lifeskills 411

I learned a very important lesson about investing and about saving money:

I was married at 25 for about 9 years. My husband was not a saver nor very good at handling our finances. I did manage to secretly save and invest 4-10k in various mutual funds at various time during our marriage but by the time we were divorced I was just about penniless.

Starting over at 35 was a challenge but once I started healing emotionally I knew I needed to invest because I now had just one income – mine. I decided to again invest in mutual funds because I felt safe there and when I got up the nerve real estate because as a loan officer for years and saw many of my clients achieve financial freedom with rental property.

My first home as a divorced woman was a foreclosure in Stockton California I bought for about 215k which I later sold for $275,000. After that I purchased 2 more homes which both doubled earning me over $600,000 in equity. The wealth I made came in very handy when I was laid off from my job and needed to find a way to survive.

With out this equity I would have been in financial ruin because the real estate market I had worked in for over 20 years crumbled before my eyes and I no longer could work in that field.

With no other skills getting a new job with a paycheck was a challenge and I was faced with living over 14 months with no income and I had plenty to live on- thank God!

I share this story to show the public that many women will face divorces, job challenges or just unforeseen circumstances and if you don’t have any savings or investment vehicles you can be in dire straits.

I support Lifeskills 411 because they teach our youth the necessary things they need to know in life such as financial literacy, budgeting, positive relationships and so forth. I wish I would have had lifeskills 411 growing up I probably would never have made all the mistakes I did.

I urge you to attend our upcoming gala on December 8th from 6pm- 8pm at the Emeryville Hilton so you can learn how you can help our youth… It Takes YOU!
Please care, be counted and be there on Saturday December 8th from 6pm - 8 pm.
I believe women need to learn about finances and investing earlier in life and it starts at home but when home fail, school or program such as lifeskills 411 can give youth the information to lead better adult lives.

Hello Everyone, I am not sure If you had a chance to read this article so I re posted it because we have our Gala pending on December 8th and it is important we remember that educators are in support and recognizing what Michael E. Parker is doing:

Posted: December 7, 2006
Author: Elizabeth Bucceri
Source: EdCal

The achievement gap is one of the greatest challenges facing public education today. While there is much debate over exactly how to close it, one team of young entrepreneurs believes the key is providing at-risk students with basic life skills.

Developed by Michael Parker, a former at-risk student himself, lifeskills 411 works directly with schools to provide courses in a number of essential skills needed to succeed in school and life. Classes, which are aimed at junior high through college-age students, cover such key skills as positive thinking, discipline, decision making, time management, communication, goal setting and many more.

Growing up in inner city Rich?mond, Parker was surrounded by drugs and crime and faced many obstacles to success. He managed to overcome the challenges, earning a bachelor’s degree in purchasing and operations and a master’s in management science. He has since worked for Toyota Motor Corporation and as an instructor at California State University, East Bay. Recently, he received the East Bay Business Times “40 Under 40” award.

Now, Parker said, he wants to give students just like him the opportunities he never had.

“I could have been another statistic,” Parker said. “I consider myself blessed to have risen above that. Now I try to give back and help the kid that was just like me.”

Thus, lifeskills 411 was born. The program has three components: school partnerships, customized on-campus seminars delivered by trained lifeskills 411 faculty; academies, community-based seminars, on-site counseling and career placement; and events, informational presentations featuring testimonials and motivational speeches.

There are many enrichment programs out there. What sets lifeskills 411 apart is that rather than a quick shot in the arm, it provides follow-through, including ongoing communication and partnerships with school administrators, teachers and parents, Parker said.

Part of the program’s success is due to the fact that Parker can relate to at-risk students. He knows how they think and is familiar with the challenges that hold them back, and knows exactly what they need to start out on the path to change.

“I wanted to build a program that would have benefited me when I was in school and didn’t have a lot of opportunities,” he said. “I want to show them what they can do. Things they can see and feel and touch today.”

Like many students today, Parker himself was a victim of his own negative mindset, created by an environment of violence and hopelessness. The key is to expose this and teach young people they have the power to change the way they think, and therefore the way they achieve.

“Your mindset keeps you in your own boundaries to achievement,” Parker said. “If you teach a mindset to achieve, you can change the way you think and you won’t be a ‘victim’ anymore.”

Parker’s youth is no doubt an asset to the program as well. Having been out of high school less than 15 years, he is still closely connected to the high school experience, calling himself more of a “big brother” than a “father figure.”

“I have not forgotten who I am or where I came from,” Parker said.

The benefit of lifeskills 411 is twofold. Not only do students learn the practical skills they need, they see mentors – people just like them who are successful entrepreneurs. Parker is also president and CEO of the lifeskills 411 mother company, Stellar Enterprises, a professional services firm that also comprises real estate, financial services, business management, clothing and other businesses.

“It’s a strong network of businesses,” Parker said. “It’s not just ‘here’s what you can do one day’ but ‘here’s what we’ve already done. Look at what can happen. We were just like you.’”

Lifeskills 411 executive director Cory Haynes – a former student of ACSA Assistant Executive Director Joe Jones – also has a background to which many struggling students can relate. The son of immigrant parents, he quickly learned that education was the pathway to realizing the American dream. Haynes earned a bachelor’s degree in political economies of industrial societies from UC Berkeley and worked as a successful consultant before realizing there were more meaningful pursuits out there.

“You achieve a certain level of success and begin to look around and ask, ‘who did I impact? Did I just impact my own bank account?’”

Haynes, who is also executive project manager and business development officer for Stellar Enterprises, said the bottom line is lifeskills 411 teaches young people the skills they need to tear down the barriers that hold them back, which will ultimately lead to the closing of the achievement gap.

“The state recognizes there’s a gap. The federal government recognizes there’s a gap. The question is, how do you provide the resources to fill that gap?” he said.

For more information on lifeskills 411, visit the Web at www.lifeskills411.org.

Association of California School Administrators 1029 J Street, Suite 500 Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: 916.444.3216 | Toll-Free: 800.890.0325 | Fax: 916.444.3739 | contact us

Hey Everyone,

Just wanted to know what you think about Tyler Perry and his works. We are looking for a host for our Gala and some up coming events and I just wanted to know who you feel would be the best host for our events.

For those of you who don’t know who Tyler Perry is here is a clip about him from his website:

Tyler Perry ? writer, producer, director, and actor extraordinaire ? went from the poverty-stricken streets of New Orleans to a multimillion-dollar mansion outside Atlanta. But the real story is that of his journey from homelessness to bliss. Perry’s rags-to-riches tale is astonishing and inspirational. His younger days were troubled, and he suffered from endless abuse growing up. The dejection and rejection caused Perry to do some soul-searching as an adult. In 1992, in an effort to find catharsis for his own childhood pain, and inspired by Oprah Winfrey to put it down on paper, he wrote a series of letters to himself. Those letters would be transformed into his first hit musical, “I Know I’ve Been Changed.” Perry’s humble spirit and his faith in God kept him focused. He believed that God was calling him to share his story with as many people as possible so that he might help others. Perry learned real forgiveness, deep down inside–a forgiveness that leads to success in the soul. He chose the stage life as a vehicle, and this new life has been a learning process, full of hard work. But now Perry has reached out to millions across the country and in doing so has tremendously altered how people perceive and attend urban theater.

I want to hear what you think. I saw clips on Oprah’s website and I thought it was very interesting that a young girl from Holland was discovered by Justin Timberlake singing on You Tube.

Michael E. Parker the CEO and Founder of Lifeskills 411 has created a more focused version of You Tube specifically for business owners and entrepreneurs who don’t really want to see home videos but videos that can educate, inform and help them boost sales with very little costs.

So if you want to see videos of a singing cat lip syncing in the bathroom of a New York apartment window go to You Tube but if you want serious tips for small business owners and entrepreneurs who want to be successful check out CEO Michael E. Parker and StellarVision.TV. ; seriously both are great resources.

Now speaking of successful we have to give a “Lifeskills 411″ Shout Out to Chad Hurley and Steve Chen, founders of You Tube who were recently achieved the pinnacle of success by being on Oprah. They say that they were inspired during a dinner party at Steve’s San Francisco home to share videos online.

For those of you who are not Internet savvy You Tube is a video-sharing website where anyone can post a video and become world-famous overnight. From science experiments and music videos to adorable animals and laughing babies, more than 200 million videos are watched on YouTube every single day.