Analysis: European Americans unemployment rate rose 30 basis points in their unemployment rate. Asian Americans decreased 40 basis points and Latino Americans similarly increased 40 basis points from July, respectively. African Americans for a second straight month had no change in their unemployment rate.
AFRICAN AMERICAN UNEMPLOYMENT RATE BY GENDER & AGE
AFRICAN AMERICAN MEN: 6.6%
AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN: 5.5%
AFRICAN AMERICAN TEENAGERS: 13.1%
AFRICAN AMERICAN PARTICIPATION BY GENDER & AGE
AFRICAN AMERICAN MEN: 69.7%
AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN: 63.0%
AFRICAN AMERICAN TEENAGERS: 27.6%
Analysis: African American Men saw an increase in their unemployment rate by 50 basis points and African American Women decreased by 20 basis points. African American Men increased their participation rate in July by 60 basis points. African American Women decreased in their participation rate in July by 70 basis points. African American Teenagers unemployment rate decreased by a volatile 380 basis points. African American Teenagers saw their participation rate decrease by 170 basis points in July, they are now at their lowest participation rate in the past five months for the second straight month.
African American Men-Women Job Gap: African American Women currently have 747,000 more jobs than African American Men in July. This is an increase from 646,000 in June.
CONCLUSION: The overall economy added 114,000 jobs in July while African America added 169,000 jobs. In a rarity, African America added more jobs than the overall economy meaning other groups took losses. From Barrons, “Government data on Friday showed a smaller-than-expected gain of 114,000 nonfarm payrolls last month, as the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.3%—a nearly three-year high. The figure likely puts more pressure on the Federal Reserve: The central bank has kept interest rates elevated to bring down inflation, but also must manage the other side of its dual mandate, which is to pursue maximum employment.”
Whatever glory belongs to the race for a development unprecedented in history for the given length of time, a full share belongs to the womanhood of the race. – Mary McLeod Bethune
African American Owned Banks (AAOBs) continue to decline, down to 16 since from 21 since we last highlighted African American Owned Banks’ Most Powerful Women in 2013. The decline of almost 25 percent of African American Owned Banks over the past decade has meant less and less opportunity across the board and for African American women that appears to be the case as well. As our institutions decrease, so then do our ability to create opportunities for our communities. African American women in AAOBs have seen an increase only in the board of directors with all other positions seeing a decline.
Even with that reality, the numbers in comparison to their counterparts is still much greater. The largest 50 banks which are all non-AAOBs have only 1 woman (2 percent) at the helm according to American Banker. African American women comprise almost 20 percent of African American Owned Banks CEO positions.
2024 Statistics (2013 Statistics)
3 CEOs/President (4 CEOs/Presidents)
1 CFO (2 CFOs)
10 Vice-Presidents (13 Vice-Presidents)
8 Board of Directors (7 Board of Directors)
We have done our best to find out just who are some of the amazing African American women serving as executives and directors at African American Owned Banks around the country. However, some banks do not have their management or board of directors listed so we are sure we missed a few talented women, but for now here is who we found and some of their stories.
Mrs. Cooper is co-founder of the voter education non-profit Stand Up Mobile: A Blueprint for US. She retired after 15 years as President of The Christian Benevolent Funeral Home, Inc. a family- owned business for 96 years.
In February 2012, she became the Chief Executive Officer, the first permanently named female CEO in the Company’s history. Under her leadership as Chief Executive Officer, the bank has reached many milestones including achieving its highest level of performance during its 100 year existence. Further, most recently, the Bank was ranked, by S&P Global, #28 out of the Top 200 Performing Banks in the Country in its asset band.
Iris D. Goodly, Senior Vice President/ Director of Client Services and Operations
Jaimmé Collins, General Counsel, EVP and SVP of Strategy
In addition to being General Counsel, Ms. Collins manages Liberty’s strategic initiatives, joint ventures, regulatory matters, and leads Liberty Community Development Corporation (Liberty’s real estate development affiliate) and Liberty Foundation, Inc. (Liberty’s nonprofit affiliate).
Teri Williams, President and Chief Operating Officer
Responsible for implementation of the Bank’s strategic initiatives, as well as the day-to-day operations of the bank. These operational areas include all retail branches, marketing, compliance, lending, information technology, customer support, legal, and human resources. Under her leadership, OneUnited Bank has consolidated the local names and product offerings of four (4) banks to create a powerful national brand supported by innovative products and services. She brings 30 years of financial services expertise from premier institutions such as Bank of America and American Express, where she was one of the youngest Vice Presidents.
She has been in the banking industry for 30 years. She has held senior level positions in the areas of sales, operations and consumer lending. Her responsibilities include management of five retail branches as well as the online branch, the banks facilities, item processing operations and the call center. She also serves as the Security Officer for the Bank. She has successfully managed two system conversions and one item processing conversion during her tenure. Ms. Brewer has worked for Wells Fargo, Orange County Credit Union, Business Bank of California, and First City Federal Credit Union.
Marionette Y. Wilson, Secretary of the Board of Directors
Ms. Wilson joined the Board of Directors of United Bank of Philadelphia in 1992 as a founding director. She is now retired but was formerly the Co-Founder/Partner, John Frazier, Inc., Philadelphia, PA from 1981-2002.
*Evelyn F. Smalls, President and Chief Executive Officer (pictured bottom left)
Mrs. Smalls is President and Chief Executive Officer of United Bank of Philadelphia, a minority-owned and controlled, full service commercial bank. With over 30 years experience in banking and community development, Mrs. Smalls is responsible for the leadership and management of the Bank including setting the direction of the organization, communicating its vision and adapting the culture and operations to achieve success.
Prior to her appointment as President and Chief Executive Officer, Mrs. Smalls served as Senior Vice President for Regulatory Compliance and Community Reinvestment. Her leadership helped establish the Bank’s community reinvestment model that has achieved consecutive “Outstanding” ratings from the Federal Reserve and FDIC since the Bank’s inception.
Mrs. Smalls received her Bachelor’s degree in Business from North Carolina Central University.
Brenda M. Hudson-Nelson, Executive Vice President & CFO
Mrs. Hudson-Nelson has served as United Bank of Philadelphia’s Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for twenty-five years. Mrs. Hudson-Nelson has thirty-four years experience within the financial services industry. Mrs. Hudson-Nelson’s responsibilities include directing financial planning, implementing, and overseeing the Bank’s systems of internal controls, managing the Bank’s investment portfolio, and monitoring and managing the Bank’s sensitivity to interest rate risk. Ms. Hudson-Nelson ensures that the Bank’s Annual Report, SEC Reports and other Regulatory Reports are filed accurately and timely.
She served as Treasurer on the Boards of Director for the South Street Dance Company, CHOICE, Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America, Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Mercer County, and for Prevention Point Philadelphia.
Dimitria Davenport, Vice President, Community Banking & Compliance
With over 20 years in the financial services industry, she has held key roles within Training, Consumer Banking, Retail Administration and Human Resources. Dimitria has spent the last eighteen years of her career working diligently to carry out United Bank’s mission of financially empowering people and businesses in the greater Philadelphia region.
Dimitria serves on several Boards: The Executive Committee of The African American Chamber of Commerce, The City Schools and The New Hope Community Development Corporation.
*Dr. LaDonna Boyd, Board of Directors (pictured top left)
As the fifth-generation president/CEO of the R.H. Boyd Family of Companies in Nashville, Tennessee, she’s a powerhouse of innovation and creativity, transforming the business landscape while championing social causes close to her heart.
She earned her bachelor’s in economics and with a minor in French from Spelman College, followed by an MBA with a finance concentration from Tennessee State University. She completed her with a Doctorate in Education with a focus on organizational leadership from Pepperdine University. She further honed her skills by earning two certificates in from Harvard University’s Extension School in Digital Marketing Strategy and Artificial Intelligence in Business: Creating Value With Machine Learning.
*Joan Fleming, SVP of Residential Lending and Community Development (pictured top right)
She is an industry leader- finding ways to produce results through her expertise, commitment and relationships. Joan has a passion for delivering value and benefit to her clients with an enthusiastic and friendly attitude. It is her commitment to serve the underserved by being an advocate for affordable housing and financial literacy. Her “thinking outside the box” mentality allows her to develop programs to ensure everyone can build wealth through homeownership.
Analysis: European Americans unchanged for a third month in their unemployment rate. Asian Americans saw an increase of 100 basis points and Latino Americans saw a negligible decrease of 10 basis points from June, respectively. African Americans had an increase in their unemployment rate of 20 basis points for June, a third straight month of increases and second highest in the past five months.
AFRICAN AMERICAN UNEMPLOYMENT RATE BY GENDER & AGE
AFRICAN AMERICAN MEN: 6.1%
AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN: 5.7%
AFRICAN AMERICAN TEENAGERS: 16.9%
AFRICAN AMERICAN PARTICIPATION BY GENDER & AGE
AFRICAN AMERICAN MEN: 69.1%
AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN: 62.3%
AFRICAN AMERICAN TEENAGERS: 29.3%
Analysis: African American Men saw a decrease in their unemployment rate by 30 basis points and African American Women increased by 50 basis points. African American Men increased their participation rate in June by 80 basis points. African American Women decreased in their participation rate in June by 60 basis points. African American Teenagers unemployment rate increased by a volatile 300 basis points. African American Teenagers saw their participation rate decrease by 290 basis points in June, they are now at their lowest participation rate in the past five months.
African American Men-Women Job Gap: African American Women currently have 646,000 more jobs than African American Men in June. This is an decrease from 924,000 in May.
CONCLUSION: The overall economy added 206,000 jobs in June while African America lost 73,000 jobs. This is Africa America’s lowest employment in five months with declines in four out of the past five months. From PBS, “Meanwhile, the U.S. economy added more jobs than expected last month, marking the 42nd consecutive month of job growth; 206,000 new jobs were added in June. Government hiring accounted for more than a third of those, followed by health care, social assistance and construction. Unemployment also inched up to 4.1 percent, making it the first time it’s risen above 4 percent in more than two years.”
Analysis: European Americans unchanged for a second month in their unemployment rate. Asian and Latino Americans both saw increases of 30 and 20 basis points from May, respectively. African Americans had an increase in their unemployment rate of 50 basis points for May.
AFRICAN AMERICAN UNEMPLOYMENT RATE BY GENDER & AGE
AFRICAN AMERICAN MEN: 6.4%
AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN: 5.2%
AFRICAN AMERICAN TEENAGERS: 13.9%
AFRICAN AMERICAN PARTICIPATION BY GENDER & AGE
AFRICAN AMERICAN MEN: 68.3%
AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN: 62.9%
AFRICAN AMERICAN TEENAGERS: 32.2%
Analysis: African American Men saw an increase in their unemployment rate by 120 basis points and African American Women increased by 20 basis points. African American Men decreased their participation rate in May by 40 basis points. African American Women had no change in their May participation rate. African American Teenagers unemployment rate decreased by a staggering 430 basis points, the second lowest rate in the past five months for the group. African American Teenagers saw their participation rate decrease by 100 basis points in May.
African American Men-Women Job Gap: African American Women currently have 924,000 more jobs than African American Men in May. This is an increase from 781,000 in April.
CONCLUSION: The overall economy added 272,000 jobs in May while African America lost 169,000 jobs. From Axios, “The big picture: The Federal Reserve wants to see signs the labor market is coming into better balance—that is, demand for workers catching up to the supply of them. Fed officials are all but certain to hold interest rates at a two-decade high at their policy meeting next week, as they wait for more evidence that price pressures are easing. Recent indicators have shown that to be the case: Data this week showed that employers are posting fewer job openings.”
Analysis: European Americans saw a tick up of 10 basis points in their unemployment rate after three straight months of no change. Asian and Latino Americans both saw increases of 30 basis points from April. African Americans had a decrease in their unemployment rate of 80 basis points for April.
AFRICAN AMERICAN UNEMPLOYMENT RATE BY GENDER & AGE
AFRICAN AMERICAN MEN: 5.2%
AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN: 5.0%
AFRICAN AMERICAN TEENAGERS: 18.2%
AFRICAN AMERICAN PARTICIPATION BY GENDER & AGE
AFRICAN AMERICAN MEN: 68.7%
AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN: 62.9%
AFRICAN AMERICAN TEENAGERS: 33.2%
Analysis: African American Men saw an decrease in their unemployment rate by 100 basis points and African American Women decreased by 60 basis points. African American Men and Women decreased their participation rate in April by 90 basis points and 10 basis points, respectively. African American Teenagers unemployment rate pulls back with a decrease of 190 basis points, but still up almost 60 percent from January. African American Teenagers also had their participation rate increase by 40 basis points up to their highest participation rate over the past five months for the second month in a row.
African American Men-Women Job Gap: African American Women currently have 781,000 more jobs than African American Men in April. This is an increase from 710,000 in March.
CONCLUSION: The overall economy added 175,000 jobs in April while African America added 66,000 jobs. From New York Times, “The cooling job market could bring relief to a tight housing market, where the average rate for a 30-year mortgage hit 7.22 percent this week. “An economy that is too hot is not good for interest rates,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist at the National Association of Realtors. “Hence, the latest news of some cooling in the labor market could mean the topping-out of mortgage rates this week before more sustained declines through the remainder of this year.”
HBCU Money 