Recession Strongly Affects African Americans

Improve Your Situation

While some African Americans may have the luxury of friends and family to help, others may not be so fortunate. Here are a few potential strategies that can help you improve your financial situation and turn things around.

• Use benefit programs. Explore what public and private benefit programs exist that can help you weather this financial storm. You may qualify for benefits to help to pay for food, utilities, health care, and medicine with Benefits QuickLINK, our easy online screening tool.
• Cut costs. Look for ways to cut costs and you could save hundreds of dollars a month.  Cut your spending and stick to a budget before tapping into your retirement savings.

• Seek financial information. Investigate what additional resourcesmay be available. Use these resources to build financial security. While a number of websites offer good financial information, many African Americans age 45+ are not taking advantage of them.  According to the AARP survey, only one in 10 (11 percent) consulted online resources about financial planning.  

• Enhance job skills Learn more about AARP job fairs, the National Employer Team, and the AARP Foundation WorkSearch program. African Americans studied were more likely than the general population to enhance job skills and career training.  Thirteen percent have enrolled in training to qualify for different types of job, and 18 percent have attended job fairs to enhance their career orjob search efforts. 

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