The Smarmy Carny

One Economy's The Beehive offers low-income people and families plenty of information on various categories. One of those categories is Money.

Since this is a fairly large section, The Beehive's Money category is split out into a quite a few various subsections:

• Taxes
• Saving & Investing
• Banks & Credit Unions
• Budgeting
• Loans
• Credit & Debt
• 401Ks and Retirement
• Sending Money
• Paying Bills
• Child Support
• Becoming a Homeowner

The Money section of The Beehive will show low-income users how to create a budget, open a checking account, send money to people, pay bills, collect child support, and obtain a credit report. One entire section explains how to make sure you are getting all the credits you qualify for on your taxes and even allows those earning under $40,000 a year to file their taxes online for free. The Beehive will also explain the process of how to buy a home or get a loan.

This section really does cover a wealth of information. (Yes, pun intended.)

In 2004, One Economy launched the Bring IT Home campaign, which has brought broadband Internet access into the homes of 200,000 low-income individuals.

One Economy accomplished this task by pushing to change affordable housing policies so that residents there could have low-cost or no-cost broadband in their home. This campaign resulted in 42 states and the District of Columbia changing their housing policies.

As I mentioned previously, many charities simply give cheap computers to low-income families and let them fend for themselves. If a family cannot afford a $300 computer, what's the chance they will be able to pay the monthly cost of broadband internet? This is why One Economy impresses me — they don't look at the obvious solutions, but instead they attack the real problems to create effective solutions.

Another program that One Economy Corporation uses to reach low-income communities is Digital Connectors.

Digital Connectors are young people, ages 14 to 21, who accelerate the use of technology in a region by providing training and support to members of their communities. Usually the program runs for up to eight weeks during summer vacation, though some programs vary from this schedule.

Since younger people have grown up around much more technology than the older generations, these young people are an obvious method for pushing technology awareness and education out. 150 Digital Connectors in 10 cities provided technology training and support to more than 3,000 families with an emphasis on basic computer and Internet use and guided instruction on the Beehive.

Digital Connectors are rewarded with stipends or personal computers in exchange for their services to their community.

The Beehive is the flagship program of One Economy Corporation.

The Beehive offers information on various topics including Money, Health & Fitness, School, Jobs & Careers, Starting & Owning a Business, Family, Emergencies, and Insurance. While these might seem like "obvious" pieces of information, an isolated, low-income person may not know how to go about obtaining a credit report, picking out affordable insurance, performing an online job search, or saving for retirement. The site is not only multi-lingual, it's written in language that low-literacy individuals should be able to more easily understand. I plan on writing more about each of these sections of the website throughout the later hours of Blogathon.

Since its launch six years ago in 2001, the Beehive has been visited over 10.7 million times. What are people getting help with when they visit The Beehive? By the end of 2006:

• 400,000 got help finding and evaluating child care
• 315,000 high-school students found homework help
• 325,000 people learned how to plan a family budget
• 650,000 people learned how to file for unemployment benefits
• Income tax filers got $1.8 million in refunds on their 2006 income tax returns

Please note: When you first visit The Beehive, it will ask you to select a region. If you don't see your municipality (mostly only major cities are listed), just click National Beehive and begin enjoying the site. If you do see your local community listed, you're in great luck, because you'll find even more information tailored just for you!

This year, I am participating in Blogathon to support One Economy Corporation.

One Economy is a 501(c)(3) charity that attempts to maximize the potential of technology to help low-income people improve their lives and enter the economic mainstream. What does that mean? Basically, One Economy tries to bring technology to low-income families who cannot afford technology in the Internet Age. Whereas many charities will give away computers to low-income families, One Economy goes further than that. Instead of simply supplying hardware, One Economy has programs that help low-income people use that technology.

One Economy has several programs that help bridge the technology gap. I will be discussing these programs in detail throughout the Blogathon, but here's a brief summary of some of the larger programs:

• One Economy's flagship program is The Beehive, a multilingual web portal that provides web-based tools and information about financial services, education, jobs, health care, and family.
• The Bring IT Home campaign has brought broadband Internet access into the homes of 200,000 low-income individuals.
• Their Digital Connectors program develops technology skills in people ages 14 - 21 to turn them into "technology ambassadors" who motivate others to connect to the internet.
• The 24/7Townhall is a social media website focused on helping technologically-isolated internet users increase their awareness of and engagement in important social, political, and economic issues.
• ZipRoad, opening in August 2007 (so bookmark it!), is an education-related website that is designed to enable parents and
  caregivers to make informed decisions about their children's education and learning. It is aimed at low-income, low-literacy parents but should be useful to everyone!

One Economy is really quite a unique charity, and that's why I chose it. Please consider sponsoring me for the Blogathon. For more information on how to do that, check out my Blogathon page.

Want to win a Macy's shopping spree? Simply protest Macy's!

Max Goodlet learned that there's serious money to be made by protesting Macy's — so long as you don't mind spending your winnings at Macy's.

Marshall Field's in Chicago was taken over and renamed to Macy's in September. Marshall Field's was considered by many Chicagoans to be one of the city's historic traditions, so a number of people came to protest the renaming and opening of Macy's.

Max Goodlet stood in front of the store to protest Macy's, along with many other people who were there to protest or to attend the store's grand opening. Goodlet ended up winning a $1,000 Macy's gift card. By the time reporters caught up with him, the anti-Macy's message had been replaced with a message of appreciation. He was bogged down with merchandise, waiting for family to help him carry his bags.

Another protester,Helen Bezanes, claimed her $10 Macy's gift card, but she proffered the lame note that she was shopping "under duress."

Next time a Chicago store changes its name, protesters will brandish signs stating "Don't change the name — but if you do, give us free stuff while you're at it."

For the latest Black Friday posts, check out blackfriday.smarmycarny.com

Black Friday Deals!

Black Friday @ GottaDeal is up and running again for this year's Black Friday season! In the spirit of the season kicking off, I'm answering a few questions about Black Friday and GottaDeal. To keep up on my Black Friday posts, just keep an eye on the Black Friday category.

When is Black Friday?

Black Friday is always the day after Thanksgiving. In 2006, that will be Friday, November 24.

What is Black Friday?

Sales, sales, and more sales! It's the day to completely clean up on thousands of items. Save hundreds of dollars on large ticket items like computers and HDTVs. Get smaller items completely free. Jaw-dropping savings all over the place. It's the day to buy every single Christmas present for your entire family.

Of course, it's not called "Black" Friday because it's depressing, but because business often move from losses (red) to gains (black) for the year on this day. Though many people refer to this day as "the biggest shopping day of the year," this is not the case. The weekends preceding Christmas, along with Christmas Eve, top Black Friday in terms of sales. Black Friday is, however, the busiest day of the year as far as the number of shoppers.

How do you find out about Black Friday deals?

By far, the best place to find out about Black Friday before the deals are published is via GottaDeal.com's Black Friday site and forum. In addition, you'll want to buy the newspaper on Thanksgiving to get all the Black Friday inserts to make sure you're not missing any deals.

Why aren't there any ads posted yet?

If you're reading this any other month than October or November, it's because the ads are usually posted some time near the end of October. If you're really drooling for the information as soon as it's available, keep a close eye on the GottaDeal Black Friday forums for the information first. It's not as pretty when it first shows up, but you're getting the scoop! If you really just want an idea of what types of deals you can look forward to seeing, check out the thread outlining Black Friday deals since 2003. (Last year, GottaDeal posted deals for the following stores: Wal-Mart, Toys 'R' Us, CompUSA, Best Buy, K-mart, Sears, RadioShack, Costco, and many more!)

Why GottaDeal?

Whether it be GottaDeal's Black Friday page or the GottaDeal forums, the site is by far the Black Friday site. GottaDeal hosts most of the Black Friday ads (including scans of many of the ads) before anyone else. Right on the Black Friday page will be a list of store icons that will link to Black Friday deals as they pop up. Of course, you can also sign up for periodic e-mail alerts to keep up on the developments as Black Friday approaches.

GottaDeal also offer a few nice features on their Black Friday site. My favorite feature is the Black Friday Shopping List. Registered users can select Black Friday items from a list and add them to a personalized shopping list.

The forums are also an invaluable tool for communicating with others about deals and details. The community is quite helpful, and this year brings a better, easier to navigate layout in the Black Friday forums. Not only do the new ads show up here first, the community also scrounges for additional coupons both online and offline to increase your discounts and savings. Post a list of items you're looking to purchase on Black Friday and where you're headed, and someone might suggest which stores to hit first, or maybe even point out a better deal at a different store. Additionally, there is a Black Friday Basics section to answer FAQs like "Can I price match BF items?" and "Can I get BF deals online?"