Muncie Times, Muncie, Delaware County, 15 December 2008 — Page 4

Page 4 • The Muncie Times • December 15, 2008

continued from page 1 working poor in urban America.” The National Urban League continues to forcefully advocate for a second stimulus package that makes targeted investments to stabilize the economy and create jobs, particularly in urban communities. In October, the tally of job losses rose to nearly 1.2 million for the year, leaving 10.1 million Americans unemployed. The unemployment rate is now 6.5 percent, the highest level since 1994, and African American unemployment is nearly double that: at 11.1 percent. The National Urban League believes strongly that the new stimulus plan should include an extension of unemploy ment benefits, more help to states and cities for nfrastructure project , a greater investment in summer jobs for at-risk youth, job training for disadvantaged workers, help for the stalled auto industry and the possible creation of a te iporary public service program similar to the one that generated more than 100,000 jobs during the recession of 1974-75. “We are calling on Congress to act quickly on an economic recovery bill that would immediately put Americans back to work. Our country demands it,” Morial

said. Congress must specifically address the needs of disadvantaged workers by including the following components in its economic recovery and jobs package: * Fund proven and successful models of workforce training and job placement like the Urban League’s very successful Urban Youth Empowerment Program. This can be done by increasing funding for the “Responsible Reintegration of Youthful Offenders” program in the U.S. Department of Labor. By making use of existing programs. Congress assures the timely expenditure of funds to educate, train and reintegrate workers, ages 16-30, who are underskilled. This program is already authorized and allows funding for national intermediary organizations that serve chronically disadvantaged populations. * The National Urban League urges Congress to appropriate funds to initi ate a competitive grant program targeting national intermediary community-based organizations with demonstrated capacity and a proven track record of effectiveness in training young ex-offenders and dropouts to reenter the workplace. The country cannot afford to fund

only state and local governments as a means of job training and job creation. Often it takes months, and even years, for these dollars to hit the streets after federal and local RFPs are issued. The processes for the deployment of funds at the state and local level are by necessity long and deliberative, thus undercutting the requirement of timeliness which is so essential to the success of a stimulus package. Congress should explicitly utilize nonprofit national intermediaries, including national minority non-profit intermediaries to insure the timely delivery of these services to this targeted population. * Congress must fund the Summer Youth Employment Program at a level of $3 billion to put 2.5 million teenagers to work next summer. * If Congress is going to fund infrastructure improvements, then the workforce investment dollars should be targeted to the construction industry jobs that an infrastructure program will create. If the goal is to reignite the construction industry, then Congress should fund pre-apprenticeship programs in that sector in order to benefit disadvantaged workers. These pre apprentice-

ship programs can be targeted to the type of Green Jobs as championed by President-elect Obama. * Any infrastructure plan should include more than roads, highways, bridges and levees. It should also mean money for public building construction and renovations of schools, community centers, libraries, recreation centers, parks, etc. Funding infrastructure of this type can be accomplished by increasing funding for the Community Development Block Grant (CBDG) public facilities program that is authorized under existing law that allows for construction of public facilities and improvements for eligible purposes by Municipal Governments. * A percentage of all infrastructure monies should be directed to job training, job placement and job preparation for disadvantaged workers. Unless Congress specifically targets this population in its legislation these individuals are unlikely to be hired and helped. * Congress must fund a temporary Public Service Employment (PSE) program aimed at creating 150,000 to 200,000 jobs in urban areas. Without this action, growing budget deficits in America’s

cities will mean a reduction in public services and along with it, more loss of jobs. The precedent for such a program is The Emergency Jobs and Unemployment Assistance Act of 1974 which established title VI of the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) as a temporary countercyclical prog ram of public service employment. By June of 1975, this program was responsible for providing jobs for 155,000 people. * Two years later, President Carter’s 1977 economic stimulus package added $4 billion for PSE to the fiscal year 1978 budget, resulting in jobs for 10 percent of all unemployed persons in the labor force. A field evaluation of PSE programs revealed that roughly 85 percent of PSE jobs represented new job creation, as opposed to job displacement and for every 100 PSE dollars, 86 went to directly stimulating the economy through paying salaries. Though the program was initially intended to combat cyclical employment, research indicates that in many jurisdictions, the program showed potential for alleviating structural employment. “PSE workers were continued on page 43