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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
"A Cry for Jobs - Is a Cry for Life"
New York, New York, March 28, 2011: “African
Americans and the nation’s poor need jobs so that they can feed
their families, care for their elderly, and claim their dignity as
people created in the image and likeness of God,” stated Father
James E. Goode, OFM,
“A Cry for Jobs – Is a Cry for Life”. Father Goode went on to say,
“I firmly believe that if our people had jobs, there would be fewer
abortions and less acts of violence in our homes and streets.”
"Now is the time for us to put forth a sincere effort
to create jobs for our people and all those in need of work. As we
strive to obtain jobs, let us also renew our efforts to end abortion
and all acts of violence that destroy all human life."
The Board of Consultants of the National Black
Catholic Apostolate for Life invites you to join the National Urban
League for their Town Hall Meeting concerning jobs on Thursday,
March 31, 2011, (10a.m. -12noon) at Howard University, Washington,
DC. The Town Hall Meeting is only the first step. Our voices on
behalf of jobs and the sacredness of life are needed. “A Cry for
Jobs- Is a Cry for Life”.
State of Black America Town Hall to Explore Jobs of
the Future
Marc H. Morial
President and CEO
National Urban League
Next Thursday, I invite you to join the debate about the number one
issue facing the nation – the deep and persistent jobs crisis that
has been especially devastating in urban communities of color. As
part of the National Urban League’s annual Legislative Policy
Conference in Washington, DC, we will convene a free State of Black
America town hall meeting on March 31st, from 10 am to noon at
Howard University’s Cramton Auditorium. A panel of notable policy
experts, scholars and journalists will lead a public dialogue about
ways to end the jobs crisis in our communities. But the most
important voices invited to this meeting belong to you – the student
struggling to pay college tuition, the father who lost his job six
months ago and is wondering if he will ever be able to support his
family again, the single mother having to choose between child care
and health care for her kids.
The great recession has seen a loss of more than 8 million jobs.
Many of those jobs are in declining industries and may never
return. According to a recent CNN Money news report, “Home building
lost nearly 1 million jobs since the start of 2008, while the auto
industry shed 300,000 manufacturing jobs due to plant closings. The
finance and real estate sectors lost more than 500,000 jobs.”
Unfortunately, many of those lost jobs are never coming back.
That is why the discussion about bringing jobs back to urban America
must focus on ensuring that people in our communities are educated,
trained and have access to the jobs of the future. The Bureau of
Labor Statistics (BLS) projects that between 2008 and 2018, the
industries projected to produce the largest number of new jobs are
health care and social assistance, and professional and business
services. And nearly half of all new jobs created during those
years will require some type of post-secondary education. Because
of high dropout rates and low college graduation rates in
communities of color, it is projected that 70 percent of prime
working age African American adults and 80 percent of Hispanics will
lack the requisite education for almost 40 percent of projected new
jobs.
Clearly immediate action is needed to turn this picture around. The
National Urban League’s 12-point Blueprint for Quality Job Creation
offers several powerful remedies, including a plan to boost minority
participation in emerging Broadband and Green Industries. We also
call on Congress to reform, revise and reauthorize the Workforce
Investment Act to focus on preparing and retraining workers for 21st
century jobs by targeting young adults with less than college
education as well as high school dropouts and older workers whose
jobs were eliminated by the recession. We must also do more to
reverse troubling recent trends in minority high school dropout and
college enrollment rates.
These are just some of the ideas that will be discussed at the March
31 town hall meeting.
We need your input too.
If you can’t attend in person, the event will
be webcast live at www.nul.org
beginning at 10am ET.
You can also join the conversation on
Twitter@NatUrbanLeague using # SOBA11 or on Facebook.
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12TBE 3/23/11 ▪ 120 Wall Street ▪ New York, NY 10005 ▪ (212)
558-5300 ▪ WWW.NUL.ORG
Join
Us For The State of Black America Town Hall Event
at Howard University
(Click here for Event Flyer)
www.blackcatholicsforlife.org
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