Young adults are redefining retirement as traditional paths like pensions disappear, with entrepreneurs, corporate workers and graduate students each navigating different financial realities and levels of stability.
Category: BUSINESS
Posted inBUSINESS
Home-based businesses offer flexibility and opportunity for entrepreneurs
As more Americans launch businesses from home, entrepreneurs are finding both flexibility and new challenges. Business owners say success depends on discipline, structure and the ability to build trust with customers.
Posted inBUSINESS
More than profit: Baltimore entrepreneurs blend business with community service
Black entrepreneurs in Baltimore are using their businesses as vehicles for community impact, offering resources that extend far beyond their products and services. From literacy initiatives and youth programs to mutual aid and criminal justice advocacy, local business owners are investing directly in the people and neighborhoods around them.
Posted inBUSINESS
How ownership helped a Black-owned U Street businesses survive gentrification
As Washington, D.C.’s historically Black U Street corridor continues to gentrify, longtime Black-owned businesses like Lee’s Flower and Card Shop and Ben’s Chili Bowl say ownership and adaptability have been key to their survival. While both families acknowledge the economic growth brought to the area, they also reflect on the displacement of longtime Black residents and the changing identity of the once predominantly Black community known as “Black Broadway.”
Posted inOpinion
Apple cuts bait on Baltimore County and workers pay the price
Apple has announced the closure of the Towson Town Center store, which is the first Apple retail store in the US to be unionized, and workers are asking for the same transfer opportunities offered to workers at other closing stores.
Posted inBUSINESS
Downtown D.C. shows mixed recovery as jobs, housing lag behind gains in culture
A new report from the DowntownDC Business Improvement District shows a mixed economic picture for the city center, with gains in cultural activity and public safety offset by declines in jobs, tourism and housing development. City and business leaders say downtown’s recovery remains uneven as federal policy shifts and changing visitor patterns continue to shape its trajectory.
Posted inOPINION
Rising hardship withdrawals signal financial stress among US workers
Hardship withdrawals from retirement accounts are increasing, with 6% of U.S. workers affected, and disproportionately impacting Black and Hispanic households due to the racial wealth divide.
Posted inOpinion
The legal mistakes that can sink a promising business
A graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and Wellesley College, Kisha A. Brown, was the first woman to lead the Baltimore City Civil Rights Office. This week, she explains how trust is important in business, but legal clarity is what protects partnerships when challenges and conflict arise.
Posted inBUSINESS
Greater Baltimore Committee unveils 2025 investment scorecard for the region
The Baltimore region’s economy continued to be shaped by large-scale “mega deals” in 2025, even as overall investment activity became more concentrated and uneven. A new scorecard from the Greater Baltimore Committee shows real estate remained the dominant driver of growth, while venture capital and foreign investment trends lagged behind peer cities.
Posted inCOMMUNITY
The hidden costs of being Black in America
Black consumers often face higher costs for everyday financial services, from banking fees to insurance premiums. Experts say those added expenses can quietly compound over time alongside the persistent, ever-growing racial wealth gap.
Posted inTravel
Spirit Airlines shutdown leaves Black travelers and workers mourning loss of affordable skies
The collapse of Spirit Airlines has sparked emotional reactions from travelers and former employees who say the airline created opportunities that extended far beyond low-cost flights. As thousands lose their jobs and budget-conscious flyers brace for rising airfare prices, many are reflecting on the company’s unique role in providing accessibility, mobility and representation within the airline industry. The shutdown has also raised broader concerns about what the future of affordable air travel could look like without one of the nation’s most recognizable budget carriers.
Posted inNational News
Inside Sierra Club’s pattern of Black leadership departures
By Dr. Angelo A. WilliamsThe Observer EDITOR’S NOTE: Between 2023 and 2025, a cluster of departures across the Sierra Club and the Sierra Club Foundation — including routine board turnover, resignations, a discrimination lawsuit and the firing of former Executive Director Ben Jealous — fueled a debate over who holds power inside one of the […]
