EquityBlog

Photo Courtesy of WhiteHouse.gov

The following is a statement by PolicyLink Founder and CEO Angela Glover Blackwell on President Obama’s 2012 State of the Union Address:

“If the playing field is level, I promise you — America will always win.”– President Obama

Last night’s State of the Union address laid out a solid vision for pushing America into a more equitable and inclusive future. With a targeted focus on job creation, infrastructure, workforce training, and fiscal reform, President Obama offered proposals for creating an economic system in which everyone can participate and prosper, including:

• Investing in infrastructure projects that would produce decent-paying jobs
• Funding community college programs to train America’s future skilled workforce
• Ensuring that the rich share the economic burden by paying at least 30 percent in taxes (the “Buffett Rule”)
• Preventing increases in student loan interest rates, and doubling the number of work-study jobs over the next five years
• Creating clean energy jobs programs

These proposals and others outlined in the President’s speech mark important steps toward closing the nation’s widening income divide. But absent a firm commitment from lawmakers to making equity an economic imperative, they will remain only ideas.

In a letter delivered yesterday to the President and members of Congress –- and signed by more than 130 organizations nationwide — PolicyLink presented a number of policy recommendations aimed at expanding opportunity for low-income people and communities of color hit first and worst by the recession and unfair economic practices. We stand with President Obama in pushing for equitable policy solutions that will help close America’s prosperity gap, and urge our legislators on Capitol Hill to do the same. Together, we can re-build an economy that works for all people.

Still buzzing about last night’s speech? Join us below in the comments to continue the conversation, and share your thoughts on President Obama’s vision for America.

Also, we encourage you to respond to local media coverage in your area and vocalize your support of a bold policy agenda for the 99%. 

Equity summit 2011 was a success and we would like to share the experience with those who were unable to make and  with those who want to re-live the moments.

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Photo Courtesy of Tavis Smiley Presents and PBS.org

Tonight, PBS will air “Too Important to Fail,” a new prime time special presented by Tavis Smiley that looks at the educational challenges facing African American male youth across the country. The special will feature interviews with educators, policymakers, and young people who, in their own voices, describe myriad obstacles they have and continue to encounter in their pursuit of a quality education.

In a companion blog post to tonight’s special, PolicyLink Founder and CEO Angela Glover Blackwell goes beyond the issue of education to explore other critical problems facing boys and men of color and the communities in which they live – including joblessness, poverty, high incarceration, lack of public transit, and more. According to Blackwell, the path to resolution must start with investments in comprehensive policy solutions that will slash the “opportunity deficit” disparately impacting male and female youth of color today, and end cycles of poverty in low-income communities and communities of color.

Blackwell says:

We can no longer afford to turn a blind eye to the problems facing low-income people and communities of color, particularly the black and brown youth who will soon constitute the majority. In fact, we have an urgent moral and economic imperative to address them.

In a shifting and competitive global economy, the dearth of quality, meaningful opportunities, combined with persistent obstacles and deficient academic and social supports, risks dismantling the very families and communities that are raising our future skilled workforce.

To slash America’s opportunity deficit, we must start by standing up for new and existing solutions to education, workforce training and job creation that would help shatter cycles of generational poverty by preparing young workers of color for better-paying, long-term jobs of the future.

Read the full piece here on PBS.org.

What did you think of Tavis’ prime time special? After you watch, be sure to visit the comments section below and let us know.

Today President Obama held an event at the White House urging a bi-partisan push by Congress to extend a critical piece of legislation — the federal surface transportation authorization.

On September 30, the current surface transportation authorization, which serves as the blueprint for transportation investment in America, is set to expire.  It is crucial that we maintain the current investment in the nation’s roads, sidewalks, trails, and transit ways in order to keep buses and trains running, and keep the people who maintain and drive the vehicles working.

In his remarks the President highlighted how essential infrastructure investments are to supporting America’s economic recovery, noting that Congress’ failure to extend the authorization would cost thousands of jobs. Additionally, a ten day delay in reauthorizing would result in a $1 billion loss (or $100 million for each day it is delayed).

PolicyLink applauds the President for recommending immediate renewal of the existing surface transportation authorization in order to sustain our existing efforts to connect Americans to opportunity.

Millions of Americans rely exclusively on public transit, walking, or biking to get to work, to the doctor’s office, to school, and to the grocery store. Nearly 20 percent of African American households, 14 percent of Latino households, and 13 percent of Asian households live without a car.

At a time when approximately 80 percent of transit agencies are implementing fare increases and service cuts, the nation must prioritize investment in transportation to ensure that Americans are not left stranded without transportation options.

Given that today marks 700 days since the existing surface transportation legislation expired, we urge the President and Congress to also work together to enact a new surface transportation authorization that:

• Creates affordable transportation options for all people;
• Ensures fair access to quality jobs, workforce development, and contracting opportunities in the transportation industry;
• Promotes healthy, safe, and inclusive communities; and
• Invests equitably and focuses on results.

This approach is both equitable and smart — for every $1 invested in public transportation, $4 in economic returns are generated.

Our nation’s very future is at stake.  We must make sure that our transportation investments help all Americans participate and prosper.

To support these principles and engage in activities to promote a more equitable approach to transportation investment, join the Equity Caucus at Transportation for America.

Amazing news for Sustainable Communities!

Yesterday the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced Oakland’s own PolicyLink as one of eight organizations to be awarded funding to continue work on the federal Sustainable Communities Initiative. Here’s more from the official press release on HUD.Gov:

In an historic collaborative effort to assure the success of previous federal investments, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today competitively awarded $5.65 million to eight organizations to help existing federal grantees work together to solve common problems. These organizations will form capacity-building networks among the grantees to exchange ideas on successful strategies, lessons learned, emerging tools, and public engagement plans. This work will strengthen the capacity grantee communities to create more housing choices, make transportation more efficient and reliable, make more efficient investments in water and wastewater infrastructure, and build vibrant, healthy and economically prosperous neighborhoods for American families.

You can also read more about the award in today’s San Francisco Chronicle, which includes a call to action for Oakland residents to volunteer and do their part in helping build a safer, stronger city.

Do you have thoughts and ideas on how to build a better Oakland? Share them with us in the comments!

This week’s biggest and most important news is The Budget Control Act of 2011, otherwise known as the debt ceiling agreement, which was met after an intense several weeks of negotiation on Capitol Hill. Disappointingly, and despite record unemployment in low-income areas and communities of color hit first and worst by the economic crisis, the agreement made little to no mention of jobs at all. Today on CNN.com, PolicyLink Founder and CEO Angela Glover Blackwell addresses this critical omission and the need for urgent, targeted investments that will create jobs and move our nation forward. Here’s a look:

It is deeply disappointing to see our leaders in Washington slashing services at the very moment they should be working tirelessly to maximize job growth and set the foundation for long-term economic prosperity, productivity and global competiveness, especially in communities hit first and worst by the recession. They are making a gamble with our nation’s future that we cannot afford. By 2042, people of color will be the majority in America; already the majority of youth under the age of 2 are of color. As the country’s demographic transformation continues accelerating, the framework we use to shape and develop future economic policies, particularly those affecting low-income people and people of color, must also evolve. Such a shift will lead to just and fair inclusion, elevating equity as the nation’s growth model.

Visit here to read the full article on CNN.com. Also be sure to check out this Q&A with Angela Glover Blackwell and The Loop 21′s Brentin Mock, in which they also discuss skyrocketing unemployment in the African American community and current strategies the Obama Administration is using to address it. What do you think the impact of the debt ceiling agreement will have on struggling individuals and families? Tell us below.

Photo Credit: Image from "California Watch," courtesy of Christian Cable/Flickr.

On Wednesday the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research found that for nearly 75 percent of California adolescents, the number of local junk food retailers outnumber healthy ones at least 5 to 1. The findings were revealed just a week after the California FreshWorks Fund announced $200 million to support grocery stores and other healthy food retailers in low-income, underserved communities across the state.

PolicyLink Associate Director Rebecca Flournoy spoke with California Watch‘s Joanna Lin about the study, the FreshWorks initiative, and the importance of improving healthy food access for youth:

A higher percentage of 12- to 17-year olds were not overweight or obese in Nevada and Humboldt counties (about 96 percent) than in Sutter and Sacramento counties (90.3 percent and 91.5 percent, respectively), according to the 2007 California Health Interview Survey.

Such findings do not surprise food policy advocates like Rebecca Flournoy, associate director of the nonprofit PolicyLink.

“This really confirms that yet again, when you look at adolescents and where they live and where they go to school, that access to food really does matter,” she said.

Go here to read California Watch‘s full report on the UCLA study, and be sure to also check out the new PolicyLink  “Healthy Food, Healthy Communities” report fresh off the presses!