New Report on Jobs, Housing, Education Shows "Hope Needs Help" in New Orleans

BUILDING A BETTER NEW ORLEANS: HOPE NEEDS HELP

New report shows that, despite some successes, Katrina’s most vulnerable victims still need help

(Via BLACK PR WIRE) ( August 24, 2007) Two years after Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans is coming back – but not for everyone. Though nonprofits and community groups have helped some poor and vulnerable residents succeed, many of the city’s entrenched racial and economic inequalities are coming back in full force, according to a new report by PolicyLink, a national public policy organization.

The report, “Building a Better New Orleans: Hope Needs Help,” highlights the tremendous strides made by some of the city’s most vulnerable people and showcases the folks who helped make that progress possible. But the report also calls on the federal government, the private sector, and the public to do more to get New Orleans the help it needs to create a truly vibrant and equitable city.

“The people of New Orleans have spent two years doing all they can to reclaim their city,” said Angela Glover Blackwell, founder and CEO of PolicyLink. “But the scale of the disaster is so immense that a true recovery is not possible without the resources, expertise, and leadership of the federal government.”

In the vital arenas of housing, jobs, and schools, there are some visible signs of recovery:

• The city’s population has returned to nearly two-thirds of its pre-Katrina size. The city’s labor force has reached 78 percent of pre-storm size.
• More than 60,000 residential building permits have been issued.
• Twenty-five new public charter schools have opened in New Orleans, and an additional 11 are expected to open this fall.

But the recovery has not reached everyone.

• Little has been done to assist low-income renters. Government subsidies will only help rebuild about 25 percent of the city’s stock of affordable rental housing.
• African-American evacuees were nearly five times more likely to be unemployed than white evacuees in 2006.
• Only 40 percent of students have returned to New Orleans public schools, with 76 percent of those students in free or reduced-cost lunch programs.
• More than 40,000 New Orleans families remain displaced outside of Louisiana.

New Orleanians need safe, affordable homes to live in, good schools to educate their children, and well-paying jobs to support their families. The city is teeming with hope and inspiration. But hope needs help.

The full report is available at www.policylink.org/HopeNeedsHelp or downloadable in PDF format

Also See http://diversitycareers.blogspot.com/2007/08/imdiversity-joins-call-for-day-of.html

IMDiversity Joins Call for A Day of Presence for the Gulf Coast

The staff of IMDiversity, Inc. wishes to call our visitors' attention to an important series of events here in our hometown -- from August 27-September 1 -- commemorating the anniversaries of the hurricanes that struck our region two years ago. A variety of events -- from large gatherings and vigils to scholarly panel discussions to policy roundtables to volunteer drives -- will be held in our city surrounding the anniversary.

We join our neighbors, and business and media colleagues in inviting concerned citizens to consider visiting us, whether in person or virtually, to participate in the August 29th DAY OF PRESENCE and other events throughout the week, and consider volunteering in some way to help in the ongoing and needed restoration of our city and region.

We will be posting additional information about events and actions on our sites, as well as on our network of blogs, with the most current information that comes our way being posted on an ongoing basis at our BLACK COLLEGIAN @ Blogspot blog.

Meanwhile, we encourage interested readers to view this release by Susan L. Taylor, ESSENCE Editorial Director, discussing the planning for one New Orleans gathering, as well as Vincent Sylvain's African-American Leadership Project (AALP) Announces Schedule of Activities to Commemorate Hurricane Katrina, listing details of additional events.

Study: Turnover at Accounting Firms

Industry Report
Report: Accounting Firms Face Significant Risk of Turnover by Women and Men of Color
Catalyst.org releases first in a new series of industry-specific diversity research reports

Census: 300+ U.S. Counties Now 'Majority-Minority'

More Than 300 Counties Now "Majority-Minority"
Nearly one in every 10 of the nation’s counties has a population more than 50% minority, according to a new release by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Excerpts from the summary ...

Nearly one in every 10 of the nation’s 3,141 counties has a population that is more than 50 percent minority. In 2006, eight counties that had not previously been majority-minority pushed the national total to 303, the U.S. Census Bureau reported today.

The two largest counties passing this threshold between July 1, 2005, and July 1, 2006, are Denver County, Colo., and East Baton Rouge Parish, La., with total populations of 566,974 and 429,073, respectively. Three other counties were in Texas (Winkler, Waller and Wharton), with one each in Montana (Blaine), New Mexico (Colfax) and Virginia (Manassas Park, an independent city and considered a county equivalent).

Los Angeles County, Calif., had the largest minority population in the country in 2006. At 7 million, or 71 percent of its total, Los Angeles County is home to one in every 14 of the nation’s minority residents. The county’s minority population is higher than the total population of 38 states, with the largest population of Hispanics, Asians, and American Indians and Alaska Natives in the country. It also has the second largest population of blacks and Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders.

Harris County, Texas, gained 121,400 minority residents between 2005 and 2006, which led the nation. Harris (Houston is its largest city) now has a minority population of 2.5 million, comprising 63 percent of its total. Its minority population ranks third nationally, not far behind second place Cook County, Ill. (Chicago).

Based on total population, Starr County, Texas, located on the Mexican border, had the highest proportion of all counties that was minority, at 98 percent. Among the nation’s 25 most populous counties, Miami-Dade County, Fla., had the highest proportion minority, at 82 percent.

See specific highlights and full detail tables

New Column on Transitioning from College to the "Real World"

THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Online is pleased to introduce a new column, "Now What?" by special columnist Chaz Kyser, of special interest this time of year for all those newly minted college grads who are experiencing "culture shock".

Geared to helping recent graduates making the transition from school to the world of work, the column is dedicated to the idea that "the real world—the working world—is not to be feared, put off or ignored; it should be embraced."

By the author of the book, Embracing the Real World: The Black Woman’s Guide to Life After College, the column has origins in Kyser's determination to share practical guidance especially -- but not exclusively -- to young African-American women. However, the expanded online column contains valuable tips and reminders for those of all ages, genders and backgrounds who are already working, and are concerned with such nuts-and-bolts topics such as the pros and cons of a second job, meeting and exceeding a new employer’s expectations, fitting in at a new workplace, and evaluating whether or not to go back to school.

Resume FlashPost Undergoing Maintenance

Starting today, our Resume FlashPost has been temporarily disabled. This tools section has been closed temporarily while our server is undergoing maintenance changes. We expect to reopen the section shortly, and apologize for any inconvenience this outage may have caused to any of our users.

QuickSearch Added: $100K+ Jobs

The staff of IMDiversity.com has continued the season's updating on the Career Center section of our site, adding this week a number of new location quicksearch sections, as well as a new QuickSearch of jobs offering salaries in the six figures, or hourly equivalents.

IMDiversity's QuickSearches provide pre-programmed searches of opportunities contained in our jobs database, making with the goal of providing convenient, one-click access to job search results without having to manually input multiple search criteria on each visit. QuickSearch results also allow visitors who open a free MY JOB TOOLS Account to save and customize one-click job searches and schedule automated job agents that will automatically send personalized email job alerts when new opportunities fitting the search criteria are posted.