Primary tabs
Location
Greetings,
 |
|
Chanelle Hardy Senior Vice President and Executive Director National Urban League Policy Institute |
This week, NUL President & CEO Marc Morial, myself, and our Legislative Director for Economic and Financial Policy, Garrick Davis, attended a meeting with HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan to discuss the zeroing out of dollars for housing counseling in the recently approved FY2011 budget. For more than 40 years, the NUL affiliate network has provided housing counseling services to current and prospective homeowners to help these individuals buy their first home, and to stay in their home. The impact of this budget cut on the important work of NUL and other housing intermediaries is potentially devastating.
As housing foreclosures continue and housing values plummet, a new generation of potential homeowners require the expertise of housing counselors to make the right decisions about whether, when and how to buy a home. As NUL seeks alternative sources to fund this work, NULPI continues our work with coalition partners to ensure that policymakers make strategic decisions about funding priorities. The data is clear: borrowers facing foreclosure are 60% more likely to hold onto their homes when they receive counseling and loan modifications with average monthly payments a mere $454 lower than those who did not receiving counseling services. Housing counseling is not some touchy-feely exercise designed to find houses for those who can't afford them. This is a rigorous educational and service-oriented program that creates results.
The Declaration: “War on Unemployment”
During the Legislative Policy Conference held in Washington, DC this past March, National Urban League President, Marc H. Morial, declared “War on Unemployment”. As an ongoing effort to address the rising rate of unemployment in urban communities (it now stands at 16.1% among African Americans and African American Youth unemployment has risen to 41.6%), the National Urban League developed the Jobs Rebuild America Plan, and supported the Urban Jobs Act of 2011 (HR683).
On May 6, 2011 the National Urban League launched an aggressive online effort to secure additional cosponsors of the Urban Jobs Act of 2011. Re-introduced in the House by Representative Edolphus Towns (NY), the following Representatives have already co-sponsored the bill: Robert Brady (PA); Corrine Brown (FL); Steve Cohen (TN); John Conyers, Jr. (MI); Alcee Hastings (FL); Jesse Jackson, Jr. (IL); Eddie Bernice Johnson (TX); John Lewis (GA); Gregory Meeks (NY); Donald Payne (NJ); Charles Rangel (NY); Cedric Richmond (LA); Albio Sires (NJ); and Betty Sutton (OH).
The Urban Jobs Act will create the Urban Jobs Program (based on NUL’s Successful Urban Youth Empowerment Program known as UYEP) providing desperately needed resources for NUL to offer educational programs, employment and job readiness activities, as well as, support services. These services are needed in order to reduce the disproportionate incarceration of minority youth and to prepare eligible young adults for entry into the world of work. Click here to add your voice and show your support for the Urban Jobs Act of 2011 (H.R. 683)!
