Roland Martin talks with Civic Engagement and Governance Institute Acting Director Michael Wenger about his new book, My Black Family, My White Privilege.

This interview can be heard on Black America Web.

A key step in achieving asset-building goals is developing a solid legislative strategy. The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies has collaborated with RAISE Florida to develop a legislative strategy to help achieve the coalition's goals with regard to funding for IDAs (Individual Development Accounts) and fostering sustainable homeownership. Join Wilhelmina Leigh and Melissa Wells of the Joint Center for a webinar to learn about this strategy and how to apply it in your state.

To register for this webinar, click on the REGISTER button to your right.

Scholars gathered for the African American Economic Summit at Howard University on Friday sketched an alarming picture of the financial ills afflicting the black community even as the nation recovers from the recession.

The white-black wealth disparity is more than 20 to 1. Black homeownership has declined. Black joblessness is up. Black income is down.

As the conferees gathered, the government released new figures showing the black unemployment rate at 13.8 percent, nearly double the 7.0 percent for whites. The overall jobless rate is 7.9 percent.

As bleak as the economic picture is for black Americans, the immediate prospects for improving it are worse, many participants said. They agreed that chances are remote for the kind of aggressive, targeted action needed to combat those problems and close the economic disparities that have long separated blacks and whites.

“We are basically talking about an economic system that is shot through with discrimination,” said Bernard E. Anderson, a former assistant secretary of labor.

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During the depths of the crisis, Obama often said he wanted to build a better, more durable economy in the recovery. Conference participants said they are challenging him to live up to his word.

“We would all like to see him pursue that course,” said Ralph B. Everette, president and chief executive of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, which co-sponsored the event.

Read more at The Washington Post.

A national summit of scholars from universities and policy think tanks will meet at Howard University on February 1, 2013, for the Fourth Annual African American Economic Summit to discuss and analyze policy options and initiatives they think should be considered during President Obama’s second term. The summit will provide an array of innovative policy options aimed at driving informed advocacy for progressive social change.

Scholars from leading universities and think tanks will look at issues such as wealth and income disparities, unemployment and labor, housing, health, education and treatment of returning veterans.  Congressman Robert (“Bobby”) Scott (D-VA) and  Bernard E. Anderson of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School will examine the current economic crisis, especially with regard to its impact on African Americans, and offer policy prescriptions for the President’s second term.

The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies will be represented by President and CEO Ralph B. Everett and Dr. Wilhelmina Leigh, an expert on wealth accumulation and housing policy.

The event will be held at the Blackburn Center on Howard University’s main campus from 9:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. on February 1, 2013, and includes a luncheon address by distinguished scholar and policy expert Jim Carr. The event is free and open to the public, but space is limited. The event will also be live-streamed at http://www.coas.howard.edu/economics.

For event registration, including lunch, please click on the REGISTER link to your right.
 

A national summit of scholars from universities and policy think tanks will meet at Howard University on February 1, 2013, for the Fourth Annual African American Economic Summit to discuss and analyze policy options and initiatives they think should be considered during President Obama’s second term. A central theme of the Summit will be the remarkably persistent racial disparities in U.S. society and how policymakers should seek to address them.

Scholars from leading universities (Duke, Howard,  Georgetown, the New School, the University of Pennsylvania, and John Jay College), and think tanks (the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies and Brookings Institution) will take a hard look at issues such as wealth and income disparities, unemployment and labor, housing, health, education and treatment of returning veterans.  Congressman Robert (“Bobby”) Scott (D-VA) and  Bernard E. Anderson of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School will examine the current economic crisis, especially with regard to its impact on African Americans, and offer policy prescriptions for the President’s second term.

Distinguished scholar and policy expert James (“Jim”) Carr, who has served in senior positions with the Opportunity Agenda, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, and Fannie Mae, will speak on the challenges that continue to afflict the housing market.

The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies will be represented by President and CEO Ralph B. Everett and Dr. Wilhelmina Leigh, an expert on wealth accumulation and housing policy.

Download and read the entire press release by clicking the icon below.

A national summit of scholars from universities and policy think tanks will meet at Howard University on February 1, 2013, for the Fourth Annual African American Economic Summit to discuss and analyze policy options and initiatives they think should be considered during President Obama’s second term. A central theme of the Summit will be the remarkably persistent racial disparities in U.S. society and how policymakers should seek to address them.

Scholars from leading universities (Duke, Howard,  Georgetown, the New School, the University of Pennsylvania, and John Jay College), and think tanks (the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies and Brookings Institution) will take a hard look at issues such as wealth and income disparities, unemployment and labor, housing, health, education and treatment of returning veterans.  Congressman Robert (“Bobby”) Scott (D-VA) and  Bernard E. Anderson of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School will examine the current economic crisis, especially with regard to its impact on African Americans, and offer policy prescriptions for the President’s second term.

Distinguished scholar and policy expert James (“Jim”) Carr, who has served in senior positions with the Opportunity Agenda, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, and Fannie Mae, will speak on the challenges that continue to afflict the housing market.

The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies will be represented by President and CEO Ralph B. Everett and Dr. Wilhelmina Leigh, an expert on wealth accumulation and housing policy.
 

Read the entire press release by clicking the icon below.

Monday, Barack Obama took the ceremonial presidential oath of office for the second and final time. The fanfare was again deafening. The expectations for his second term again outsized.  Black voters who supported President Obama by more than a 9 to 1 margin in 2008 and 2012 can now rest, assured that he will have plenty of time to cement his legacy.

But fast forward to four years from now. Chief Justice John Roberts administers the oath to the 45th American president. At that moment, our first black president will officially become our first black former president. Who will be the second? Deval Patrick? Cory Booker? A newly ascendant member of the Congressional Black Caucus? Who’s got next?  And more important, how long will it take?

While black voters have proven that we can lead a diverse and powerful coalition to elect our preferred candidate, someone who actually looks like us, we continue to underperform in state, local, and midterm elections. This kind of inattention could mean another lifetime before we see a black face in the oval office again.

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Presidents rarely come out of nowhere like Obama appeared to do. Candidates who are not backed by tremendous power and money cannot persevere for extended lengths of time politically. They must see their moment and swiftly amass the resources to seize it. Though Obama did just that, his path to the White House can’t easily be replicated. To even consider a second black president, we have to develop the kind of institutions and tools that incubate black political talent. We have to be intentional.

How? Blacks can’t expect to compete for the White House every four years. At 12 percent of the voting population, we simply don’t have the numbers. So for starters, we don’t wait around for the next Michael Jordan to spring from the ether. We build a pipeline. The Congressional Black Caucus Institute is dedicated to training the next generation of political leaders and educating voters about political engagement. We need to support CBCI and organizations like it – the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, and others – to ensure that they remain faithful to their missions and prepare our young leaders for public service at every level.

Read more at The Washington Post.

Although there is still doubt, rumors dictate that the president may appoint Latinos in cabinet, yet the questions still remain the same: Who, when and where?

Last week, the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda handed their letter to the administration in an attempt to remind the White House that there is a “wealth of competent Latinos.” The list included 19 potential Latinos from both the public and private sector who are seen as possible candidates. Rumors dictate that the White House is indicating it may appoint two Latinos.

Names such as Mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa rumored to possibly be on the list for a higher appointment was also listed. Analysts believe because of his experience with labor, his influence with Mayors and charisma, it’s not unlikely to suggest he could fit as a Secretary of Transportation, if it becomes vacant, or Secretary of Labor.

“There’s no doubt that this administration is going to want to make sure that they have Latinos as part of their administration, so the million dollar question is where do you put them?” said Arnold Torres, former executive director of the League of United Latin American Citizens, who now works as a policy consultant.

The two vacancies include secretary of labor and secretary of the interior with Villaraigosa being seen by some as being qualified for secretary of labor.

“It is possible that they may just turn around and give him a position dealing with cities, the mayors, they may create a new position within the cabinet for that purpose,” said Torres.

He explained that the only other vacancy that is high profile at this point is the Department of Labor considering that Villaraigosa’s experience does not match in the secretary of interior. Other political analysts including David Bositis, senior research associate of civic engagement and government institute at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, indicated that there isn’t a lot of experience that is needed for the secretary of labor position.

“If you have good relations with organized labor, then you don’t have to have some specialty in order to be appointed to that position,” said Bositis.
 

Read more at The Huffington Post.

Since Barack Obama was inaugurated on the west Capitol steps four years ago, a dramatic 30-foot memorial to civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. has been unveiled at the other end of the National Mall.

But a key part of the political landscape President Obama will survey as he is sworn in for a second term — that is, the number of black officials in top elective offices — hasn't changed a bit.

Obama's groundbreaking election in 2008 and his re-election in 2012 undeniably has affected the nation's racial politics, proving it's possible for an African American to win the nation's highest office and raising the aspirations of some black candidates. He sparked record turnout in two elections among African American voters.

"One of the many things significant that happened when this president was elected: It gave a much larger group of people an opportunity to be unburdened by who has traditionally done what," says Kamala Harris, who in 2010 became the first woman and first black elected attorney general of California.

"There's a bigger ripple than we tend to assign to it," says Kweisi Mfume, a former congressman and president of the NAACP.

In the admittedly short four years since the 2008 election, however, the Obama effect hasn't been reflected in more black candidates actually winning election to the Senate, the House and the nation's governorships. At the intersection of Monday's events — the federal holiday honoring King and the public inauguration of a black president for a second term — the path to the top jobs in American politics seems as steep as ever.

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"If race weren't an issue in this country, the place you would expect to see African Americans elected to statewide office with African American votes would be Southern states with large black populations," says David Bositis, an expert on minority voting and representation at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. "But it's becoming a white, conservative, Republican-dominated area of the country, which means that African Americans, with a few exceptions, are out in terms of statewide office."

Read more at USA Today.

In 2004, the Sullivan Commission on Diversity in the Healthcare Workforce found that "the civil rights movement of the 1960s ended the more visible racial and ethnic barriers, but it did not eliminate entrenched patterns of inequality in healthcare, which remain the unfinished business of the civil rights movement." Former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher told Crisis magazine at the time that the health disparities that existed were a matter of life and death and a lot of unnecessary pain and suffering.

Fast-forward a decade and not much has changed.

Nearly 50 percent of African Americans suffer from some type of chronic disease -- including diabetes and certain cancers -- compared to 39 percent of the general population. The life expectancy of African Americans is five years less than that of whites due to conditions such as heart disease and stroke. Blacks have a higher prevalence of high blood pressure or hypertension than any other group. African Americans are twice as likely to have diabetes than whites and more likely to be overweight and obese than their white counterparts.

Even the nation's first black president has taken note of what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes as the striking health disparities between African Americans and other racial groups.

"We know that even as spiraling health care costs crush families of all races, African Americans are more likely to suffer from a host of diseases but less likely to own health insurance than just about anyone else," President Obama said in July 2009.

Currently an estimated 20 percent of African Americans are uninsured (pdf), contributing to the growing health disparities that exist in America's communities. Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.) introduced legislation to create an annual report on health disparities.

"Every person," said Davis, "should have access to high quality comprehensive health care that is affordable to them without regard to their ability to pay."

President Obama signed the historic Affordable Health Care Act in 2010, which extended health care coverage to 7 million African Americans.

"There's a lot in this law for people of color," said Brian Smedley, vice president and director of the health policy institute at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, in an interview with The Root.

Smedley pointed to many provisions that are already in effect. For example, insurance companies can no longer deny claims based on pre-existing conditions, and young adults can now stay on their parents' health care plan until they reach age 26. That means 230,000 black women and 180,000 black men between the ages of 19 and 25 can continue to have health insurance under their parents' plan. The legislation also raised the eligibility requirements for Medicaid, providing 4 million more African Americans access to health insurance coverage. Seniors will now be able to get annual wellness exams, diabetes screenings and colorectal cancer screenings.

Read more at The Root.