Black Couple seeking CA City - SF? (Los Angeles, San Diego: rent, loft)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 1.5 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
We are a black couple, in our 50's, living in San Diego. We've encountered subtle racism while living here and seeking work. The wages here has not kept up with the cost of living here. Hubby has general billing/medical billing experience. He has been temping, but can't seem to find steady work. I'm an experienced word processor, but jobs are getting hard to find and they don't want to pay for my 25 years of experience. I can't do Administrative Assistant work, as I wear a hearing aid and am lousy with answering phones in an office.
The company I managed to find work with has only an on-call Word Processor job in San Diego. But I'm applying for full-time word processing jobs in their offices in Santa Ana, Oakland, San Francisco and Santa Barbara.
Any suggestions? We're in our 50's and need jobs. We're burned out living in New York (hubby) and Los Angeles (me). We want to get out of SD. I'm light skinned, but hubby is dark skinned, and encountered more racism than me. We want to live in a diverse and afforable area. Any suggestions on those cities I mentioned (Santa Ana, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Oakland)?
The bay area is very diversified and progressive than rest of the state (in fact the whole country), you cant go wrong any where in the bay area, except for housing, extermely expensive dependings what area you choose, a 1 bedroom condo or a small loft would run you 400K plus. good luck
We are a black couple, in our 50's, living in San Diego. We've encountered subtle racism while living here and seeking work. The wages here has not kept up with the cost of living here. Hubby has general billing/medical billing experience. He has been temping, but can't seem to find steady work. I'm an experienced word processor, but jobs are getting hard to find and they don't want to pay for my 25 years of experience. I can't do Administrative Assistant work, as I wear a hearing aid and am lousy with answering phones in an office.
The company I managed to find work with has only an on-call Word Processor job in San Diego. But I'm applying for full-time word processing jobs in their offices in Santa Ana, Oakland, San Francisco and Santa Barbara.
Any suggestions? We're in our 50's and need jobs. We're burned out living in New York (hubby) and Los Angeles (me). We want to get out of SD. I'm light skinned, but hubby is dark skinned, and encountered more racism than me. We want to live in a diverse and afforable area. Any suggestions on those cities I mentioned (Santa Ana, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Oakland)?
The SF Bay Area is diverse, but not affordable. Houses are expensive and so is rent.
Where were you and your husband born and where have you lived previously? What type of racism have you experienced and where? Age may be a factor. Experienced age-discrimination as well? What other cities besides NY and LA are you familiar with?
It also sounds like both you and your husband may have to change careers. Have you considered this? Jobs seem to be drying up for the both of you, which means that there is plenty of younger, cheaper labor that you are competing against.
Also, are you looking for a suburban community with its slower pace, or do you thrive in the city? Is it vital that you live in a black community? What areas of the country are you absolutely not interested in.
Well, I'm from Los Angeles, and hubby is from New York. We both don't want to go back to those cities if we can help it. We do feel that we've experienced age discrimination at times.
Hubby experienced racism while in public transportation in coastal areas of San Diego County. Some commented, 'there goes the neighborhood', or 'don't come around here again'. When shopping in women's clothing boutiques, I'm asked, 'what kind of work you do', as if to imply that I can't afford to shop there.
I've been in Los Angeles all of my life, but have also lived in Pasadena for a few years, but can't developed allergies with the pollution there, so I transferred to San Diego through the company.
I tried some training in medical billing also, but hate financial stuff, there were few options available from unemployment training. Hubby is suffering from Hep C (liver disease) in which fatigue is a problem to working full time. It seems that a lot of jobs here require some telephone customer service, and I hate that stuff, since I have a hearing problem. I prefer to just work in the back office during my work.
I guess we like the slower pace, but we need jobs wherever we can find them. Seems that only large legal and engineering firms still need word processors. That's why I'm trying to transfer within the new company to other locations.
Hubby and I prefer a diverse community where we don't feel like outsiders, doesn't have to be a black community.
I am just going to be honest with you, I don't think the city you are looking for exists on the West Coast. It is Rich or Low here and quite a lot of race and age discrimination.
With you what you describe, I would recommend:
Atlanta - Very nice city, very large black community that actually integrate with whites and hispanic. The weather is muggy, but not as bad as Florida.
Baltimore - Again nice city, very diverse and very affordable. Tons of jobs.
East Coast in general is much more diverse and most parts are far more affordable than California.
The bay area is a wonderful place to live no doubt ! However the housing costs are really high. I am not sure if you are looking to buy or rent ? I have lived in the bay area my whole life and I am currently wondering if I can afford it anymore( I rent). If you come to the bay area I would recommend Concord , Walnut creek or San Jose .These areas offer lots of diversity and cheeper housing costs .
I would look into San Jose ... lots to do , Lots of job opportunities ,a nice place to live .
Lots of luck to you !
Where you live now is pretty similar to the situation here.Wages come nowhere close to meeting the cost of living. I 2nd the comment on Atlanta. It is roughly 50/50 black and white and has a number of diverse, mixed neighborhoods. I would also perhaps recommend Memphis. My aunt has lived there for 30 years and her neighborhood is also racially mixed and they all seem to get along pretty well. That said- Atlanta and Memphis have crime. But the areas with higher crime rates are in specific areas. But in the end, these 2 cities are 1/4th the cost to live in and a very nice home can be had for 100-150k or less. Traffic in Atlanta can be nasty though, but in my opinion it isn't all that different from traffic in the Bay Area at rush hour.
Thanks, everyone, you all have been very helpful!! We know that some level of racism exist almost everywhere, and that rent is high just about everywhere!
For now, we will probably stay in California, but will check out San Jose and Oakland and others -- we will certainly keep in mind the other states.
It is expensive to live in California -- right now we're just desperate to find some jobs. Thanks again!!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $53,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 1.5 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Black Couple seeking CA City - SF?
