National Urban League

NEW YORK -- The vision for winning the future President Obama presented in the State of the Union address embraced several concepts included in the National Urban League’s Jobs Rebuild America plan, Marc H. Morial, President and CEO of the National Urban League, said. 
 
“Clean energy, infrastructure development and broadband technology hold enormous potential for economic development and job creation, and I was encouraged to hear the President focus on these vital sectors,” Morial said.  “Investments in urban communities will awaken the long underutilized economic potential of cities and communities across the country and revitalize the economy as a whole”.
 
Elimination of tax loopholes, which would allow a reduction in tax rates was among the recommendations of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Debt Reduction Task Force, of which Morial was a member.
 
“We applaud the President for his foresight in recognizing that we need to prepare our workforce for the jobs of the future and to be able to compete with the rest of the world,” Morial said. “Revolutions in technology truly have changed the world and global competition for jobs is, as he says, very real.  That is why the National Urban League believes it is more urgent than ever that we target our limited resources to those youth and adults who have been disproportionately impacted by the recession - especially in our urban communities - by adopting the NUL’s proposals on summer jobs, reforming our workforce development system, and enacting the Urban Youth Empowerment Program.”
 
The President’s broad message is one of hope for the future and unity as a nation, Morial said.
 
“President Obama has challenged us all to be a part of the solution,” Morial said. “We look forward to working with him to refine these concepts into specific proposals. With a practical approach that invites every American to be a contributing member of a vibrant economy, we can ‘win the future.’”
 

The National Urban League is a historic civil rights organization dedicated to economic empowerment in order to elevate the standard of living in historically underserved urban communities. Founded in 1910 and headquartered in New York City, the National Urban League spearheads the efforts of its local affiliates through the development of programs, public policy research and advocacy. Today, there are more than 100 local affiliates in 36 states and the District of Columbia, providing direct services that impact and improve the lives of more than 2 million people nationwide.