Anyonecanachieve.com is a college persistence program. We are seeking career specific mentors to help inform, encourage, inspire and offer support to African American and other minority students as they embark on their college journey.
At anyonecanachieve.com we promote diversity, equity and inclusion in the most rewarding and lucrative professional occupations in the U.S. labor market. African Americans and other minorities are seriously underrepresented in these great professions historically and now.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion should be more than just words that politicians and corporations use to show interest in social justice. These words should lead to a viable plan to enhance the participation of African Americans, Hispanic Americans and Native Americans in the best careers available in America.
I developed this website to encourage more underrepresented minorities to develop interest in, pursue and persist in preparation for the best careers the U.S. labor market offers. We focus on 330 career titles listed in the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT). Also, there is exhaustive online information about each occupational title through the Bureau of Labor Statistic’s (BLS) website: Onetonline.org. All the careers we encourage require college degrees (Associate through Advanced Degrees). The jobs are higher-paying professional occupations.
Why do we encourage minorities to pursue these jobs? We encourage minorities to pursue these extraordinary jobs because minority participation in such jobs today is minimal and that is too bad. There are a lot of skilled professional jobs in the U.S. labor market, around 93 million jobs or about 66 percent of all jobs. Most of these jobs are found in two large occupational groups: Management and Professional Specialty – currently about 64 million jobs. African Americans hold only 7% of the 330 highly skilled professional jobs we recommend. Hispanic American are likewise underrepresented in the top occupations. White Americans and Asian Americans, on the other hand, are overrepresented in such jobs.
BLS data we reviewed reveal that in 2021 there were 152 million people employed in the civilian U.S. labor market and of those 64.7 million were employed in the highest median pay occupations in Management and Professional Specialty. African Americans employed incumbents were only 4.6 million of the the jobs we recommend or around 7 percent.
At anyonecanachieve, we strongly believe that African American participation in the top median income jobs ought to be proportional and similar to our population of 12.3 percent. The jobs at the top ought to reflect the diversity of the country in the same way as jobs at the bottom or in the middle. We think it is possible to change this unfortunate underrepresentation in the best jobs. The 330 occupational titles we focus on span a broad range of interests and aptitudes. We believe it’s possible to make these jobs more salient, visible to young people. We use mentors to help motivate, inspire, support and to show that the choices are doable. We chose to focus on college persistence because young people are poised to solidify career aspirations early during the college years. We know also that there is a critical mass of black students (about 36% of all African Americans18-24 years-old) who start college according to NCES data, 2020. Let’s mentor them and support them as they navigate their way through the college experience and let’s do this in a culturally competent way.
We have little doubt that diversifying the top jobs will go a long way toward eliminating the current disparity in economic outcomes between black and white Americans. Because knowledge is malleable, our goal is to increase students’ aspirations within areas of aptitude and interest by use of career specific mentors. By using such strategy, social justice (eliminating occupational segregation) can come more quickly as students begin to seek these exceptional career opportunities. Anyonecanachieve is occupation focused. Unlike other mentoring programs we link what happens in the classroom to workplace preparation. That is why our website utilizes mentors and vocational jobs experts who know the job market and the skills required.
We don’t do “cook book” advising. Our mentors know their specific professional field inside and out. They will illuminate information, career strategy and provide realistic encouragement to students in pursuit of the best careers. My 25 plus years educating, supervising and mentoring Martin University Master’s degree students has made a clear impact on the system I developed. It has been a joy to help prepare well over 150 Master’s degree recipients for eventual licensure as Mental Health Counselors or Counselor Associates. I share our graduate’s excitement about their professional future.
If you are employed in Management or Professional Specialty your occupation title is among our 330 jobs titles. So, your mentoring advice is needed. We need you as a retired worker as well to pass on your knowledge.
Won’t you join our effort (students and mentors) to diversify the 330 top job titles in America? Won’t you join our effort to create a more balanced approach to strengthen minority students’ commitment to higher education and higher career goals?
Please Sign Up today at anyonecanachieve.com go to top menu and click It’s easy to be a mentor-volunteer mentor application.
Dr. Thomas