Infrastructure investments will have an outsized impact on job creation among Latinos and African Americans, according to a new issue brief from EPI Director of Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy Algernon Austin.

In Infrastructure Investments and Latino and African American Job Creation, Austin outlines how infrastructure investments can help create jobs among people of color, who were disproportionally hard hit by the recession.

“While the government should be focusing on a return to full employment, we must also look at ways to close the unemployment gap between white workers and people of color,” said Austin. “We know that the right infrastructure investments can help reduce these gaps, and I strongly encourage President Obama and members of Congress to take this into account when looking at how to create jobs.”

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“In addition to the positive impact that infrastructure projects have on minority employment, this analysis shows the particular value of creating green jobs, not only in terms of economic progress but also in addressing long-term public health concerns in communities of color,” said Ralph B. Everett, President and CEO of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.

Read more at the Economic Policy Institute.

While African Americans are underrepresented in the public debates on climate change and environmental issues generally, they are as aware of these issues as other groups in American society, and committed to action--both personal and governmental--to deal with the problems associated with climate change.

A majority of African Americans believe climate change (and global warming) is a major problem, and they believe that global warming will have significant negative effects on public health and economic instability through severe weather events. A majority believe these problems will be worse for future generations.

This is a report on the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies' National Survey of African Americans on Climate Change and Conservation. The findings are from a random digit dialing telephone survey of 750 African American adults conducted between July 20, 2009 and July 30, 2009.

Watching Ken Burns’s film on the Dust Bowl recently, I wondered whether we could learn anything from the government’s response to that earlier environmental disaster. President Franklin D. Roosevelt was counseled by some advisers to abandon much of the Dust Bowl region; they argued that it was never meant to be farmed or settled. Ultimately some areas were restored to their natural grassland state. But Roosevelt also envisioned families staying on the land, and he moved quickly and decisively to confront the causes of the topsoil erosion: he sent crews to plant millions of trees as windbreaks and began coaxing reluctant farmers toward fundamental changes in the ways they worked their fields.

Hurricane Sandy has presented us with an opportunity to take stock of what kind of communities are viable and sustainable along a fragile stretch of coast. And the best route may very well be to rebuild in some communities while restoring other land to its natural state in order to create a shield against future catastrophes.

Read more at The New York Times.

Moving toward energy independence and improving minorities vantage point in the energy industry were some of the issues discussed during the “Solving the Energy Equation: Demand, Supply, Infrastructure and how it Impacts our Communities” panel at the 2012 Congressional Black Caucus Legislative Conference last Friday.

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Dr. Georges C. Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association and board member of the Joint Center for Political and  Economic Policies Health Policy Institute’s Advisory Committee agreed that striving for energy independence “…is an opportunity for a win-win” considering how climate change disproportionately affects minority and low income communities.

Read more at Politic365.

Expanding climate change mitigation approaches beyond greenhouse gases to also target related pollutants would have enormous public health benefits in the nation's most disadvantaged communities, according to a report released today by E3 Network and the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.

The report, Cooling the Planet, Clearing the Air: Climate Policy, Carbon Pricing, and Co-Benefits, found that the same industrial facilities that emit carbon tend to generate other harmful pollutants that actually pose a more immediate and direct threat to the health of nearby residents.  Adding these harmful 'co-pollutants' to a climate change mitigation strategy would have an almost immediate positive health impact on the health of millions of poor and minority Americans.  The research showed that the benefits would be comparable in economic value to the benefits of the carbon reduction by itself.

Read more at Environmental Expert.

The Joint Center, in partnership with Ecotrust, recently hosted a launch event to release the groundbreaking report entitled, Cooling the Planet, Clearing the Air: Should Climate Policies Give Extra Credit for Maximizing Short-term Health Benefits? by Professors Manuel Pastor and James Boyce.  The Honorable James E. Clyburn, the Assistant Democratic Leader in the House of Representatives, was guest speaker and discussed the importance of the report before a packed room.

In response to requests, a webinar with the authors will be held on Tuesday, October 9, 2012 at 12 noon EST/ 9 a.m. PST to share the findings and policy recommendations and take questions from a national audience. This is the first national level study to take a careful look at the potential to reduce harmful air pollution as part of strategies to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The report argues that we need to build GHG reduction into energy policy not simply for efficiency reasons – why leave public health benefits lying on the ground? – but also for equity reasons: the facilities that emit GHGs and the associated co-pollutants are disproportionately in low-income communities and communities of color.

Download the entire press release below and register for the webinar here!