Darrell Williams is the publisher of TheLoop21.com, a dynamic news site aimed at the African American audience. This year, Mr. Williams is spearheading the efforts of his site to conduct the first black economic survey that will take the financial pulse of our community from our perspective. A former professor of economics at UCLA and high-level advisor to both government and business organizations, Mr. Williams took some time to share his financial and sociological expertise with the Black Voices audience, while encouraging us all to take the Loop 21 2010 Black Economic Survey. Take it now -- today is the last day!

You have a PhD in economics. What made you decide to start a news site for the black community coming from such a different background?

Well in many ways it really isn't different, because our focus is on black economic progress on TheLoop21.com. So in that way there's a lot of overlap. The Loop is a vehicle for a particular subject matter and that subject matter is black economic progress, so I don't see them as disjointed as it might originally appear.

What is the story behind the name of your site, The Loop 21?

The Loop refers to being in the know and being connected. Those kinds of things are very important to meeting the challenges of the 21st century. The Loop 21 is really about the connections and the access to both people and ideas that are necessary to meet the challenges of today.

Do you think that the black community is behind in terms of being connected?Well, I don't know if they're behind. It's one of those things where more is always better. I think what we do have to do is have a competitive mindset. I think more connections is better, more ideas are always better, and we can't relax. It's just like playing a sport. Just because you're a little bit ahead in the game it doesn't mean you can relax because there is always the other team out there that is trying to overtake you. I think we just have to be vigilant. In the information age, one of the most important commodities is information. And having access to the information we need to help us make the right decisions. It's a continual effort, and that's what we try to do at the Loop.

Take TheLoop 21.com 2010 Economic Survey of Black America!

Today is the last day to make your voice heard!

Your Economic Survey concerning the black community comes at a time when Obama is being pressured to create special employment policies to help the black community. Do you agree with leaders like Al Sharpton and Marc Morial who believe that such policies are necessary?

I certainly agree that President Obama and the federal government in general should do whatever it can to help those who are most in need. I think the question is, when it comes to employment opportunities for African Americans in particular and all people in general: what's the best way to do that? There are alternative schools of thought. One way that you can do that is by making the economy more robust. At the end of the day, any jobs that are going to be sustainable are going to come from the private sector. So policies that can help achieve that goal I think are important policies. We should be having a debate about which policies are more important not a debate about whether or not we need policies. I think we all agree, we need to do whatever we can do. So let's talk about the doing specifically.

What do you hope your African American Economic survey will accomplish?

One of the most important things that I think the survey does is that it brings the level of the conversation to the people -- individual black consumers and workers. A lot of the time, our discussion of our community is limited to the few speaking on behalf of the many. And what the survey really does is it brings the conversation down to the level of the many, where the many can speak for themselves. I think one of the most important things we can get out of this survey is to engage ordinary people, who are really the people who are grappling with the issues that we are all concerned about, and bring the conversation down to their level and let them speak to the issues themselves.

There are detailed statistics on the black community's economic issues available. How is the Loop 21's survey different?

What this survey does is go behind the statistics, and moves beyond the statistics. We all know the statistics. Most of them in fact are depressing. We need to get behind those statistics and really understand both the perceptions, observations and the priorities of the people who are portrayed in them. And that's what the survey does. The survey helps us not just talk about the outcomes we've observed, but to think about some of the factors that are driving what we've observed, and to help people start thinking about that themselves.

What is the strongest reason that blacks should participate in your survey and forward the URL to their entire network of family and friends?

I think the most important reason is because the number one priority for black families today is financial security. Financial security is just as important as physical security. Black parents would not go to bed at night without making sure the house is secure and making sure the family is physically secure. The same thing needs to be true on the financial side. We need to do everything that we can do in order to ensure the financial security of our families and our children's families. And a small part of that is the survey, which really will help us start discussing the issues from a perspective that allows us to move forward and not get stuck at the perceptual level.

What do you predict with be the top three findings of your African American economic survey?

It's hard for me to predict what the findings would be. I don't want to bias people's judgment before they take the survey, but I'll tell you the top issues that I think will come out of it. I think one of the most important issues to come out of it will be how people are responding to the situation of the economic crisis. One of the other issues will be: what are the policy priorities of African Americans? Recently, we've heard a lot about a black agenda. What are the policy objectives that a large majority of African Americans are looking to? Another issue is: how important is racial discrimination in the workplace? How important do African Americans feel that is today in determining their financial security and their economic outcomes? So, I think that those are three big issues that we'll learn something about.

Do you have a favorite piece of advice or wisdom that you would like to share with the Black Voices audience?

My advice is simple and is something that I live my life by. The most important thing I've learned is you do what you love -- and the money will follow. I firmly believe in that.

+Take TheLoop 21.com 2010 Economic Survey of Black America!

Today is the last day to make your voice heard!