Home Foreclosure Tour Offers Free Resources As the United States economy struggles to recover from paralyzing financial woes, a spike in home foreclosures have left many working class Americans homeless or drifting between temporary shelters. The national foreclosure rate rocketed 18% in May compared with the same time last year, according to RealtyTrac, a data service tracking U.S. home foreclosures. The mortgage crisis has impacted African American and other ethnic communities severely, says Marc Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League (NUL), an advocacy group for African Americans. NUL partnered up with civic groups, the National Council of La Raza, and the National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development, to form Alliance for Stabilizing our Communities. With a $2.5 million grant from Bank of America, the organizations are hosting nationwide fairs for homeowners at risk of foreclosure. The fairs, which run through June and July, include one-on-one legal and mortgage help and workshops. "We feel that the African American, Latino and Asian American communities have quite a bit in common in sense they have borne a disproportionate brunt of the subprime crisis,†Morial says. "We wanted to try to work together in an effort to help people who are losing their home.†NUL has already completed fairs in Chicago and Dallas as part of its National Economic Empowerment Tour and will head to Los Angeles on June 27, Washington D.C. July 11 and Chicago July 26. Click here for more information about the fairs. Homeowners planning to attend should bring: --Current pay stubs (within the last 30 days) --2007 and 2008 income-tax returns --Three months of bank statements --Household expense budget --Copy of closing documents and most recent correspondence from your mortgage company --Most recent property-insurance and mortgage statements - Renita Burns Customers Rate White Male Employees Higher in Surveys, Study Finds A University of Wisconson study found that customers show consistent bias in favor of white men in customer satisfaction surveys. "The results suggest that the customer is always wrong,†says David Hekman, assistant professor in the Sheldon B. Lubar School of Business at the University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee. Hekman and colleagues at four other North American business schools tested customer bias in three different studies. One study showed each participant video featuring actors who played the scripted role of an employee helping a customer in a university bookstore. The employee in the video was either a black male, a white female, or a white male; however from video to video the store background, lighting, and camera angle was held constant. Participants were to rate the employee as if they were the customer. Those viewing the white male not only reported being 19% more satisfied with the employee's performance, but also they were more satisfied with the store's cleanliness and appearance, according to a press release. Forty-five percent of participants were women and 41% were nonwhite, says Hekman. "The results suggest that customers think white men are more valuable than women and minorities, even when they all perform equally well,†said Hekman. The researchers also reported similar findings after examining less controlled situations involving more than 10,000 patient satisfaction ratings of primary care physicians at a large health maintenance organization. Patients who received emails from their doctor were more satisfied with their doctor's competence and approachability, but only if the doctor was a white man. Hekman says that these findings might explain why women and nonwhites make 25% less than their male and white counterparts in equivalent jobs. Over 60% of employees have at least some of their pay directly linked to customer satisfaction surveys. "Hopefully customers will start looking at employee behaviors, rather than employee gender and race to determine their satisfaction level,†says Hekman. The authors of the study say that customer surveys are anonymous judgments by untrained raters that usually lack an evaluation standard. They went on to say that anonymity does not motivate raters to reduce bias. Hekman recommends that employers make sure that customer satisfaction surveys are not anonymous and that they target specific employee behaviors. --Marcia A. Wade GlobalHue Has Two New Hires GlobalHue, (No. 1 on the B.E. Advertising Agencies list with $ 349.5 million in billings), has appointed Najoh Tita-Reid as senior vice president, group account director, of GlobalHue Africanic, and Damien Reid (no relation) as vice president, account director, of GlobalHue Africanic. Both the new hires will be based at the company's New York office. "We're excited to welcome these latest additions to the GlobalHue Africanic team," said Allen Pugh, chairman of GlobalHue Africanic. "I know they will add immediate value to our teams and amplify our overall client service capabilities. At GlobalHue, every new hire means that we are able to strengthen our ability to help our clients gain meaningful results in all of their multicultural marketing programs." Tita-Reid comes to GlobalHue Africanic after having worked at Procter & Gamble for 15 years, responsible for African American marketing, external advertising agencies, cross-category multicultural marketing strategy and multicultural marketing capability. She developed Procter & Gamble's "My Black is Beautiful" campaign, which was awarded the " Mosaic Multicultural Campaign of the Year" in 2008. During her time with the company, Tita-Reid also was the brand manager for several billion-dollar brands, including Always, Tampax, Luvs, and Global Pampers. In her new role at GlobalHue Africanic, the Spelman College graduate will manage multiple account teams, and will contribute to senior management, operations, and business development activities. Damien Reid has worked for a variety of clients, including Verizon, American Express, Celebrex, Hyatt Hotels. Before joining GlobalHue Africanic, the Temple University alumnus was vice president at advertising agency BBDO NY, where he was responsible for consumer branding and advertising for the National Football League and Mars Snackfoods. In his new role at GlobalHue Africanic, he will be responsible for strategic planning related to new business projects and will be a leader on the Verizon teams. --Janell Hazelwood