As Unemployment Rises for African Americans, Digital Literacy Could Be The Solution

Unemployment rates continue to remain high among African Americans. The issue is that these are more than statistics, they represent people with lives and families and people like you and me. The other problem is that mainstream society will not come up with solutions to solve this problem in the short term so we need to start coming up with them ourselves.

I believe that is continuing to be overlooked is the Internet and wireless arena. While these unemployment numbers continue to rise technology companies are hungry for talent. Creating programs where the unemployed can be trained to fill these needs at Internet and wireless companies is key. Jason Calacanis (@jason) suggested recently that html/css bootcamps be created and the participants pay only if they get a job in the tech sector. If the government would fund these type of programs it would do more to change the current minority unemployment situation than any of the current ideas on the table. Digital literacy creates digital empowerment which allows people to take advantage of digital opportunities. And if you don’t think the problem is worth focusing on look at the numbers below

Examples of cities where Black unemployment has risen dramatically:

2006 = Birmingham, Alabama = 5.3 %

2011 = Birmingham, Alabama = 14.5%

2006 = Miami, Florida = 6.7%

2011 = Miami, Florida = 17.2%

2006 = Los Angeles, California = 8.6%

2011 = Los Angeles, California = 19.3%

2006 = Detroit, Michigan = 12.00%

2011 = Detroit, Michigan = 25.7 %

2006 = Las Vegas, Nevada = 13%

2011 = Las Vegas, Nevada = 25%

2006 = Charlotte, North Carolina = 8%

2011 = Charlotte, North Carolina = 19%

What are your thoughts on the high unemployment rate? Can technology help alleviate the problem?

About the Author
Navarrow Wright is the CTO of Interactive One, Interactive One is a digital and print media company focusing on the African-American and urban market. As CTO Wright is responsible for the technical strategy of all the Interactive One online properties which include Hellobeautiful, The UrbanDaily, NewsOne, Elev8 and BlackPlanet. He is also responsible for the technical management of the Radio One Network’s radio sites Navarrow was formerly the President of Maximum Leverage Solutions ( http://maxlevsolutions.com), An internet technology consulting firm. Wright is the Co-founder of Globalgrind.com with Russell Simmons and The former CTO of BET.com. Navarrow blogs about issues in technology that affect entrepreneurs, minorities and urban youth on his site at http://www.navarrowwright.com
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