Groups push for more job creation in black and Latino communities

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News Segments

Fri, 11/20/2009 - 13:14

Length: 5:37 minutes (5.14 MB)
Format: MP3 Mono 44kHz 128Kbps (CBR)

The official unemployment rate has passed 10 percent nationwide, and if you add in other jobless people, like time workers or those who have given up actively looking for work, the rate is more than 17 percent.

The numbers have sent policy experts into panic mode. But for many communities and neighborhoods, unemployment has been above 10 percent for years. The unemployment rate for African Americans nationwide is close to 16 percent. For Latinos it is 13 percent. A deeper look at numbers is even more troubling. Five urban areas nationwide have an unemployment rate around 50 percent for black males - that's Buffalo, San Diego, Detroit, Pittsburg and Milwaukee, according to a report released in September from the University of Wisconsin's Center for Economic Development.

Federal economic stimulus dollars are trying to reverse that trend – but groups are questioning whether enough attention is going to communities of color. On Thursday, members of the Congressional Black Caucus forced a postponement of the federal regulation reform because they said not enough is being done to stimulate jobs in communities they represent.

For a closer look, we go to Richmond, Virginia where the jobless rate for black males is around 40 percent.

We're joined by Claude Stevens, Chief Operating Officer with Boaz and Ruth, a community group that has had success in turning around a neighborhood there.

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