Kimberly Seals Allers, founder and editor-in-chief of MochaManual.com, an online parenting destination for African American mothers, began using Webinars in the spring of 2009 after she realized her competitors were using them. “I was attending Webinars myself as a consumer, and it made me think I should be using them as a business owner,” she recalls. Allers, also author of the Mocha Manual book series, now produces monthly Webinars that tackle parenting topics such as pregnancy and flu vaccinations.

Allers’ Webinars are generally free to participants; the company covers the cost of producing them. But Allers, who predicts 2009 revenues to be close to $150,000, says the return on investment is not all monetary. Within the year, the seminars helped add more than 3,000 names to the company’s e-mail and subscriber listings; they have also driven traffic to her site, allowing her to charge higher ad rates. “I use Webinars more as a marketing tool,” she says. “However, I would say we typically see a 10% to 15% increase in our average daily sales volume on the days we have Webinars.”

The biggest mistake, says Ken Molay, president of Cary, North Carolina-based Web conference services firm Webinar Success (www.wsuccess.com), is thinking a Webinar is an ad when it is really a value-add. “This is not a direct advertisement for your company,” he stresses. “Briefly introduce yourself—then get right into presenting information that will directly help your audience.” Remember, you are there to offer expertise.

Karen Palmer, media strategist and presentation consultant for Ventureneer (ventureneer.com), an online portal for small business advice, nonprofit training, and social enterprise education, says people make the mistake of reading directly from a PowerPoint. “You really have to conduct the Webinar as if you’re having a conversation with the participants.” She also advises keeping the presentation visually appealing so long as it’s not distracting.

This article originally appeared in the February 2010 issue of Black Enterprise magazine.

Senate Approves Resolution Apologizing for Slavery

The U.S. Senate Thursday unanimously adopted a resolution apologizing for slavery, and sent the resolution to the House for passage.

The nonbinding resolution “apologizes to African-Americans on behalf of the people of the United States for the wrongs committed against them and their ancestors who suffered under slavery and Jim Crow laws.”

Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, the chief sponsor of the resolution said “A national apology by the representative body of the people is a necessary collective response to a past collective injustice. So it is both appropriate and imperative that Congress fulfill its moral obligation and officially apologize for slavery and Jim Crow laws.”

However, a disclaimer regarding reparations has drawn criticism from members of the Congressional Black Caucus.

The disclaimer states that nothing in the resolution authorizes or supports any claim against the U.S. or serves as a settlement of any claim against the United States.

The Miami Herald reports that after the resolution passed, Sen. Roland Burris, D-Illinois, the only African American member of the Senate, said on the Senate floor, “I want to go on record making sure that that disclaimer in no way would eliminate future actions that may be brought before this body that may deal with reparations.”

Lawmakers plan a signing and apology ceremony and in the Capital Rotunda in July.

Thursday night, the Senate also unanimously passed a resolution recognizing the 143rd anniversary of Juneteenth on June 19.  Juneteenth commemorates the day on which slavery came to an end in 1865.

– Deborah Creighton Skinner

Government Contracting Series for Women-Owned Businesses

Often considered the backbone of the U.S. economy, small businesses play a vital role in boosting nationwide employment and keep dollars flowing through the economy. But entrepreneurs are missing the boat when it comes to boosting revenue through government contracts, especially since President Barack Obama signed his economic recovery plan.

Small business owners have so far only received 10.3% of money funneled to state and local governments though the stimulus plan, far short of the 23% of federal contracting dollars the government mandates to be awarded to small businesses, according to the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship.

Overall, women-owned businesses are not stepping up either when it comes to attaining federal dollars, having secured only 3.4% of the federally mandated 5% of contract dollars set aside.

In an attempt to increase those statistics, Give Me 5, an education and mentoring program designed to help women business owners get involved in the federal contract system, and Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP) will host two webinars on securing contracts on June 23 and 25.

“Public-sector federal contracting [is] a huge opportunity, [but it] is a big complex thing,” says Barbara Kasoff, president of WIPP. “We wanted to make it as easy and smooth as possible and really raise the odds for women business owners to be successful.”

The Webinars will focus on how to become registered as a socially or economically disadvantaged business — or 8(a) certification — and detail how the Department of Health and other government agencies reach out to women-owned businesses.

Webinars scheduled for June 23 and 25 are available free to Give Me 5 members, and the annual membership fee is $100. The organization also hosts free webinars for non-members throughout the year.

Give Me 5 was launched in 2008 by WIPP and American Express OPEN, the small business division of American Express.

–Renita Burns

Hate Crimes Against Blacks Outpace Other Races

The election of President Barack Obama sparked a flame of solidarity in the hearts of many Americans, but it also ignited hostility, fear and bigotry that allegedly caused three men in Massachusetts to burn down a black church on Nov. 5.

The election of the first African-American president has caused a surge in activity of white supremacist groups, according to a new report, “Confronting the New Faces of Hate: Hate Crimes in America,” released Tuesday by the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund. The report highlights several hate crime incidents against people from all races, religions, and sexual orientations; several involving the president.

Of the 7,624 hate crime incidents reported nationwide in 2007, the most recent year for which data is available, 34% were perpetrated against African Americans. After Obama’s election victory in November, white supremacist online activity spiked, the authors write.

“The idea of a black man in the White House, combined with the deepening economic crisis and continuing high levels of Latino immigration, has given white supremacists a real platform on which to recruit,” wrote Mark Potok, editor of the Intelligence Report published by the Southern Poverty Leadership Conference.

Although blacks may receive the majority of the attacks, hate crimes have increased significantly against Hispanics and against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals. From 2003 to 2007, the number of hate crimes reported against Hispanics increased nearly 40% to 7.8% and rose to 16.6% — a five year high–for LGBTs.

“The marked increase in hate violence against Hispanics correlates closely with the increasingly heated debate over comprehensive immigration reform,” write the authors.

The report recommends that Congress pass the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crime Prevention Act, which would amend the Hate Crime Statistics Act of 1990 and mandate hate crime data collection for bias-motivated violence directed at LGBT individuals, and for crimes committed by and against juveniles.

– Marcia A. Wade

U.N. Expert Calls on U.S. to Address Ongoing Issues of Racism

After conducting an analysis of racism in America, a United Nations expert offered recommendations on how the nation needs to further address ongoing issues of discrimination.

In a report, compiled with analysis from former U.N. special rapporteur Doudou Diene and presented by current special rapporteur Githu Muigai at a June 16 U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC) session, Congress is urged to pass the End Racial Profiling Act (ERPA), which would prevent law enforcement agents or agencies from engaging in racial profiling. Also encouraged is the creation of a bipartisan commission to evaluate ways to combat racism in America.

Other highlights of the report include racism in the criminal justice system, the disparity between sentencing for crack and powder cocaine, and abuses facing immigrant and African American workers in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Diene toured the U.S. in May and June of last year to conduct the analysis, and met with representatives of the American Civil Liberties Union ACLU and other non-governmental organizations, government officials, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, and members of local communities.

“For the U.S. to lead by example, it should heed the recommendations of this international expert and do more to address ongoing issues of racism and ethnic discrimination in this country,” said Chandra Bhatnagar, staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union Human Rights Program. “The rapporteur’s report offers the Obama administration a path forward on justice, equality and human rights.”

–Janell Hazelwood