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Here Comes the Boom: An Assembly for Black Women and Girls is a conference planned by a dynamic coalition of organizations committed to developing leadership and political power for black women and girls. The goals at the assembly are to create an inclusive space for youth, trans, gender non-conforming, folks that are differently abled, folks that speak many languages, parents, formerly incarcerated and those with various learning styles. The Miami-based conference will focus on "what Black women and girls are doing in the community, and develop a political platform representative of our community." The Assembly will kick off on Friday, June 22, 2018, and will conclude on Saturday, June 23, 2018. Click here to learn more and register for this free event! As reported by US News and World Report, a new sweeping study conducted by the National Urban League indicates that "African-Americans are at 72.5% – less than three-fourths – when it comes to achieving equality with white Americans" in the areas of economics, health, education, civic engagement and social justice." According to the Equality Index:
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. The National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Inc.'s vision is to see Black women and girls live in a world where socio-economic inequity does not exist. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Michael Conaway’s farm bill proposal "would require SNAP participants ages 18 through 59 who aren’t disabled or raising a child under 6 to prove — every month — that they’re working at least 20 hours a week, participating at least 20 hours a week in a work program, or a combination of the two." Notably, persons who do not meet program requirements within a month "would lose benefits for one year the first time this happens, and for three years for any later occurrence."
Moreover, the proposal will likely do little to help people who are out of work find high-quality jobs and "participating states will spend considerable resources to track the millions of people subject to the requirements." Learn more about the proposed changes here. A recent study conducted by the Center for Demography and Ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison finds that "the gap in student debt held by Black and White borrowers grows by 6.8% each year" and as a result, Black young adults hold 10.4% less wealth on average than their White counterparts due to differences in student-loan debt." For-profit colleges which target Black students and tend to have worse outcomes are negatively implicated in this research which indicates that "the processes that students use to both accumulate and pay down debt are racialized." This situation ensures that Black students are likely to "typically need to rely more on debt to pay for school." The study is available for review here.
The Center for Demography and Ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is "a multi-disciplinary faculty research cooperative for social scientific demographic research whose membership includes sociologists, rural sociologists, economists, epidemiologists, and statisticians." Learn more about the Center here. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Trump's proposal to raise minimum rents by up to $1800 per year for the poorest households receiving federal rent assistance would put 1.7 million people (including nearly 1 million children) at risk for eviction, hardship and homelessness. Virtually all impacted households have an annual income of less than $7,000. The proposal would triple minimum rent for these families. Learn more about the proposal here.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities is a nonpartisan research and policy institute that pursues federal and state policies designed both to reduce poverty and inequality and to restore fiscal responsibility in equitable and effective ways. The National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Inc. is a non-partisan organization. A new study from the Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Racial Equity at Duke University addresses "What We Get Wrong About Closing the Racial Wealth Gap." Notably, the report "addresses ten commonly held myths about the racial wealth gap in the United States" and concludes that conventional ideas, including "greater educational attainment, harder work, better financial decisions, and other changes in habits and practices on the part of Blacks" will not "bridge the racial chasm in wealth" between Blacks and Whites and that moreover, these so-called solutions "place the brunt of the responsibility on Black Americans, to correct a problem they did not create." Authors indicate that "a narrative that places the onus of the racial wealth gap on black defectiveness is false in all of its permutations" and that the cause of the racial wealth gap "must be found in the structural characteristics of the American economy, heavily infused at every point with both an inheritance of racism and the ongoing authority of white supremacy." The report can be found in its entirety here.
The Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Racial Equity at Duke University is a scholarly collaborative engaged in the study of the causes and consequences of inequality and in the assessment and redesign of remedies for inequality and its adverse effects. Concerned with the economic, political, social and cultural dimensions of uneven and inequitable access to resources, opportunity and capabilities, Cook Center researchers take a cross-national comparative approach to the study of human difference and disparity. The National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Inc.'s vision is to see Black women and girls live in a world where socio-economic inequity does not exist. According to a report from the National Women's Law Center on Suspensions for Girls of Color by School District, Black girls are five times as likely as white girls to get suspended in schools across the country. The same report indicated that for Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools, Girls of Color account for a full 91% of school suspensions when they are only 69% of girls enrolled. Recently the Washington Post covered this issue in the District of Columbia, noting that "these punishments interrupt girls’ educations while sending dangerous messages to the school community: how a girl looks is more important than what she thinks, and girls are ultimately responsible for the misbehavior of boys.” Read the full article here.
The National Women's Law Center "has worked for more than 40 years to protect and promote equality and opportunity for women and families." The National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Inc. remains to committed to gender equity and advocacy on behalf of Black women and girls. In April 2018, the Charlotte Observer reported that "developers are seeking almost $24 million worth of subsidies from Charlotte's Housing Trust Fund to build new affordable apartments throughout the city, as rents continue to rise." The city of Charlotte's Housing and Neighborhood Development committee is leading the charge to building "diverse and livable communities," and heard the developer's request at a recent meeting. Click here to learn more about the work of the committee and their steps toward diverse price point housing.
Early voting for the 2018 Mecklenburg County Primary Election ended on Saturday, May 5th, 2018. Election day is Tuesday, May 8th, 2018 from 6:30am to 7:30pm -- all registered voters must vote in their assigned precinct. Do YOU know who is on your ballot? Click here to find out!  According to NPR, "the top civil rights official at the Department of Health and Human Services is creating the Division of Conscience and Religious Freedom to protect doctors, nurses and other health care workers who refuse to take part in procedures like abortion or treat certain people because of moral or religious objections." These new protections, in service to a very broad definition of religious liberty, might be expanded to allow health workers to refuse some services to gay, lesbian and transgender people and other marginalized groups in that the current administration, "understands religious liberty to override anti discrimination principles." Visit NPR here for more details.
NPR is a mission-driven, multimedia news organization and radio program producer. On-air and online, NPR presents fact-based, independent journalism that examines and airs diverse perspectives. The National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Inc. -- Queen City Metropolitan Chapter is committed to advocacy on behalf of black women and girls. |
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