April 11, 2015 - April 17, 2015 The Afro-American
COMMENTARY
A9
Full Employment for Everyone
Elijah Cummings
Nationally, we now have witnessed more than five years of significant job creation. Unemployment, which reached 10 percent during the depths of the Bush Recession, has been cut nearly in half. Yet, for far too many of our nation’s working families, the positive economic statistics heralding a “recovery” from the Bush Recession must appear to describe someone else’s country – an almost mythical society in which no one is struggling to find a good job or take care of his or
her family. Why do millions of Americans — and, especially, African Americans — remain trapped in slow-moving unemployment lines or marginal positions with no future? The answers are complex, but it seems clear that both national and more local obstacles must be overcome for us to achieve full recovery. The Continuing Struggle in Congress Most of my Maryland constituents realize that there are those of us in Washington who are giving voice to their outcry for more good jobs that pay living wages. Yet, clearly, the Republican House and Senate majorities are not listening. On a straight, party-line vote, the Republicans have pursued federal budget proposals that threaten to be a disaster to our still fragile economy. Experts at the Economic Policy Institute project that the Republican proposals, if enacted into law, could reduce economic growth and cost our nation nearly 3 million jobs in the year 2017 alone. In sharp contrast, President Obama continues to advocate for job creation as a top priority. Measures proposed by our Congressional Progressive Caucus could create more than 8 million good jobs by 2018. President Obama, our allies and I will continue to fight for that better vision because all Americans have a personal interest in our economic success – most of all, Americans of Color. We all applaud the fact that our overall national unemployment rate has dropped to around 5.5 percent. Tragically, however, the national jobless rate for African Americans remains mired at Recession levels [10.4 percent in February]. Here in Maryland, due to the strong presence of federally funded programs, the Black unemployment rate is somewhat better than the national average [8.8 percent at the end of 2014]. Yet, the negative impact of federal budget cuts on Maryland jobs continues to be a serious obstacle to achieving full employment in our African American neighborhoods.
Connecting Marylanders with Good Jobs. We know that, here in the Baltimore Region, many good employment positions are going unfilled. This is why my office will be hosting our 18th Annual Job Fair on April 13, from 9 am until 2 pm, at the Fifth Regiment Armory. Over the years, I have learned that my office can be most helpful to job seekers by bringing them together with employers who are ready to hire. This year, the majority of our more than 50 participating employers will take resumes onsite — and many will be interviewing on the spot. Our April 13 Job Fair is free, but photo identification will be needed to gain entrance to the Armory. I encourage job-seekers to give themselves a competitive advantage by visiting my website in advance [http://cummings. house.gov] and selecting the links to the career pages of participating companies that interest them.
“We all applaud the fact that our overall national unemployment rate has dropped to around 5.5 percent. Tragically, however, the national jobless rate for African Americans remains mired at Recession levels.” Here, however, are some highlights. • We will offer workshops for college students and recent graduates on how to apply and obtain paid, entry-level training positions with the Federal Government through its Pathways Program. For those who are interested, representatives from the Social Security Administration, the US Department of Veterans Affairs and USAJobs (the Federal Government’s official jobs site) will participate. • Job Seekers will also benefit from meeting with representatives from the CHOICE Program (Community Hiring for Opportunities in Construction Employment) and Helmets to HardHats. On-site simulators and demonstrations will be helpful to people looking for employment in the building and construction trades. • A number of other service providers will supply resources
for people as they continue to look for employment. Attendees will be able to attend free workshops on resume writing, interview techniques, and how to use social media in their job search. • For example, once again, this year’s Job Fair will include the very popular “Résumé Doctor,” writing assistance & advice, Computer Café and ONE-Stop Mobile Career Centers provided by the Maryland Workforce Exchange. For those who are looking for a job (or a better job) or know anyone who is, our April 13 Job Fair may well become their pathway to success. Past experience has demonstrated that people do obtain good jobs at our Jobs Fairs. Others have taken the first step toward better utilizing our City’s One-Stop Career Centers, conveniently located at 1100 North Eutaw Street (410-767-2148), 3001 E. Madison Street (410-396-9030), and Mondawmin Mall (410-523-1060). Baltimore County and Howard County residents can find the same help at 7930 Eastern Boulevard (410-288-9050 ext. 424), 11101 McCormick Road (410- 887-7940), or 7161 Columbia Gateway Drive (410-290-2600). Americans want to work. We must continue to invest in their dreams, both in Washington and here at home. I remain convinced that, working together, we can rebuild our economy and our communities. Congressman Elijah Cummings represents Maryland’s 7th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives.
Hunger Doesn’t Get a Summer Vacation Many children and families eagerly look forward to the end of the school year and the carefree days of summer, playing outside in the warm sun, splashing and swimming in pools and at beaches, and gathering with family and friends for backyard barbeques. But for more than 17 million children, the end of school can be the end of certainty about where and when their next meal will come. While 21.7 million children received free or reduced price lunches during the 2013-2014 school year, only 2.6 million children – 12.2 percent – participated in the Summer Food Service Program. This huge participation gap suggests that nearly 9 out of 10 of the children who benefit from free or reduced price lunches during the school year may not be receiving the nourishment necessary for proper physical, cognitive, and social development during the long summer months. Marian Wright Hunger has no vacation. Edelman The good news is that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service operates the Summer Food Service Program that is administered by state agencies to serve these hungry children. Although the program is 100 percent federally financed and can create desperately needed summer jobs for cafeteria workers and others, there is still a severe shortage of school and community programs to serve all needy hungry children. And there are other barriers. Summer food programs sometimes tend to be available at odd hours and for short periods of time and in inconvenient places making it challenging for children to get there, a problem exacerbated by lack of safe transportation to the sites. Over the past few years, the USDA Food and Nutrition Service has been piloting innovative strategies in diverse communities across the country to help overcome many of these barriers. Some programs have had success using mobile vans to provide meals, especially helpful in rural communities. In other communities without sites, it has allowed the use of electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards – like those used for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) – to transfer money to families so they can purchase extra food for their children in the summer. Congress has a role to play in ensuring that countless children do not go hungry during the summer. The Summer Meals Act of 2015 (S. 613) was introduced by Senators Kristen Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Lisa
Murkowski (R-Arkansas) both this year and last. Their bill would significantly expand summer nutrition programs by lowering the threshold for community eligibility from 50 percent to 40 percent of children in the area eligible for free or reduced price meals. Community eligibility reduces the administrative burden on sites and allows them to serve more children. There has been progress but it must be increased so children do not suffer hunger. USDA data show that between July 2013 and July 2014, the number of children participating in the Summer Food Service Program increased by more than 220,000 and 11 million more meals were served to hungry children. Our friends at the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) note in their annual report on summer meals that during this same time period, the number of sponsors and sites across the country also increased. However, while improvements have been made to reduce the participation gap, millions of children continue to go hungry during the summer months. I find it shocking that in 2012-2013, 4.9 million households, including 1.3 million with children, an increase from the previous year, had no cash income and depended only on food stamps (now called SNAP) to stave off hunger. I find it even more shocking that some Republican leaders are trying to cut SNAP when the need is so enormous. There is a role for all of us in getting food to children during the long food desert of summer months for millions of young children, and right now, we still have time to take action for the coming 2015 summer. Individuals and organizations in communities can help serve the meals, promote the program, provide transportation, volunteer at summer food sites, and help find sponsors. The USDA has a number of great resources to help sponsors and sites get up and running, including a “Summer Meals Toolkit” that provides information on sponsors, sites, links to state agencies, and much more. And if you know hungry children in your community, you can call 1-866-3-HUNGRY or 1-877-8-HAMBRE to find the nearest summer feeding site. Most importantly, if there are not enough summer feeding sites, ask why not. Urge your schools, congregations and other local programs to continue serving children during the summer months and take advantage of the opportunity to use federal dollars to do it Marian Wright Edelman is president of the Children’s Defense Fund whose Leave No Child Behind® mission is to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities. For more information go to www.childrensdefense.org
What Good are Democrats? It is time that we dispel the mythology around Maryland being a political progressive state. Being a Democrat in Maryland is pretty meaningless as an indicator of your political ideology or values. We live in a state in which a 3rd of the population is made up of Black people, yet the Maryland General Assembly were not able to pass any substantive law enforcement reform to address the issue of police brutality. This is a disgraceful fact in the light of the recent report that was published by the ALCU that reveals that 109 people since 2010 have been killed at the hands of law enforcement. All this points to a fundamental lack of understanding about what progress looks like as it relates to issues of racism in America. Including individual Black people in high level institutional positions is not a substantive challenge to racism. Having a Black Lieutenant Governor, Black elected officials, Black friends etc are not substantive challenges to racism. That type of inclusion has the affect of putting a Black face on an institution that is adversely affecting Black people. We have to have a more sophisticated understanding of the dynamics of racism that goes beyond the symbolic gestures of inclusion and toward
Dayvon Love
an analysis that centers around substantive improvements in the quality of life of Black people. The General Assembly’s failure to move any substantive legislation on this issue, and the silence of the leadership in Annapolis on this issue is an example of institutional racism. This claim unfortunately frightens people because people often don’t have the requisite literacy on issues of racism and quite frankly the emotional maturity to understand that the charge of institutional racism is not about individual attitudes or character flaws, but about the effect that an institution has on the people it serves. The leadership in the Maryland General Assembly should be embarrassed that it could not get anything done to address the issue of police brutality in Maryland this year. This is such a major national issue that affects people here in Maryland. It would be disingenuous to proclaim Maryland to be such a progressive state if it did not have the will to pass something substantive on the issue of police brutality. Dayvon Love is the Director of Public Policy for Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle and former national debate champion.
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