Below is the PolicyLink statement on the Senate Jobs Bill. For more information or to talk with our experts, please contact Dan Lavoie at dan@policylink.org.

“In passing the $15 billion jobs bill, the Senate’s bipartisan majority should be commended for heeding the voices of struggling Americans.

“But the road to a truly fair and sustainable economy is a long one. More must be done to get help to those hit first and worst by this recession, especially low-income communities and people of color.

“As we move forward in building an innovative, expansive, bipartisan recovery plan, we must make significant investments in job-training programs and a range of infrastructure projects – public transportation, schools, energy efficiency – that create jobs now and set our communities up for future success.

“This bill is a good first step. But America’s long-term resurgence requires that all of our communities are connected to opportunity and can contribute their full talents to our revival. We urge Congress to continue to advance a jobs agenda that lifts up all our communities.”

Today, I will join more than 130 innovative nonprofit leaders, small-business owners, global CEOs, and community leaders at the White House Jobs Summit. I am honored by this singular opportunity to bring the voices and ideas of low-income people and communities of color to the table.

But I sincerely hope this talented group does not merely attempt to restore our pre-recession economy. We must come out of this crisis stronger, with an inclusive, expansive economy that harnesses the skills of all people. We can no longer waste the talents and potential of millions of Americans.

In a report we released today – Finding Work, Finding Hope: A Step-by-Step Guide to Get Your Community Stimulus Dollars (and Jobs!) — we have laid out a short-term roadmap to help communities access federal stimulus dollars. The guide provides phone numbers, web sites, application links and all the other information you’ll need to get stimulus dollars to your community.

And as we move forward, how do we make sure equity is at the heart of our recovery?

• Train the next generation of “middle-skill” workers
• Stop foreclosures and put people to work keeping foreclosed properties from becoming blighted
• Start the “green revolution” in low-Income communities
• Invest in the long-term infrastructure of all communities

This is, of course, just the start. Do you have other ideas? Share them in the comments section.

The Jobs Summit should mark a banner day for all of us who work to ensure all Americans have the opportunity to participate and prosper. Because a recovery without equity is no recovery at all.

“Transportation Bill Inches Forward,” - National League of Cities

The future of funding for federal surface transportation programs, due to expire on September 30, was muddled further last week when House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman James Oberstar announced that the House would act to adopt a short-term fix for the federal Highway Trust Fund but would not extend the programs due to expire.

Oberstar has said he would not extend the current program but instead gained support for a sweeping $500 billion six-year authorization bill adopted by a House subcommittee last month. However, the House panel charged with finding the funds to pay for the ambitious new surface transportation program has indicated that health care reform will be the next issue it tackles as the September 30 deadline draws closer. Both the Obama Administration and members of the House Ways and Means Committee have indicated they oppose any increased taxes to fund transportation at this time. 

“At Wal-Mart, Labeling to Reflect Green Intent,” - The New York Times

Shoppers expect the tags on Wal-Mart items to have rock-bottom prices. In the future they may also have information about the product’s carbon footprint, the gallons of water used to create it, and the air pollution left in its wake.

As the world’s largest retailer, Wal-Mart Stores is on a mission to determine the social and environmental impact of every item it puts on its shelves. And it has recruited scholars, suppliers, and environmental groups to help it create an electronic indexing system to do that.

“Foreclosures up: 1 in 84 homes affected in first half of year,”  - USA TODAY

Foreclosures are continuing to set records despite the Obama administration’s $75 billion plan to help borrowers at risk of losing their homes.

There were 1.9 million foreclosure filings in the first six months of this year, a 15% increase from the first six months of 2008, according to a report today from RealtyTrac. One in 84 homes

Daily equity news

“City Neighborhoods Dig In to Protect Fragile Gains,” -  The Wall Street Journal

PHILADELPHIA — This year, Margaret Shepherd is knocking on the front door of nearly every house in West Oak Lane. Her daily rounds are part of a large-scale effort to stem foreclosures in this blue-collar, largely African-American neighborhood.

“I’m getting so much exercise, it’s ridiculous,” Ms. Shepherd said on a recent afternoon.

“Stimulus spending finally starts to trickle down,” - USA TODAY

In Indianapolis last month, a state government official named Jacob Sipe finally got the news he’d been anticipating. The U.S. Treasury had approved $164 million to finance affordable housing projects left paralyzed by the credit crisis, using funds from the Obama administration’s increasingly controversial fiscal stimulus.

Before the financial crisis erupted, the housing program was funded via state tax credits that developers in turn sold to large banks. With the banks crippled, demand for the tax credits — and thus the funds that subsidized the state’s low-cost housing — evaporated.

Daily equity news

“White House to Push Forward on National Urban Policy Agenda,” - Washington Post
Administration to Host Daylong Talks Tomorrow; Tour of U.S. Cities Planned

After remaining out of the public eye since its creation in February, the White House Office of Urban Affairs plans on Monday to launch a public conversation to create a national urban policy agenda, said Adolfo Carrión Jr., its director.

The White House will host a daylong urban policy discussion including mayors, county executives, governors, urban policy experts, and heads of various agencies, Carrión said in a telephone interview yesterday.

“DOCTOR IS IN: Childhood obesity bigger than a weight issue,” - Atlanta Journal Constitution

Medical Director, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Child Wellness and Medical Director, Georgia Children’s Health Alliance.

Childhood obesity is a problem throughout America, but it’s an epidemic in Georgia, where approximately 37 percent of children ages 10 to 17 are overweight or obese.

 ”Groups seek stimulus funds for homeowners and job training,” - Los Angeles Times
An assembly at Wilshire Boulevard Temple presses city officials to allocate money where it’s most needed.

Hundreds of delegates from Los Angeles-area religious, labor and community organizations gathered Sunday at Wilshire Boulevard Temple to propose that federal stimulus funds go toward helping homeowners avoid foreclosure and improving job training programs.

The two-hour assembly organized by One LA-IAF, a network of congregations, schools, unions and other groups, was designed to press local political leaders to spend the federal money on issues that the organization considers the most pressing. Several City Council members attended the event.

During a webinar Friday, June 26, from 1 to 2:30 pm EDT (10 to 11:30 PDT), PolicyLink and Living Cities will release the Reclaiming Foreclosed Properties for Community Benefit tool, which will highlight promising strategies already underway in communities to acquire, care for, and return-to-market foreclosed properties.

The call will also feature tips and ideas for meeting the July 17th application deadline for $2 billion in additional Neighborhood Stabilization Program dollars from the federal stimulus package.

RSVP for the call here

The Discussion will be moderated by Kalima Rose, Senior Director, PolicyLink Center for Infrastructure Equity

Welcome and Opening Comments

• Tamir Novotny, Program Associate, Living Cities

Review of Tool

• Sarah Treuhaft, Senior Associate, PolicyLink

Strategies in the Twin Cities

• Tom Fulton, President, Family Housing Fund

• Rebecca Rom, Attorney, Faegre & Benson, LLP

Strategies in Los Angeles

• Danny Draper, Director, Real Estate Department, LA Neighborhood Housing Services

Discussion/Q & A

• John Laswick, Community Development Specialist, US Department of Housing and Urban Development

Daily equity News

“Foreclosures grind on as lenders fail to modify loans,” -  USA TODAY

  “Obama’s Health Care Claims,” - Newsweek
He says the uninsured cost the rest of U.S. families $1,000 a year.

“New York City consumers keep it simple,” - AM NewYork

The NY Times had a great piece over the weekend about the racial disparities in foreclosures in New York. The story was both stunning in the depth of the crisis and, at the same time. so very much expected.

What really got me, though, was checking out this map of Brooklyn (click on the photo below to go to the full interactive map page). I live right smack-dab in the middle of all those red dots in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood. I can pinpoint some of the houses that those dots represent. It’s awful and troubling and maddening. Look for yourself.

A new report out today shows that first-quarter foreclosures in California have gone up 327% over 2007 levels. An average of 500 homes every day are foreclosed on in the Golden State.

From the LA Times:

DataQuick said in a report warning that the widening foreclosure problem could “spread beyond the current categories of dicey mortgages, and into mainstream home loans.”

From DataQuick’s report on California foreclosures in the first three months of 2008: “Trustees Deeds recorded, or the actual loss of a home to foreclosure, totaled 47,171 during the first quarter. … Last quarter’s total rose 48.9 percent from 31,676 in the previous quarter, and jumped 327.6 percent from 11,032 in first quarter 2007.” That translates into 517 foreclosures every day in the first quarter of 2008.

There is no quick fix to the foreclosure crisis. But there are ways to help prevent the fallout from hitting hard-working families in the future. PolicyLink CEO Angela Glover Blackwell said in a recent commentary on public radio’s Marketplace that the housing crisis may give the momentum we need to commit to community land trusts:

The mortgage crisis has been a disaster for many hard-working families who are striving for the American dream. Millions of Americans, especially low-income people of color, now face foreclosure. Often, home foreclosures are clustered in specific neighborhoods. This concentration can virtually hollow out communities and dramatically drive down the potential resale cost of these foreclosed properties. This is a double whammy of individual loss and neighborhood deterioration.

But there’s a potential upside: These low costs present an opportunity to create something that the market has not: affordable homes.

Cities and towns can buy these homes for well-below market value. Then, they can fix them up and resell them at truly affordable prices. Covenants would require that these homes remain affordable for decades. The result? Communities could create a lasting pool of affordable housing.

The experiment is already underway. Birmingham, Ala., uses a federal program to buy foreclosed homes for as little as $1 each. The homes are then refurbished and resold. This helps stop the pernicious spread of blight.

This strategy isn’t new. Community Land Trusts started in the 1960s and have popped up in more than 35 states. These nonprofit trusts buy up properties. Some are individual homes and vacant lots that have fallen into disrepair; others have been taken over by local governments through tax liens.

Land trusts renovate these properties and return them to the market at affordable prices. This helps communities across the country create a stable and reliable source of good housing for working people.

The mortgage crisis has devastated families and communities across the nation. But every disaster offers opportunity. There are blueprints and tools available to rebuild our communities. Now we have to harness the creative energy to get the job done.