OPENING ReMARCs - 05/23/12 | iamempowered.com

From the President's Desk:

Education the Key to Success in Confronting Demographic Sea Change

This week I had the privilege of addressing the graduates of the Boston University School of Education. My message to them, as it is to the nation at this critical juncture, is that we must make education a priority for the future of the United States and our economy in light of the demographic sea change.

The Census Bureau recently announced that white births last year accounted for a minority for the first time in U.S. history. While not unexpected news, it was an important milestone for a nation undergoing an important transition. The National Urban League has been on the front lines of the challenge, and earlier this year issued a public call for immediate national action with an 8-Point Plan to Educate, Employ and Empower.

Any discussion about equality of economic opportunity must address the basic shortcomings of our current national approach to education. The National Urban League’s plan includes practical approaches to fair and equitable school funding, robust early childhood education and dropout prevention.

Education, at its core, is economic readiness. A broken national system of education will continue to yield a broken economy, built upon broken communities and broken lives.

Please visit click here to learn more about the 8-Point Plan and the National Urban League’s commitment to a nation where every child is ready for college, work and life.

To Be Equal:

The Changing Face of America – Circa 2050

“This is an important tipping point…a transformation from a mostly white baby boomer culture to the more globalized multi-ethnic country that we are becoming.”

- William Frey, senior demographer, the Brookings Institution

We’ve been hearing about it for years, and now the time has come. Last week the Census Bureau announced that for the first time, the birth rate of people of color exceeded that of whites: 50.4% to 49.5%. America is still a majority white country, with whites comprising 63.4% of the total population. But, the Census Bureau report covering the 12-month period that ended last July reveals that at a time when the white birth rate is declining, there are now 114 million minorities in the United States, or 36.6% of the population.

Click here to read the full column.

From the Road:

Urban League opens Community Empowerment Center in Fort Lauderdale

Black residents of Fort Lauderdale's historic Sistrunk district will have new opportunities, while seeing their neighborhood get a facelift.
The Urban League of Broward County (Ft. Lauderdale, FL) celebrated the grand opening of a state-of-the-art Community Empowerment Center on April 27th, adding to the city's commercial landscape, which has been targeted for broad redevelopment.

Click here to read the full article.

Coming Up:

Entrepreneurship Celebrated at Black Enterprise Conference; National Urban League’s “Small Business Matters”

Entrepreneurship is a fast-growing passion among young professionals, particularly in the African-American community. This week the National Urban League participates in the Black Enterprise Entrepreneurship Conference in Chicago, as a prelude to Small Business Matters, a free one-day entrepreneurship summit at the 2012 National Urban League Annual Conference in New Orleans on July 28. Both events feature pitch contests, with the winner at Small Business Matters securing $10,000 in financing. Register today!

2012 BEEP Leadership Conference: Empowered for Employment

Please click here to register for this year’s conference, taking place June 6-9, 2012 at the Buena Vista Palace Hotel & Spa in Orlando, Florida. This year’s theme is “Leadership Development: Empowered for Employment,” which will explore the different, varied aspects of leadership, from communication to vision, from service to excellence, arming us with the tools necessary to lead.

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