---Hugh Price to leave National Urban League---
Hugh Price has informed the board of trustees of the National Urban League that he will step down as president and chief executive officer by April of next year, according to Michael J. Critelli, chairman of the League's board of trustees and CEO of Pitney Bowes Inc. Price, who has served in the position since July 1994, said in a letter to the League's board, "There is never a good time to leave the job of a lifetime. But after nearly nine rewarding and intense years, I think it is time for me to seek a new professional challenge and for the board to enlist fresh leadership for the 21st century." Critelli, noting the stability and vitality of the 93-year-old League said, "We have benefited immensely from Hugh's leadership. Yet, in vibrant and venerable organizations like the League, transitions are to be expected and can help prepare the organization for even greater future success." Talking to NPR's Tavis Smiley about the timing of this announcement and the fate of the Black community following Tuesday's election Price said, "this generation, your generation, which was not reared in struggle, reared in denial -- being told you can't live here, you can't go to school there, you can't blah, blah, blah, blah -- now has to assume responsibility for the struggle. So I think that in fact we need even more twenty-first century, forward-looking thinking. I was sort of a transitional figure from one century to the next. But looking ahead we have to come to terms with the realities we face. We've got to develop strategies that are rooted there. And we've got to figure out how to mobilize people, not mobilize people the way we used to 40 years ago."

---Homebuying trends among immigrants---
The National Association of Realtors released a report, "Housing Opportunities in the Foreign-Born Market," that examines the characteristics of America's immigrants and how these characteristics affect their decision to buy a home in the United States. Immigrants have contributed to one-third of the household growth in the U.S. since 1995, which has helped sustain the robust residential housing market as well as the demand for commercial real estate as immigrants sell goods and services in shopping centers, manufacture products, operate warehouses and use office space. Among the report's findings:
(1) Homeownership rates for older immigrant households who have been in the United States for 20 years match or even surpass those of native-born households.
(2) Immigrants from Latin America and Africa are more likely to be rental households and have homeownership rates that are below the average for foreign-born households because they are likely to be younger or earning a lower median income.
(3) The concentration of immigrants in metropolitan areas with high housing costs contributes to their lower homeownership attainment. Immigrants tend to cluster in a few states -- 71 percent of all new immigrants settled in six states (California, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New York and Texas).

---Muslim files discrimination suit against Marriott---
A Virginia Muslim has filed suit against Marriott International and the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company alleging he was discriminated against because of his religion and ethnicity. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, alleges that coworkers and management created a hostile work environment, and cited numerous incidents of verbal harassment, threats and physical intimidation. The plaintiff, who began working as a cook at the Ritz Carlton in Washington, D.C., in March of this year, says anti-Muslim comments made by coworkers in front of a manager were ignored. In one instance, the Muslim employee claims several coworkers called him "the suicide bomber" and often asked him if he had attended flight school "like the hijackers." "It is unfortunate that the Ritz-Carlton has not fulfilled its basic obligation to ensure a work environment free of racial and religious hostility," said Council on American Islamic Relations' Civil Rights Manager Joshua Salaam. Salaam added that Marriott must live up to its commitment to workplace diversity that states: "It [diversity] is the only way to attract, develop and retain the very best talent available." Marriott International is the world's leading lodging company, with some 2,600 owned or franchised properties in 65 countries.

---Harlem, USA: MOBE launches Business and Brand Building Clinic---The lists of presenters included some of the leading brand builders and experts in multicultural markets. Russell Simmons, creator of Phat Farm and Def Jam brands made time following the services of Jason "Jam Master Jay" Mizzell to participate with a special session on brand building after conference participants attended one of the hottest new additions to Broadway --- Simmons' Def Poetry Jam on Broadway. All converged for the MOBE (Marketing Opportunities in Business and Entertainment) Business & Brand Clinic, November 3-5 at Harlem's Magic Johnson Theater. "This new Business & Branding Clinic was created to ensure success in a down economy and to add direction, ideas and valuable business contacts to the arsenal of resources needed to succeed in such a climate," stated Yvette Moyo, MOBE co-founder. Partner Kofi Moyo agrees, "With the leading innovators in ethnic marketing, we maintain our position as innovators, but we also provide what's needed because we market our own products and events, contrary to others in the market who simple manage conferences." The next MOBE Conference, the MOBE Masters Series, will be held April 4-9 at the Roney Palace Hotel in Miami, Florida. Registrations are available at a 30% discount for those who commit within the next few weeks. To register, visit www. mobe.com.

---Equal Sweetener announces national recipe contest with $10,000 Grand Prize---Does your sweet potato pie make your family beg for more? Is your cheesecake the talk of the town? Then use your talents in the kitchen to win $10,000 with the Make It With Equal Recipe Contest. Send in your best recipes for desserts, meals, beverages or other delicious creations for a chance to win cash prizes. Your recipes can earn you one of four cash prizes, which include: a grand prize of $10,000, first place prize of $3,000, second place prize of $1,500 and third place prize of $500. You may enter as many times as you like. Recipes must use Equal sweetener instead of table sugar. Entries will be judged based on taste and originality. Mail in your entry by neatly writing or typing your recipe on one side of 8 ½" X 11" sheet of paper, along with your name, address, city, state, zip code, daytime and evening telephone number on a 3" x 5" card to: Make It With Equal Recipe Contest, c/o Flowers Communications Group, 542 South Dearborn Street, Suite 1150, Chicago, IL 60605. Entries are due by December 1, 2002. For more information, contact Barbara Thompson, via email bthompson@flowerscomm.com or phone, (312) 986-1255.

---Call for nominations: The Network Journal's 25 Influential Black Women in Business Awards---Women wishing to be considered for The Network Journal's Influential Black Women in Business Awards can nominate themselves or be nominated by others. The awards are open to women who are business owners, entrepreneurs or those holding a management or supervisory positions with a company. The deadline for entries is Friday, December 6, 2002. Send your name, title, company, address, city, state, zip, telephone, fax, years in business or length of employment, along with a brief statement outlining why the individual deserves the award to editors@tnj.com.

---Rev. Medgar L. Reid appointed to Billionaire Network---
The Rev. Medgar LePratt Reid has been appointed Special Agent for Relationship Development on behalf of Mr. Gabor Sandor Acs, a Hungarian-born multi-billionaire, to the Billionaire Network. Rev. Reid is the first African American appointed and initiated into this powerful and prestigious position in the Billionaire Network and their affiliated association's 50 year history. His responsibilities will include: being a conduit for global projects needing $300 million to $2 billion in funding, networking with other billionaires and their affiliates for global projects, providing on-line private consultation to wealthy investors, foreign governments and multi-national corporations. His new office is in Towson, Maryland.

---National contribution supports Latinos---
The Hispanic Scholarship Fund (HSF) has received a two-year, $1.5 million grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation of Battle Creek, Michigan, to increase outreach in targeted areas throughout the country. This is HSF's first grant earmarked specifically to support the organization's new regional development and community awareness initiatives. Sara Martinez Tucker, HSF president and chief executive officer, said the Kellogg Foundation grant will provide critical funding to develop regional offices in key areas around the country, such as California, Texas, New York and Illinois. Martinez Tucker noted that currently less than 10 percent of Hispanics graduate from four-year colleges. That percentage of graduation is one of the lowest college completion rates of any racial or ethnic group. As the nation's leading provider of college scholarships to Hispanic Americans. HSF has a goal to double the percentage of Hispanics earning college degrees to 18 percent by 2010.

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