Last week the Census Bureau in its annual report appeared to state the obvious, the poverty rate rose in 2009.

The report stated that the ranks of the working-age poor climbed to the highest level since the 1960s as millions of people lost their jobs due to the recession.

The line that sticks out most to everyone paying attention is that, "one in seven Americans is living in poverty."

The number of whites in poverty rose from 8.6 percent to 9.4 percent.

The number of Hispanics in poverty increased from 23.2 percent to 25.3.

For Blacks it increased from 24.7 percent to 25.8 percent. That is one in four!

Blacks are nearly 3 times the poverty rate than whites... 13 or 14 percent of the population yet 3 times the poverty rate.

Historically, Black people have been the "last hired and first fired". So whatever policies are initiated it would take years if not decades to have any impact on the millions of black people who are out of work and struggling below the poverty line.

Last week, we spoke about how Black entrepreneurship and Black Self-Help Economics can have a positive impact on lifting more of us us out of poverty.

CONNECTING THE DOTS
According to a new analysis of cellphone usage by The Nielsen Company, African-Americans spend more time on average talking and texting than any other ethnic group. The voice and text results are compiled from one year (April 2009-March 2010) of mobile usage data gathered by Nielsen, which analyzes the cellphone bills of more than 60,000 mobile subscribers each month in the United States.

For many Americans, cellphones have become irreplaceable tools to manage their lives and stay connected to the outside world, their families and networks of friends online. But increasingly, by several measures, that does not mean talking on them very much.

Instead of talking on their cellphones, people are making use of all the extras that iPhones, BlackBerrys and other smartphones were also designed to do - browse the Web, listen to music, watch television, play games and send e-mail and text messages.

We want your feedback on the following idea:
It is not enough to champion entrepreneurship. It is also important to help develop an infrastructure in which Black entrepreneurship can thrive. The Internet offers the most affordable access to the marketplace where entrepreneurs and consumers can connect with each other. We must focus on all levers -- social, political, business, health and education -- to help lift more people out of poverty.

So we invite you to share your ideas about how we can take advantage of our increased use of mobile devices, and the growth of Black entrepreneurs to help lift more of us out of poverty.

SHARE YOUR IDEAS AND COMMENTS BELOW and help us to lead the way out of this economic crisis.