Urban Investment Strategies Center Director Jim Johnson weighed in on the initial surge and subsequent decline in Black bookstore sales during the COVID-19 pandemic in a recent article by CNN Business.
The COVID-19 pandemic and the nationwide civil unrest spawned by the recent spate of senseless killings of unarmed African Americans have illuminated what executive development professionals have been telling private and public sector leaders and managers for quite some time. We are living in an era of increasing volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity—a VUCA World. “Certain-uncertainty” is the new normal in today’s society and economy.
As the middle class shrinks and consumer debt, education and healthcare costs increase, a national conversation has focused on the wealth gap within America and the realities of the American Dream.
Professor Jim Johnson, director of the Kenan Institute-affiliated Urban Investment Strategies Center, recently penned an op-ed for the Raleigh News and Observer on the importance of immigrants in an aging U.S. economy. Johnson co-authored the piece with Cedar Grove Institute for Sustainable Communities Vice President Allan M. Parnell.
Profound demographic changes of all kinds are radically transforming America’s social, economic and political institutions. Perhaps one of the most troubling is something our affiliated Urban Investment Strategies Center Director Dr. Jim Johnson calls the End of Men.
Terrorist attacks. Oil spill disasters. Ebola outbreaks. Our world today is defined by what Jim Johnson, director of the Kenan Institute-affiliated Urban Investment Strategies Center, terms an atmosphere of “certain uncertainty.” Johnson spoke on what individuals need to survive this new reality at the Feb. 12 Carolina Conversations event at UNC-Chapel Hill.
Dr. Jim Johnson, director of the Kenan Institute-affiliated Urban Investment Strategies Center, was recently featured in a WRAL-TV report and website article on what he sees as a major problem facing society – the declining role of men. Johnson points to poor performance in grade school, high incarceration rates and discrimination as some of the factors leading to the change. Johnson says the effects will have wide implications, including a decrease in the eligibility pool of marriageable men.
The Great Recession of 2008 came with a counterintuitive twist – the unprecedented growth of minority-owned small businesses in the U.S. But although the data shows that the representation of minority firms in the small business ecosystem increased from 2007 to 2012 while the percentage of white-owned firms decreased, the larger question is whether those minority firms also made headway toward achieving equity or parity with white-owned businesses.
This article describes an American community survey and a survey of business owners of which the data are merged to assess the experiences of minority- versus white-owned small businesses between 2007 and 2012. This is highlighted due to it being a period encompassing the worst economic downturn since The Great Depression. White firms declined while minority firms grew rapidly. Despite recent efforts to create inclusive entrepreneurial and business ecosystems, however, minority business owners made little progress toward achieving equity or parity with white business owners. Policy prescriptions and implications for future research are discussed.
For more than 50 years, historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) have been serving the African American community, providing a firm grounding not only in education, but also in black history and culture. Jim Johnson, Director of Education, Aging and Economic Development Initiatives for the Kenan Institute, spoke with Frank Stasio of The State of Things on the relevance and challenges of HBCUs today.
A recent article by AARP compares the tax landscape in North Carolina with surrounding states, and discusses how North Carolina tax breaks for older residents fall short of those offered by other states, such as South Carolina. The article quotes Jim Johnson, director of Education, Aging, and Economic Development for the Kenan Institute, on what older Americans consider when choosing where to spend their retirement years.