By: Andrew Bruskin

Editor-in-Chief, All About Business

I was walking to lunch, taking my usual route along court street. I approached the Court- Livingston Street intersection, two blocks from the court system, when I saw a man in his upper fifties. He was African American, wearing raggedy blue jeans and a brownish-grey shirt. He was on the side of the road begging—not for money—but for water.

“Please help me…I haven’t had anything to drink for two days” were his words as passerby’s on the street walked past him, barely giving him notice. “Shouldn’t I help him?” were my thoughts as I too walked past the man and entered the nearby chinese restaurant.

I emerged several minutes later to still see the man, with his empty cup, scouring the street asking passby’s for water. And still I saw random pedestrians give him the cold shoulder.

Standing in front of the chinese restaurant, I decided to take action. I went to the nearby deli, where I bought a bottle of water for a mere $1.25. Upon exiting the store and holding my to-go chinese food, I delivered the cold poland spring bottled water to this man.

“Thank you! Thank you!” was his reply as he started taking huge gulps of water. “Not a problem” was my only response as we parted ways and I went back to the office.

I write about this not because of this benevolent act I bestowed upon him. I am writing about this because of the utter disregard and callousness of the random pedestrian who passed this man by without even giving him a moment’s notice.

I can understand why people may not want to give an individual money. I usually do try my best to give someone money if they ask for it (even if it is only a quarter or two), but someone who is asking for a basic necessity is an entirely different matter.

How easy would it have been for an individual to venture into a nearby store and deliver this man—or any other man/woman/child on the street in the same predicament—one cold bottle of water? You are not performing surgery—you are simply sidestepping several minutes of your time and assising someone who is in need. Sadly, many people simply do not want to be bothered.

I fully believe that the action I displayed today is a duty. This should not even be labeled under ‘generosity’ or ‘benevolence.’ The sad truth is that the action fits the label because the vast majority of people would have kept walking, not giving this individual a glance or thought.

What would have happened to this man if I was not there? What about all of the other people who ask for basic necessities and are shunned by society?

The world is cruel because ordinary people allow it to be cruel. We need to change as a society and become more compassionate towards our fellow human beings. We all need to start helping our communities, colleagues, neighbors and even complete strangers.

If this does not happen, what will happen when you are in need?

Andrew may be reached at Andrew.Bruskin@gmail.com or on Facebook.

by: Megan Yarnall

Writer, All About Business

I recently started working near Madison Square Park in Manhattan, and for the first few days, a man at the top of the stairs to the subway startled me. The same man was there every morning, without fail, making me jump suddenly to the side. Every time it only took me seconds to realize that this man was not real; he is made of fiberglass and iron. Still, he gave me a good fright every morning for the first week.

I began to notice other iron men around the park as I wandered around on my lunch walks. I eventually spotted some on top of buildings in part of the surrounding skyline. My friends joked that perhaps part of the public art project with the Iron Men was suicide watch – why else would they be on the edge of these skyscrapers? I got to digging around and discovered that these iron men were part of Madison Square Park’s public art projects, and that particular exhibit is Antony Gormley’s Event Horizon.

I love public art because it adds color and vivacity to a city or a public space – it is a positive addition to a landscape, and it inspires public education instead of a dull view. In the middle of Manhattan, Event Horizon makes you stop and wonder how many other details you’re missing in The Big City as you rush through the normal day and are suddenly started by a man next to you in the square or a man on top of a building. Part of the point of the project is perspective, according to Antony Gormley himself. In my interpretation, these iron men can only look in one direction, and each has a unique perspective from his station in the park or on a building. How does this apply to us in society today? How narrow, or wide, can our views stay or stretch? How stationary are we? From where do we obtain our perspective? What can we look at and find from where we are, and how far can we go from there? Gormley also expresses that his project questions the gaze, meaning the sight of the statues and its scope. Coupled with their stationary position, in which no part of the body can be moved or shifted, viewers are moved to consider their own embedment.

Much of my English degree education was influenced by perspective and point-of-view, but with this project it seems that not everyone needs a college degree to learn about this. All they have to do is pay attention to the works around them. Public art offers a free education to those who would like to grasp it – which seems much like education in the first place: an experience from which you get what you put in.

These iron men on the street corners and on top of skyscrapers around the park are meant to represent us, and inspire us to consider our perspective of the world. The physical body – ours and the iron ones of these men – limit our frame of reference to the world. An event horizon by definition is a boundary surrounding a blackhole, creating a line past which nothing can be affected by events of the universe. Antony Gormley encourages us to think about our own Event Horizon with his iron men. The use of public art in such a fashion enables greater access to education – free education – to those who wish to learn more about the work and its message. Further, one of the purposes of education is to appreciate the world around us and understand its beauty, its troubles, and its limitations. Event Horizon, and other public art works, educate us in just this way. Not only can you get a shake, relax on a bench, or play Frisbee in the park – you can get a free education. If nothing deeper, you can always get, as I heard one girl label it this morning, “a rough education in accurate male anatomy.”

Event Horizon is displayed throughout Madison Square Park in New York at 23rd street and Madison Avenue until August 15, 2010.

Megan Yarnall recently graduated from Dickinson College with a BA in English. She also studied creative writing and Italian and currently writes freelance articles for Demand Studios. She also continues writing both fiction and nonfiction, and working on photography. Her photos can be found at www.meganyarnall.wordpress.com and her writing can be found at www.megtaylor.wordpress.com.

One may ask why America needs to rebuild. When the average person looks at our sagging economy, our crumbling financial markets, our legal layovers, our political debacles and our educational mishaps, one can see why America needs to “Rebuild.”

This process won’t happen with bureaucrats or even our businesses. It will happen with YOU–the American citizen. Please join All About Business (AAB) for a night of discussion at Touro Graduate School of Business where a team of panelists will speak about this very topic: what can America do to help rebuild these broken systems?

Panelists, among others, include:

RYAN MACK, President, Optimum Capital Management; CNN Contributor

HON. CHUCK LESNICK, President, Yonkers City Council

DIAMOND WEISSERMAN, United Nations

HON. GEORGE MARTINEZ, Founder, Global Block Foundation and US Cultural Envoy to Latin America.

MICHELL MITCHELL, Executive Director, The Phenomenal Women’s Group, Inc.

VINCENT MORGAN, Founder, Harlem NOW

MICHAEL DESTIO, Assistant Superintendant, Half Hallow Hills School District

DARNELL CANADA, Founder, REBUILD

MODERATED BY: DIANE KING, Business Anchor, NY1

To register for this event, you MUST RSVP at: http://rebuildingamerica.eventbrite.com/

This is an event you will not want to miss! Space is LIMITED and tickets are going FAST!

All About Business (AAB) is a global program run by the Optimum Institute of Economic Empowerment, Inc. geared towards the spread of ‘empowerment’ through social movement and grassroots advocacy. Our purpose is to cultivate talent among our youth and encourage them to become active members of the community through leadership, philanthropy and professional responsibility. We seek to provide educational services for the general population through panel discussions, media outlets, seminar events and networking opportunities. We are committed to provide community service projects and professional development programs for neighborhoods in need and to inspire all people to create the positive change they wish to see in the world. AAB is under the umbrella of the Optimum Institute of Economic Empowerment, a non-profit organization founded by financial entrepreneur and CNN commentator Ryan Mack. See More

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

*** Please Post and Publicize ***

For Information Contact:

Kareem Hertzog, Executive Director

The Optimum Institute of Economic Empowerment, Inc.

Phone: 877-758-3224 

Email: info@optimuminsitute.org 

Optimum Cleans Up Brooklyn

On July 10^th, 2010 in direct response to the high amounts of litter in the community resulting in pricey sanitation fines for small businesses and suffering property values, The Optimum Institute of Economic Empowerment (“OIEE”) decided to take a stand against filthy streets by organizing a full day to pick up trash. It is common to see those charged with a crime to have to pay a penalty of community service that you will see out removing litter from the streets; however, Optimum organized a group of over 50 volunteers who were willing to congregate and do the same simply for the love of their community!   

From 8:00am to 12:00pm, volunteers for the OIEE filled multiple bags of trash as they walked down Fulton Street in Brooklyn, New York.  They began on the corner Ralph Avenue and Fulton Street, and walked three miles in the hot sun to their final check point of Lafayette Street and Fulton.  Prominent members of the community who joined the effort were Phillip Kellogg – FAB Alliance Director, Mike Rafferty – Bedford Stuyvesant BID President, Paul Cain – Hip Hop Artist, and many members of the Brooklyn community. 

Phillip Kellogg, FAB Alliance Director stated, “It was encouraging to see so many people out who were so concerned about what I am fighting everyday…litter. Hopefully this will help to make my job easier as more people become more aware of the problems caused by litter in the streets.”

Ryan Mack, President of The Optimum Institute of Economic Empowerment stated the following as he finished walking three miles of litter removal, “I can honestly say that while I have always known that litter was destructive, I now have a new outlook on each piece of paper that I see on the street in my community because I helped to keep it clean…we all took ownership of this issue of litter in our streets. If more people would take the time to participate in events such as this there is no doubt that more people would join in the fight. We didn’t organize this event to take the place of those organizations whose job it is to keep the streets clean, we set out to prove a point that there are many people in the community who are willing to take a stand against filthy streets and today we were successful.”

Kareem Hertzog, Event Organizer and Executive Director of The Optimum Institute of Economic Empowerment stated, “This was a great day for the community. You saw over 50 professionals who could have been doing any number of things differently on a Saturday come out to pick off trash from the streets and say NO MORE to litter, NO MORE to a lack of pride in their neighborhood, and NO MORE to the mentality of letting someone else do the fighting that should be done by ourselves. We made an impact today…we made a difference today…let’s keep this going through tomorrow and beyond!”

Click here to view video of Ryan Mack interviewing volunteers of the clean up…

About The Optimum Institute of Economic Empowerment

OIEE has a mission to create and implement tangible economic empowerment programs. As a change agent OIEE will develop and administer programs that will focus on teaching and increasing exposure to principles of financial literacy within communities of need.  Working individually and also in collaboration with other community constituents, OIEE believes that individuals, businesses and communities can be educated to understand and adhere to those financial principles which will serve as a solid foundation for future economic growth and sustainability.

By: Anya Parampil

Writer, All About Business

Well, everyone…

Quite the endeavor it is, to match a cliché introduction line to a piece on the World Cup.

It isn’t quite “that time of year again!” if it only takes place every 4. It’s not “that season again!” when, say, Australian fans cheer in winter while their German counterparts celebrate in summer. Hey, when it’s the whole world we’re talking about, everyone from Father Time to Mother Nature is varying just a little. But between attempts to put my finger on a universal time frame, I think I’ve got it…

To read more of this newsletter, click here: http://allaboutbiz.org/blog/soccer-fans-of-the-world-unite-take-over/

by: Roman Johnson

Writer, All About Business

The problem of crime in the ghetto should be everyone’s concern.  This concern includes someone who lives in the gated communities of the suburbs to the actual resident who lives in the frequently roach infested and population over-crowded apartments.  For benevolent or selfish reasons, we should all be concerned because when someone else’s living conditions are in jeopardy, our livelihood could soon also be at risk. How can a country allow millions of our fellow citizens live this way?  Recently, major cities like Memphis and Chicago have drawn national interest due several teenage homicide cases being highlighted.

Growing up in any American ghetto (commonly called “public housing projects”), this is commonplace.  The average teenager can probably give an account of a person who has been killed in their neighborhood in the past 3 months.  Observing the recent violent in surge teenage deaths around Chicago and my hometown, Memphis, we (politicians to public citizens) must be vocal and take steps that will result in a solution!  Daily, our fellow human beings see unreal violence on emotional, spiritual, and physical levels. Politicians often muse that these children and their communities are “troubled” and “ridden with crime” without introspecting the reality that anytime you put individuals in a closed space with little to no material resources there will be crime.

The systematic failure to adequately analyze this multi-dimensional problem and the political crusade called “the War on Crime”   help to solidify the prison system as the last step after graduating from middle/high school for mostly minority urban youth. These individuals are often trying to realize the “American Dream”, a corporate elitist mirage that amounts to little more than crass materialism and a warped capitalism. However, Malcolm X rightly noted that he and everyone else were only products of their societies. In my opinion, Malcolm was saying that if a nation was bloodthirsty and corrupt then they would produce situations where the only reasonable action for anyone to take would be to work against this system by any means.  We as citizens who remain in solidarity with those who live in public housing projects where crime is the norm must go back to these communities and help organize to give the residents a real political voice. We will no longer accept our children being afraid of walking to school in fear of being hurt or killed.

Noted public intellectual, Dr. Cornel West, once stated, “You can’t lead the people if you don’t love the people. You can’t save the people if you won’t serve the people.”  Dr. West’s statement can be applied to our own communities likewise. Moreover, we must realize that we are not necessarily better human beings  because we are more financially able.

Since African-Americans and Latino individuals make up the majority of the numbers of those who live in the ghetto, those of African and Latino descent have a moral obligation to help in every way we can because these are our brothers, mothers, cousins, and nieces who suffer the blunt force of the social misery that is happening presently.  W.E.B. DuBois, the 19^th century spearhead of civil rights for African-Americans, in his writings described the notion of a “Talented Tenth”- the most intellectually, financial able of the African-American race to help the rest of those who did not have the capital (intellectual, financial, etc.) to help themselves.  We should remember that an important fact of DuBois’ belief in the “talented tenth” was that they would return to their communities and help the other ninety percent.

Sadly, however, many who do reach this level never return to their communities because they see no motivation to return. We need to return to our communities because, we are all we have. We do not have the time to waste with false promises of “hope” and “change” because as mentor Martin Luther King Jr. stated “justice delayed too long is justice denied”. June Jordan eloquently declares this idea with the following, “And who will join this standing up/ and the ones who stood without sweet company / will sing and sing/ back into the mountains and/ if necessary / even under the sea: we are the ones we have been waiting for.”  We can stop the crime, appalling under- education, and the fear that thrives in these communities. We are the ones we have been waiting for!

Roman Johnson attends the University of Tennessee, Knoxville majoring in English (pre-law concentration) with a minor in business administration. He is considering a move to Morehouse College in the fall as a rising sophomore. He is preparing himself to become a servant leader in the footsteps of Martin Luther King, W.E.B. DuBois, Huey Newton, Angela Davis, and many other strugglers for human rights. He plans to pursue a career in public service and advocacy after graduating from college. He can be reached at romanjohnson09@hotmail.com

On Saturday June 26, 2010 hip-hop megastar Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson and his G-Unity Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for low-income and underserved communities, hosted a community event dubbed Forever Young, at Baisley Park in Queens, NY. The event brought together children, parents, celebrities and community leaders to focus on healthy living and preventing childhood obesity.

As the Director of the All About Business Youth Empowerment Program, I attended the event to show solidarity amongst fellow community leaders and encourage our young to lead healthy and productive lifestyles, because, the greatest wealth is our health. The Forever Young Event taught children and adolescents the fundamentals of healthy living, through a variety of physical activities and games. Areas in the park were dedicated to sport-like activities such as relay races, batting and tennis clinics, double dutch, and hop scotch, among others. Mr. Jackson’s goal is to spark the interest of children and educate them at the same time in a fun and engaging environment.

Fellow organizations at the event were the Arthur Ashe Foundation, The You Can Go to College Committee, The Nicole Paultre Bell “When Its Real Its Forever” Organization, Waves of Health, All About Business and many more.

Childhood obesity is a serious health issue that affects 1 in 4 New York City children. In properly educating the community and our young on how to combat this epidemic, through these events, countless preventable deaths can be averted and lives will be saved. The Forever Young Event is one of many community initiatives that All About Business is proud to engage in and we will continue to support America’s children and ensure their healthy future.

Many people in this country are not ready yet to purchase their first home (but with proper planning everyone can purchase a home).  However, what about a sofa or a television set?  Are your sites set so low that you feel that you do not have the ability to own your own DVD player?  If the answer is yes, and you have the desire to pay exorbitant interest rates on items that you have yet to even own, then Rent-A-Center has built a business model especially for you.
 
I had to see just how much interest Rent-A-Center charges so I called them myself and acted as if I were a customer wondering about their terms.  I asked how much it would cost to purchase four items which included a regular sofa and love seat set, a leather sofa and love seat set, a 26 inch television set, and a 52 inch television set.  For each I got the price that it would cost to rent it from Rent-A-Center on a weekly basis, how long it would take to own the product, and found the retail price of a similar product from Amazon.com.  The results were amazing and are listed below.

Regular Sofa and Love Seat:

Weekly Payment = $19.99
Retail Value = $900
Weeks Until You Own From Rent-A-Center = 78
Interest Rate = 80%
Interest Paid = $659
Total Paid = $1,559 for a $900 Sofa

Leather Sofa and Love Seat:

Weekly Payment = $30.99
Retail Value = $2,000
Weeks Until You Own From Rent-A-Center = 78
Interest Rate = 26%
Interest Paid = $417
Total Paid = $2,417 for a $2000 Sofa

26 Inch Sony Bravio TV:

Weekly Payment = $17.99
Retail Value = $550
Weeks Until You Own From Rent-A-Center = 104
Interest Rate = 163%
Interest Paid = $1,321
Total Paid = $1,871 for a $550 Television

52 Inch Sony Bravio TV:

Weekly Payment = $59.99
Retail Value = $1900
Weeks Until You Own From Rent-A-Center = 116
Interest Rate = 159%
Interest Paid = $5,059
Total Paid = $6,959 for a $1,900 Television
 

As you can see from the chart there is a clear disadvantage from those who choose the Rent-A-Center way versus those who choose to be prudent about how they purchase items for their house.  If you take the 52-inch Sony Bravio television, which retails for $1900, one could use the $59.99 that he/she would be giving to RAC to purchase the product and putting it into a savings account.  Doing it the smart way would allow you to purchase this TV in just 31 weeks.  However, through RAC you would be paying on that TV for a total of 116 weeks before you actually own it.  Over that time period you would pay a total of $6,959.  When you subtract the total paid ($6,959) from the retail value of the TV ($1900) I calculated that you would have paid over $5000 in interest at a rate of 159%.  Being prudent saves you 85 weeks of payments and over $5000 that you could have used to put towards retirement, a new home, a business, or another more meaningful use.  Doing it the smart way you could almost purchase 4 TVs of an equivalent price in the time that it takes you to purchase just one TV doing it the RAC way.

If you ever feel the urge to ever use Rent-A-Center please consider paying a visit to your local Salvation Army and purchasing a temporary inexpensive piece of furniture.  The money that you would be paying to RAC for paying the weekly rental payments deposit in a savings account until you can purchase the furniture or product that you truly wanted for your home. I remember growing up when we had the same black and white TV, with no channel turning knobs (we needed to use pliers), and no antenna (we needed to use the wire clothing hanger to act as rabbit ears to get good reception) for years while many of my friends had the more updated color television sets. My mother didn’t want to purchase a LUXURY ITEM such as a new color television until all of our NECESITIES were provided for which placed a TV as a very low priority in our household! If it worked for her, it will work for you!

By: Ernst Ducena

Writer, All About Business

There are many factors that can affect one’s life chances, opportunities, and success.  Among many, some often cited factors are education, work ethic, race and sometimes even pure luck.  In addition, recent research has shown there is a strong link between the economic success of parents and that of their children.  A parent’s income, education, asset owning propensity, gifts and expected bequests to their children explain a large part of the economic success of future generations.  The significance of building and transferring wealth is not at all surprising; wealth typically allows for better access to the best education and more influential social circles—factors that help facilitate success.  The suggestion is, then, even before bequests, our success in building wealth significantly affects the economic prospects of future generations.

Before we can expect to see more intergenerational wealth transferring, however, we must first commit ourselves to building our wealth.  According to a study by the Center on Wealth and Philanthropy, in 2001, African American households made up 12.4% of all households in the U.S. but owned only 2.5% of aggregate household wealth.  While African American households have seen growth in wealth from 1992 to 2001, the rate of growth was half of that of all households.

Additionally, there is a wide, and spreading, disparity in wealth between whites and minorities.  This disparity persists even when income is controlled for—on average, blacks have $56,000 less in wealth than their white counterparts with the same or similar income.  The reasons for this include a significant increase in debt among African Americans and persistent discrimination in housing, credit, and labor markets.  Because of the low levels of wealth in the African American community, the study by the Center on Wealth and Philanthropy estimates that, if the current trends continue, by 2055 African Americans will account for less than 2.5% of all wealth transfers, even though African Americans make up close to 13% of the population.

Despite all of this, it is important to keep in mind that these numbers only represent a trend and trends can, and do, frequently change.  Other than policy issues to address discrimination against minority groups, there are many things we can do to help close the wealth gap.  For example African American enrollment and graduation rates have been increasing, and as a result, so has income.  Although increased income does not necessarily lead to increased wealth, increased income, at least, provides increased ability to build wealth.

While continuing to increase our income levels, African Americans should also focus on wealth building strategies, starting with financial literacy.  Sound financial literacy plays an important role in helping to develop good money management practices—the foundation for successful wealth building.  Beyond effective money management, African Americans should also focus on becoming investors and owning assets that appreciate in value.  Although the stock market has given us plenty to be skeptical about following the recent financial crisis, it remains one of the best avenues for owning appreciable assets in the long run.  Getting involved in the stock market can be done in many different ways, from having a brokerage account, owning a retirement plan such as a 401(k), or even a college savings plans.

Although African Americans have many challenges to overcome, some of which may require changes in policy, long-term, intergenerational economic success can be achieved by continuing to shrink the income gap, enhancing our financial literacy, and investing in appreciable assets.  By building and transferring our wealth, we build a foundation for a legacy of success for which future generations will thank us.

Ernst Ducena holds bachelor degrees in French and Psychology and a master’s degree in Psychology.  Upon graduation, Ernst worked as a social services professional before transitioning into the field of financial services.  Ernst currently holds a General Securities Representative (Series 7) license.

Written By Ryan Mack, President of Optimum

I remember while growing up, like many youth in their teen years, my mother used to have to continuously remind me to pick up after myself. I would sneak a snack to eat in the living room on the sofa and many times would forget to clean up the wrapper that remained after my treat was finished. I knew better, but never really thought about it until my mother came home, saw the remains of my small meal, and let me have it!

My mother was not unlike other parents and homeowners who loved to make sure that her property remained clean and in order. To her, leaving tras lying around in the home represented a sign of irresponsibility, a disregard of the mess and clutter that it causes, and a lack of pride and respect for the home. 

One day I was walking down the street and saw a young man drinking a bottle of soda. After finishing his drink he immediately threw the soda on the sidewalk and continued walking. I should have said something, but I held my tongue and simply picked up the bottle from the ground. At that moment, I recalled upon how my mother must have felt to see someone having so much disregard and apathy. I felt the same way about his neglect in caring for our community as my mother when I seemed to place such low regard on the house in which we lived.

Trash on the streets, litter, impacts the community in many negative economic ways. Small businesses have to pay thousands of dollars per year in fines to clean up the trash that they didn’t create. Individuals looking to purchase property or move into a community, or businesses looking to build in a community, pay close attention to the cleanliness of the streets before they make their decision. Would you want to buy a home on a street filled with trash or start a business on a street that looks filthy? Their decision to not purchase a home or build their business impacts property values in the community.

Of course we can remind others that we pay taxes to hire workers to keep the streets clean, or we need more trash receptacles in our neighborhoods…both of which are entirely true. However, the root of the problem lies within the people! We wouldn’t need to pay such high taxes on street clean up or wouldn’t need as many additional trash receptacles if people would just not litter as much!

So I would like to address the root of the problem. If you have a piece of trash please throw it away in the proper place! This consists of plates, cans, wrappers, failed lotto tickets (the irony in this is that you pay $1 to lose the lotto just to pay more because you add to the community trash that your taxes have to pay to clean up), gum, boxes, napkins, and even spit (it is disgusting that every two feet I have to watch to not step in a glob of spit because someone decided to have a habit of continuously spitting on the ground). We need to treat our community the same way that most of us treat our living room floor. 

This is why On July 10^th, as small businesses have become increasingly “taxed” by sanitation fines, and property values are hindered because of litter-filled sidewalks, The Optimum Institute of Economic Empowerment, Inc. has decided to take a stand against filthy streets by organizing a full day to pick up trash off of Fulton Street in Brooklyn, New York.

Even though my taxes pay for other community organizations to clean up the streets, there is nothing like creating a sense of ownership in the community to get community residents out for a day to help clean up their streets. My grandfather could have paid to get someone to cut his grass, but he made me and my brother get out there with him to keep his 2 acres cut, trimmed, and free of weeds.  I would never have thrown any trash on his lawn because I put in too much work keep it clean. The same applies for the residents of any neighborhood who take part in cleaning the streets.

Below is a video that describes the importance of the initiative. You will hear directly from business owners how litter gives them such a headache and impacts their bottom line. This initiative cost nothing to organize but time and should be replicated across the country by those who care about the economic impact of litter in their community.

Click here to see video of the Ryan Mack and Kareem Hertzog interviewing small business owners about the headaches caused by litter…

 Click here to see Ryan Mack and Kareem Hertzog interviewing other supporters of the cleanup drive…