business owners plummet because they see an opportunity to make money, instead of an opportunity to improve the lives of others with their product or service. And, many businesses are not experiencing exponential growth because it’s replete with self-serving people who choose not to use their skills, experience, or education to serve.

In this knowledge-based workforce, employers and business owners want to connect with believers, leaders, or servants. People who believe in the organization’s mission, goals, and objectives; leaders who can influence people to achieve greatness, and people who do not mind serving their internal and external clients.

Anyone willing to believe, lead, and serve can strengthen their opportunity to achieve long-term success. But, if your willingness to work is to reap and not sow, you may be characterized as a self-server. Have you ever seen a want ad or business opportunity for self-servants?

Everyone has had a free ride at least once

Entitlements – programs (e.g., Medicare or Social Security) funded by taxpayers that supposedly benefit non-taxpayers. How can this be especially for taxpayers that worked and contributed towards these programs? And, why are Entitlement programs on the chopping block to balance the budget or reduce the deficit in an effort to stop people from riding free?

Free riders are from different ethnic and economic backgrounds. They’re people who cheat on their taxes or avoid paying taxes due to tax shelters buried under complicated tax codes. They’re people who can afford to pay for healthcare, but choose not to; passing their expenses to the shoulders of people strapped with the high cost of health insurance. They're executives who receive government bailouts and bonuses, in spite of their misuse or ill investments of hard working citizens who lost their life savings. They’re also celebrities indulged with expensive gifts they can afford and may not want.

What about the poor? Are they simply sitting and waiting for a free ride or an opportunity to transform their lives? Not all of them. Why are the poor viewed differently when they’re provided with free opportunities or resources to improve their lives? Is it because the benefits to help the poor haven't been deemed a great investment?

Helping people transform their lives to become financial contributors to society can benefit us all. We just have to slow down enough to give others the same ride many of us were granted for free.

Training is a waste of time and money

Another federal government agency was snubbed last week for allegedly wasting tax payer’s dollars (50 million) for training conferences over a three-year period. Training is a waste of time and money when its goals and objectives aren’t clearly defined and connected to an organization’s mission, and the actual value training will add when completed.

Government waste didn’t start in this Administration; it has been a normal way of business to avoid a decrease in appropriation dollars for each fiscal year. When an agency learns that it has an excess in appropriation dollars towards the end of their fiscal year, many government employees reap the benefits of training, conferences, and/or new equipment.

Training should never be used as a last resort to save appropriation dollars that will result in waste. This strategy decreases the value of education and training. If a government agency can operate on less money than originally appropriated, this money should be returned to Congress to bring down the deficit.

Pay attention to what isn't being said

The SOFEI Group has counseled and trained many women who seem to pay more attention to what people tell them (e.g., their significant other or spouse) and not what they show them. Remember the saying Action speaks louder than words. What keeps women clinging onto the words of their loved ones while ignoring their actions? Hope for change, fear, blind love, or their religion?

People normally show us their truth. However, some women second guess their intuition and what’s presented to them. Example, a man’s truth maybe sexual or financial infidelity – the woman’s reality is she’s living or in a relationship with a man who cannot be trusted. A man’s truth maybe, he’s married with children - a woman’s reality that dates him is she’s an adulterer and a person that doesn’t value the sacredness of marriage. Lastly, a man’s truth maybe physical, emotional, or verbal abuse – a woman’s reality is depression, fear; hope for change, low self-esteem or self-worth.

Women have to take charge of their lives and stop allowing their lives to be controlled or manipulated by false statements and be motivated by the true actions of others. Maya Angelou states, When people show you who they are, believe them. And, don’t view their truth through your ‘lens of potential’ because we all have potential, but only action creates change.

Should the Government Accumulate Debt for the Poor?

Deuteronomy 15:11 states, For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.

The Israelites were instructed by God to help the poor when they arrived to possess the Promised Land to serve as a reminder of God's gift of freedom after their enslavement in Egypt.

Some believe people that are poor brought it on themselves, and this belief makes it easy to close our hearts and hands towards them. Helping the poor demonstrates our faith in God and our country. Ignoring to care for the poor for any reason forfeits our humanitarian duty to care for our fellow citizens during their greatest time of need.

The battle between Congress and the President on strategies to serve the poor isn’t simply about the rising debt, but the different attitudes towards poverty. Not extending unemployment benefits or decreasing government entitlement programs may decrease the National debt, but it will not prevent the poor from sinking deeper into an oppressive state.

When the hearts of more American citizens become like God’s, we will give more without passing judgment or making excuses. If God can look beyond our faults to meet our needs, we should do the same.

The government shouldn’t accumulate debt to help the poor, but it should build a compassionate approach to handle it.

The Least Factor

At least I have a job – but it’s not rewarding, fulfilling, or impactful.
At least I have a man – even though he’s married with children.
At least I know dynamic, elitist people - but don’t have authentic connections.
At least I go to church – but don’t have a spiritual connection to God.
At least I’m liked – but you yearn for unconditional love and encouragement.
At least I have a GED – but was born with potential beyond a general education.

Energy exhausted striving for the least is a fast race to the bottom. If you’re going to run, strive for the top (i.e., your best). No one spends time practicing to enter a race with the intention to lose or end at the bottom.

Got Power?

According to Target Market News 16th annual report Buying Power of Black America, the expenditures of Blacks rose to $507 billion dollars. The top five expenditures were:

• Housing $203.8 billion
• Food $65.2 billion
• Cars/Trucks $29.1 billion
• Clothing $29.3 billion
• Health Care $23.6 billion

Who or what is being empowered as a result of this Black Buying Power? Is the employment gap among Blacks closing? Are the increasing numbers of disparities within the Black Community decreasing? Is the growing trend of poverty amongst low-income, women-led families being addressed? Is this buying power restoring or strengthening the Black family unit - a foundation in society?

It appears the Buying Power of Blacks is generating economic stability and wealth outside of their communities. Yep! It's helping other Ethnic groups establish businesses in socially and economically disadvantaged communities (i.e., underserved Black Communities) for members of their group. And, this buying power depletes the vitality of Black Communities because their money seldom returns.

If Black Buying Power isn't creating long-lasting, positive impacts within the Black Community; this Black Buying Power isn't powerful at all.

Can't Find a Job - Create Your Own

Okay, it’s been weeks, months, maybe a few years and you still haven’t found a J.O.B. If your job search strategy has primarily been behind a computer pushing emails and electronic resumes, your resumes are probably being added to thousands of job seekers in a virtual recruitment center being daily purged by the delete button. Which means your livelihood is somewhat in the hands of a virtual recruiter with the power to move your resume forward or prevent it from reaching your desired destination – the decision maker who can hire you.

Let’s face it, unemployment can stink, but it can also be a sweet aroma when you decide to use this experience as fuel to take charge of your life in spite of the economy! You’ve heard the saying If It’s Going to Be, It’s up to Me. That’s right; it’s going to be up to you to create your own path to financial freedom. Not the government, politicians, Mama, Daddy, Pookie – You! Here are a few suggestions to make it happen:

1. Develop a winning attitude and embrace the challenge to take charge of your life.
2. Define and create your dream job description without thinking about your bills or the economy. Just dream big!
3. Make a two-column list and write the required skills/resources needed to fulfill this dream job on the left side and your skills on the right.
4. Create an interim dream job description if you don’t have 80 percent of the required skills for your ultimate dream job.
5. Create a target-list of people/businesses that can benefit from your skills.
6. Identify your working/business relationship (e.g., contractor, W2 employee, consultant)
7. Make a list of people currently working your dream job and define what makes you stand out from them.
8. Write and send a one-page letter to business owners with your knowledge and interest, passion and skills, a value statement, and business quote from someone that has experienced your work. Also, keep a log of businesses you sent letters to.
9. Send a note or post card expressing your gratitude for business owners taking time to read your letter. Do this repeatedly until you receive a response.
10. Network with people that are employed and have winning attitudes.
11. If you’re low on funds consider the library, churches, community colleges, or volunteerism as resources to acquire the needed skills to create the job of your dreams.

American Poverty Tour

Tavis Smiley - author, talk and radio host and Dr. Cornel West - author, activist, speaker and Princeton University Professor launched a poverty tour to bring a voice and conscience to the growing trend of American poverty. Their work is commendable; however, isn't it time for communities (especially the Black) to unify resources to become self-sustaining and less reliant on the government for their livelihood?

American poverty as defined by the Census Bureau looks rich compared to impoverished countries. Is it shameful for Americans to be classified as poor in a country replete with resources? Absolutely! But when immigrants come to this country with different barriers (language being one of them) and succeed, why can't members of the African American communities do likewise?

The current budget cuts aren't pretty, and the cuts are creating deeper wounds. Should the wounded go to the President and Congress, wave bloody bandages to make them stop the bleeding? Or should African Americans look within their communities, find doctors and surgeons to stitch and close the wounds and start healing?

Members of this current administration know poverty exists. Trying to get them to recite the word 'poverty' as an acknowledgement of its existence or a means to change its current 'poverty' policies is like a husband with a nagging wife who wants him to acknowledge, accept, and repent of his sins when he doesn't believe he's a sinner.

Let the war on poverty amongst African Americans be an internal communal war by recruiting soldiers willing to fight (e.g., establish banks, jobs, community health centers, technology centers, and community think tanks), to eradicate it. Not spectators sitting on the sideline critiquing others for not throwing the right punches.

Another economic storm is coming. Waiting for the government to distribute umbrellas will not prevent the poor or middle-class from getting wet or drowning if they can't swim. The face of poverty has drastically changed in America, and African Americans must look within to modify their strategies to solve it.

Ask, Seek, and Knock - Luke 9:10 - 11 NKJV

Have you ever spoken to a person that knows everything they don’t want, but can’t articulate what they do want? If we don’t know what we want to do with our lives, others or life circumstances will mold our lives for us. And, the same can apply to our careers.

As a result of today's economy, many people are not seeking a career; they’re looking for a JOB - (JUST OVER BROKE). A JOB can help you get by, a career will help you live! Here are a few suggestions to jump start your career.

• Pray and Ask for Divine Guidance – Everything we do should bring glory and honor to God. And, this also applies to our career choices. God does not want us to work to simply meet our financial needs and wants. Ultimately, our vocation should be our ministry (i.e., what we’ve been gifted to do).
  
  
• Redefine Your Identity – Many people have defined their self-worth based on what they do and not who they really are. Take time to learn your true self and take this authenticity to your new career. Self-assessments are a great tool to learn more about your inner being. Please visit Assessment.com to find your true motivations and value for work.
  
  
• Divorce Your Old Career Mentality – If you’re passing by opportunities because you’re looking for a job with security, it’s time to kick this mentality to the curb. Today’s labor force is primarily comprised of a contingent workforce. Visit Sologig.com to land your new 'contingent' gig.
  
  
• Assess Your Resources – Do you have the resources to land your new career? For example, a positive attitude, references that can solidify your work ethics and habits, reliable transportation, the right skills, a support system if you’re a working mother or a lap top computer.
  
  
• Volunteer – Volunteering is a creative way to network and to create employment pipelines. Many career opportunities are opened due to individuals giving their time and energy to help others in spite of their circumstances. Try Volunteer Match to explore virtual and tangible volunteer opportunities.
  
  
• Get out of the House – You will not find a job sitting behind a computer. Most jobs are found through relationships. Check out www.meetup.com and join a group that’s suitable to your career desires.
  
  
• Live Each Day Intentionally – Decide the night before, what you want to accomplish the next day to lead you to the career of your dreams. For example, I want to make ten cold calls to conduct informational interviews to learn about the products and/or services of a company to determine my eligibility to join this team.

I Deserve a Peace of Mind

Thou will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on me. (Isaiah 26:3)

One of our clients has been without bipolar medication for months and has missed counseling sessions designed to help stabilize her mind and life because her monthly disability income exceeds her eligibility to receive medical and counseling assistance. Her inability to receive bipolar treatment is an impediment to her health, family, and prospective employers.

Several studies show, African-American and Latino women experience a higher rate of depressive symptoms and psychological distress compared to white women due to a convergence of societal, biological, and socioeconomical factors. Some of the risk factors are: stress due to racial discrimination; health problems (e.g., hypertension and cardiovascular disease); educational attainment, single marital status, and being a working mother.

Depression screening and prevention programs must take into account these and additional factors in order to be successful, according to Annelle Primm, M.D., M.P.H., who spoke at the APA Institute on Psychiatric Services in San Diego in October.

Primm pointed out that development of depression is affected by chronic stress and the “subsequent immuno-regulatory effects associated with living as a member of a marginalized racial and gender group.”

Social forces such as racism and sexism “impose continuous psychological stress and increase the likelihood of developing physical and mental illnesses,” she noted.

Obesity may also contribute to an increased risk for developing depression in African-American women, Primm pointed out. “There is a negative association between obesity and mental well-being,” she said.

African-American women have a greater prevalence of obesity (37.7 percent) when compared with white women (23.5 percent), she said, and overeating may begin as a strategy to cope with sexual abuse, racism, classism, and poverty in African-American women.

Primm cited the 2001 report of former Surgeon General David Satcher, M.D., Mental Health: Culture, Race, and Ethnicity, which brought to light the problems many minority groups have in accessing mental health services.

“On top of that,” she said, “we know that people of color who are able to access services are less likely to receive quality mental health care,” which can be partially attributed to a lack of culturally and linguistically competent mental health care clinicians.

On a broad level, policies that target poverty reduction would“ greatly benefit mental health outcomes” for African-American women.

More specifically, successful depression-prevention campaigns should incorporate “resiliency factors” employed by many African-American women, such as spirituality, which may help some to cope with depressive symptoms.

Preventive strategies should also incorporate nutrition and exercise, Primm noted.

She also recommended that depression screening be implemented to a greater extent at prenatal clinics located in public health facilities, welfare programs, and vocational-assistance programs.

In addition, it is crucial that screening programs link women who show depression symptoms to culturally competent treatment services in their community.

“What is good for African-American women in terms of preventing depression is good for all women in general and for the whole country,” Primm declared.

VEINC provides spiritual, personal, and career enrichment services to help our clients 'holistically'; however, when our clients cannot afford medical treatment, we cannot not prepare them for gainful and successful employment.

It's quite challenging for women to live in peace and harmony when faced with choosing to pay rent, feed their children, or purchase medicine. But, if women begin to focus on what they have and want, instead of their lack, this could possibly be an antidote to their financial and/or mental woes.

There's a saying, What you put your attention on, grows stronger in your life. When we place our attention on fear and lack, this will manifest in our lives and create anxiety which will immobilize us to create a life of harmony and balance. If you're a woman that's experiencing depression seek help from God and lay your concerns at His feet because He cares for you (I Peter 5:7).

Try New Life Ministries for resources and guidance to help you deal with depression. And, try God by accepting Him into your life, reading, studying, and mediating on His Word daily to gain the peace He has promised when your mind is on stayed on Him!

Senator Graham's Stance on Health Care Reform

For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee. (Proverbs 23:7 - KJV)

Members of VEINC have not read the Health Care Reform Bill; however, the tone and comments made by Senator Graham has left some of us with the impression that Senator Graham's view of the bill will cost his State (South Carolina) 1 billion dollars to insure low-income Black people.

What's your view on Senator Graham's comments and health care reform? Do you believe America needs health care reform? Do you believe health care reform will bankrupt America? Do you believe health care reform only benefits poor people? As far as Senator Graham's concern about tax-payer's dollars being used to pay for this health care reform, who has a job to pay taxes in this Great Recession?

What's the Big Deal About Single Mothers?

What's the big deal about single mothers, I was raised by one and I turned out okay! Were the words of a business leader running for a Prince George's County Council position.

There are many successful leaders and great people that were raised by single parents. VEINC is not presenting single mothers as damsels in distress or victims of society. However, due to the increased percentage of households being led by single mothers not only in Prince George's County, Maryland, but within our Nation, it's a big deal when single women-headed households have in some regard become the normal family structure.

According to Sociology for Families, single-parent families are normally female-headed and single women typically do not earn the same income as a single man; thus, there is a consequent economic struggle and burden not experienced in a single-father household. Single mothers often must work overtime shifts to compensate for the low salaries, thus taking time away from their children and other domestic chores. This results in a child that is home alone, without adult supervision, or placed in a daycare service for up to 8-10 hours per day. Government subsidized daycare is not yet a realized dream, and many single mothers pay large fees for this service.

The big deal about single parenting especially for Prince George's County, Maryland is, it has the highest concentration of low-income families headed by women in the Washington metro region. And, low-income families headed by women are vulnerable to the cycle of poverty. The impact of poverty puts a strain on the local, state, and the government by investing money in reactive services and programs to support low-income families (e.g., emergency housing, food stamp assistance, or crime and gang prevention) instead of proactive services and programs (e.g., workforce training and development, entrepreneurship programs; affordable housing, childcare, and health care, and accessible transportation).

There's an old saying, If you keep doing what you've always done, you will keep getting what you've always gotten. And, we can no longer afford to allow politics as usual if we want to experience a significant change in Prince George's County.

The Status of Women and Girls of Prince George's County needs to be a top priority on the platform for all politicians running for local and state government. Make your vote count to ensure Prince George's County, Maryland will live up to it's motto, A Livable Community for all Prince Georgians, especially for low-income women-led families where the weight of economic instability rides on their shoulders.

Following is VEINC's wish list to strengthen the economic status of women and girls of Prince George's County:

• Bring more livable wage careers to Prince George's County that offer benefits in health and work-life balance. Prince George's County main career industries are retail and hospitality
• Work harder to ensure funding for Individual Training Accounts under the Workforce Investment Act is adequately funneled from the State to Prince George's County to increase participation in local education and training programs
• Change childcare voucher systems to ensure vouchers are honored in a timely manner
• Make public transportation more accessible to transit around all localities of Prince George's County, Maryland
• Add more women politicians that will advocate on behalf of the issues relating to women and girls
• Increase local funding to proactively address barriers that prevent women and girls from achieving economic independence and stability.

Ladies, make your vote count! Don't sit on the sideline and assume your challenges will automatically be taken care of, or your vote won't count. All votes count and you have the power to make a change for yourself and other women like you in your community. Make your voice known. Make your voice heard. And, hold your local and state representatives accountable to making positive changes and impacts on behalf of underserved women and girls of Prince George's County, Maryland.