White House report outlines Obama successes in Black community

21st November 2011   ·   0 Comments

By Hazel Trice Edney
Contributing Writer

(TriceEdneyWire.com) — A 44-page report, compiled by the Obama Administration, for the first time seeks to outline all of the major successes the President has made in Black communities over the past three years. The report was released Nov. 10, during a White House conference on African-American policies.

In remarks at the conference, President Obama described it as a “com­pilation of everything we’ve done over the last three years that has not only lessened the severity of the crisis for millions of people, kept millions of folks out of poverty, made sure that millions of folks still had unemployment benefits, health care, et cetera, but also talks about the foundations that we are laying so that as the economy recovers, the African-American community and communities all across the country of every stripe are going to have an opportunity to finally begin to rebuild so that we are seeing good, solid, middle-class jobs with good benefits that families who are desperate for their piece of the American Dream, that they’re going to be able to achieve it.”

Though federal employees aren’t allowed to campaign in the White House, it was clear that the Administration hopes the information will spread into Black communities across the nation.

Melody Barnes, director of the President’s Domestic Policy Council, told the more than 200 Black leaders that she hopes the report “will be a guide for you as you go out and you talk in your communities about the work that we’ve done. And also know that it’s something that we’re building on,” she said, noting that Obama has “pushed all of us to think more boldly, more creatively about the work that we’re going to do to build on what we’ve been able to put in place over the past three years.”

The full report can be found at www.whitehouse.gov/africanamericans. Among the highlights:

Tax Relief for Virtually All Working Americans. The Presi­dent secured the Making Work Pay tax credit in 2009 and 2010 and a payroll tax cut in 2011 that amounted to a two percent raise for working Americans through 2011. In addition, the President secured historic expansions in refundable tax credits Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit for low-income families. The American Jobs Act will extend and expand tax relief for every American family next year. The American Jobs Act will extend and expand tax relief for virtually every American family next year, including nearly 20 million African American workers.

Subsidized Jobs for Low-Income Adults and Youth. Through the Recovery Act, 367,000 low-income youth received summer employment and over 260,000 adults and youth were placed in subsidized jobs. The American Jobs Act builds on the success of these programs by supporting summer jobs and pathways to work for unemployed Americans and youths.

Support for African Ameri­can-Owned Small Businesses. Since the beginning of the Administration, the President has enacted 17 tax cuts for small businesses, including billions of dollars in tax credits, write-offs, and deductions for Americans who start new businesses, hire the unemployed, and provide health insurance for their employees. In addition, through the Small Business Jobs Act and other measures, the President has taken steps to expand American American-owned small businesses’ access to credit –through programs like the Community Dev­elopment Financial Institu­tions and the New Markets Tax Credit, which provided over $4 billion in capital to predominantly African-American communities. The American Jobs Act would cut payroll taxes in half for every American small business, including more than 100,000 African American owned firms.

Reform K-12 and Early Edu­cation through Innovative, New Programs. President Obama created Race to the Top with a historic $4.35 billion investment. As a result of the initiative, over 40 states have raised standards, improved assessments, and in­vested in teachers to ensure that all of our children receive a high-quality education. A similar Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge has been developed to raise the quality of and increase access to critical programs that ensure our kids are entering school ready to learn. In addition to these historic investments, the President has also fought against Republican budget cuts to critical programs like Head Start. The American Jobs Act provides $30 billion for States to hire new teachers, rehire those laid off, and prevent as many as 280,000 teachers whose jobs are at risk next year from being laid off.

Increase College Access and Affordability. Since the beginning of the Administration, the President has dramatically increased Pell Grant funding to support an additional 200,000 African-American students, created the American Opportunity Tax Credit to ease college costs, and championed bold and comprehensive reform of student loans that will save taxpayers $68 billion over the next decade. Together, these represent the largest investment in higher education since the G.I. Bill. The President also secured $850 million in additional funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities and $150 million for predominantly Black institutions.

Keep Americans in Their Homes During a Housing and Economic Crisis. The Admin­istra­tion’s programs, both through their direct and indirect impact on the market, have helped more than 4 million families permanently modify their mortgages so they can stay in their homes. Through the Re­covery Act, the President provided $1.5 billion for the Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program to prevent homelessness for one million Americans. The American Jobs Act builds on the success of these programs with the new “Project Rebuild,” which will invest in the communities hardest hit by the housing downturn.

Create Economically-Sus­tainable Neighborhoods. The Administration has secured $40 million for Promise Neighbor­hoods and $126 million to Choice Neighborhoods that provide a continuum of services to combat the challenges facing communities most in need. The new Strong Cities, Strong Com­munities is helping strengthen cities and regions by increasing the capacity of local governments to execute their economic growth plans, while also delivering federal assistance tailored to the local government’s needs.

Expand Health Care Access for Families and Workers. Within a month of taking office, the President signed the Child­ren’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act into law, expanding health coverage to more than four million children who would otherwise go uninsured. And the historic Affordable Care Act, when fully implemented, will expand health coverage to about 34 million Americans, including as many as seven million African Americans.

Protect Civil Rights and Promote Criminal Justice. The President has signed major legislation like the Fair Sentencing Act and the Claims Resolution Act, and worked to expand and enforce hate crimes prosecutions, reduce unfairness in sentencing, and counter employment discrimination.

This article was originally published in the November 21, 2011 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper