I’ll take college for one please. . .

According to a recent study done by Louisiana State University, there has been a rise in college and university enrollment.  The study assumes that young people are choosing to pursue college as an alternative to lingering joblessness in our tough economy. Getting a High school diploma may not be making the grade and it looks as if America’s youth are choosing higher education.

Research from The Pew Research Center showed that there is an increase in diversity which could lead to new conversations about diversity and university admissions and selection. The Government released number s showing a 6% increase in enrollment for minority students equating to an estimated 2.6 million minority students in colleges and universities around the nation. The largest jump has been with Hispanic students. The findings show Freshman enrollment of Hispanics in higher education jumped by 15 percent in 2008, compared to 8 percent for blacks, 6 percent for Asians and 3 percent for whites.

The research further describes the increase as the highest since the Vietnam war where students could avoid the military draft. 99 problems and college could solve them all?

Posted by:

Christina Sanders

NAACP Hosts the Bev Smith Show!

This past Monday, NAACP’s CEO and President Benjamin Jealous had the opportunity to host the Bev Smith Show. During the show, Mr. Jealous along with Carmen Berkeley (NAACP Region 2 Field Organizer and Barbara Lee Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus), talked about Youth Jobs in America and the plan for Youth Job creation! They even gave insight on how we can help get Youth Jobs passed. Listen to the show here!

Posted by:

Kirin Kennedy

CBC meets with Obama to discuss summer jobs legislation

In a meeting aides described as “frank but cordial,” members of the Congressional Black Caucus told President Barack Obama on Thursday that he has to do more to help African-Americans.

Members of the caucus have complained — both publicly and privately — that they aren’t getting enough from the nation’s first black president. Thursday’s hourlong session was their chance to make that case directly with Obama, and aides said they did just that.

CBC Chairwoman Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) said the group discussed direct job creation and work force training as well as areas where government can help “create jobs immediately.”
… Continue Reading

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The Editor

US Senate Kills Summer Jobs!!!

On Tuesday, Senate Republicans — along with some Democrats — defeated a measure to provide $1.3 billion for summer jobs for young people this year and a $1.3 billion extension of enhanced subsidies for poor families with children.

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), who introduced the amendment along with Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), pleaded with her colleagues not to object.

“I have personally heard the stories of these young men and women whose summer jobs changed their lives across the country,” she said. “This amendment will provide $1.3 billion to create up to 500,000 temporary jobs this coming summer. It will invest in critical employment and learning programs that will help not only these young people but the businesses who hire them.”

partially jacked via

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The Editor

Hill lags in hiring Hispanics

Hispanics make up nearly one-sixth of the U.S. population, but a new study shows that they’re almost nonexistent in high-level staff positions on Capitol Hill.

Out of 100 Senate chiefs of staff, only one is Hispanic: Amanda Renteria, who works for Michigan Democrat Debbie Stabenow. There are no Hispanic legislative directors or deputy chiefs of staff in the Senate, the study shows, and only one Hispanic staff director.

In the House, the study finds, Hispanics hold only 12 of the roughly 440 chief of staff jobs and only nine of about 440 legislative director slots.

The Congressional Hispanic Staff Association calls the results an “outrage.”

“For whatever reason, we’re just not getting into senior-level positions,” said the chairman of the CHSA’s Placement Committee, whose office would not allow him to give his name. “We’re really trying to avoid finger-pointing at any one individual office. The real problem is that every single office is hiring [fewer] Latinos than they should be.”

That’s not to say that lawmakers aren’t hiring Latinos to staff their offices — currently, 156 members of Congress, seven leadership offices and 27 committee offices have at least one Hispanic employee on staff, according to the Latino Leaders Network.

But when Latinos are hired, it’s most often for low-level positions that don’t offer opportunities for policy work. A 2009 House employment survey found that the greatest number of Hispanic staffers in the House work as schedulers, followed by staff assistants.

Read more:

Posted by:

The Editor

Understanding Unequal Unemployment

The unemployment rates you hear on the news are misleading. The overall unemployment rate is currently at a shocking high of 9.6%–but the ethnic breakdown of this figure is still more disturbing.

According to a study released July 15 by The Economic Policy Institute, minorities are significantly more likely to be jobless than their white counterparts. Part of this can be attributed to the recession, which has taken its toll on non-white communities the worst.

Yet even this cannot account for the shocking unemployment gap that exists. African-Americans typically suffer unemployment rates that are twice as high as their white peers, while Hispanics come in at 1.5% more than Whites. For example, currently in Alabama there is a 5.8% unemployment rate for whites while for African-Americans it jumps to 15.1%! In Louisiana, African-Americans were three times more likely to be jobless. And the same is true for Hispanics, who’s unemployment rates are suspected to be higher than reported (it is thought that many illegal aliens would have feared taking part in this study).

The bad news is that the unemployment gap between whites and minorities is increasing. The good news, however, is that there are tentative plans to improve the situation by imposing a small tax on stocks to create extra resources for job creation in these hard hit communities.

Find out more about the inequalities of unemployment rates, and how you can GET INVOLVED at http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE56E83L20090716.

Posted by:

Yolanda Clatworthy

Killing Outreach Programs (Indirectly) Kills Kids

It’s unthinkable that a kid is killed in a drive-by while at an Anti-Violence Rally. Yet that’s precisely what happened to 13 year old Tamrah Leonard in Trenton, New Jersey last Sunday! Abomination! How is society not outraged at this heinous act?

Sadly, it was not an isolated incident.The economic recession has had an adverse affect on homicide rates, which are skyrocketing. Homicide is now the leading cause of death among young African American youth, and the number two cause of death for all other youth aged 10-24. Dire straits mean that desperate youth are becoming increasingly likely to resort to violence. At the same time, decreased funding means that many after-school programs–which have been proven to get youth off the streets and lower crime rates–are at risk of being reduced or eradicated entirely.

Thankfully, outreach programs provide hope that change is on the horizon. Find out more about these matters of life-or-death, and WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP, at http://www.campusprogress.org/fieldreport/4284/killing-the-programs-we-need-most.

Posted by:

Yolanda Clatworthy

More Diversity = More Profit

My friend recently interviewed for a job at a large economic firm in New York. While researching the company, he turns to me and says, “The CEO is a woman. Isn’t that weird?”

Rare? Perhaps. Weird? Absolutely not.

In fact, studies have shown that having more women in senior positions isn’t simply “fair,”  it is more profitable. According to studies conducted by Ernst & Young, Columbia University, McKinsey & Co, Goldman Sachs, and Pepperdine University, companies with more female senior members yield higher profits.  In fact, Pepperdine University found that Fortune 500 firms with women in charge profited 18 to 69 percent more than other companies.  In examining the top European companies, McKinsey found that more gender diversity led to higher stock performance. Similarly, “Catalyst, a research firm focused on women and business, found that Fortune 500 companies with three or more women in senior management positions score higher on top measures of organizational excellence. In addition, companies with three or more women on their boards outperformed the competition on all measures by at least 40 percent.”

Still not convinced? Let us put the numbers aside and be a little politically incorrect. … Continue Reading

Posted by:

Kiera Aaron