The following is a statement from PolicyLink CEO Angela Glover Blackwell in response to President Obama’s first State of the Union address:

“A recovery that merely recreates our inequitable pre-recession economy is no recovery at all. Throughout his first year and his first State of the Union address, President Obama has made it clear that all Americans deserve to live in opportunity-rich communities. He has listened to and learned from those closest to our nation’s challenges.

During his the first year of Obama’s tenure, PolicyLink and our allies have:

• Pushed for greater investment in green jobs. The president listened.
• Advocated for career ladders that help a job turn into a lifelong profession. The president listened.
• Argued that job training is crucial to creating a sustainable, flexible 21^st Century workforce. The president listened.
• Shown that hiring local residents and steering projects to local, minority-owned businesses has a phenomenal impact on a community. The president listened.

Of course, listening is just the first step. We must now put these ideas and innovations into practice. The path is clear…the president and all allies of equity in America must now walk that path with purpose. A true national recovery depends on it.”

The Obama Administration’s First 100 Days laid some vital groundwork for a more just, more vibrant, and more equitable America. But the change has only just begun.

America needs a movement to make sure all people can live in communities of opportunity - with access to quality jobs, good schools, and affordable, healthy neighborhoods. PolicyLink wants to work with you to build that movement.

What do you think Obama should focus on now that the First 100 Days are history?

Share your ideas and hopes in the comments.

Alongside the likes of Robert Reich, Grover Norquist and Dan Savage, PolicyLink CEO Angela Glover Blackwell took to the virtual pages of Salon to give President Obama a grade for his First 100 Days. It’s worth checking out the entire piece, but here is Angela’s take:

ANGELA GLOVER BLACKWELL, author and chief executive officer of PolicyLink

Economy: B+
Foreign policy/national security: A-
Overall: A-

The $787 billion stimulus package was an enormous step forward in strengthening the social safety net and building a foundation for real, sustainable economic growth in all our communities.

However, I would like to see a greater focus on communities that have been hit “first and worst” by this crisis — low-income communities and communities of color. By empowering mayors and community groups to take control of their own recovery — rather than centralizing power in the hands of governors — the recovery could truly harness the ideas, talents and innovations of all our people.

These vulnerable communities must be considered in every recovery discussion. They have, for instance, suffered disproportionately from foreclosure, disinvestment and lack of access to banking services, yet they have been totally absent from the conversations about the trillions of dollars that have flowed to the banking industry.

Though I lead a domestic policy organization, I know our national security depends on Americans feeling they have a voice in their government and other nations feeling they are being seen and heard by a fair, engaged America. Barack Obama’s commitment to listening and bringing all sides to the table has enhanced our security both here and abroad.

The Obama administration should be commended for their commitment to soliciting and pursuing smart, innovative, proven and equitable public policies. But there is still more he can do to help lead a equitable economic recovery. The White House seems ready to move this nation in a truly inclusive direction … now what they need is the full support of Congress.

What grades do you think Obama deserves for his First 100 Days? Tell us in the comments.

A recap of this week’s equity news.

 ”All Boarded Up,” - The New York Times Magazine

TONY BRANCATELLI, A CLEVELAND CITY COUNCILMAN, yearns for signs that something like normal life still exists in his ward. Early one morning last fall, he called me from his cellphone. He sounded unusually excited. He had just visited two forlorn-looking vacant houses that had been foreclosed more than a year ago. They sat on the same lot, one in front of the other. Both had been frequented by squatters, and Brancatelli had passed by to see if they had been finally boarded up. They hadn’t. But while there he noticed with alarm what looked like a prone body in the yard next door. As he moved closer, he realized he was looking at an elderly woman who had just one leg, lying on the ground. She was leaning on one arm and, with the other, was whacking at weeds with a hatchet and stuffing the clippings into a cardboard box for garbage pickup. “Talk about fortitude,” he told me. In a place like Cleveland, hope comes in small morsels.

The next day, I went with Brancatelli to visit Ada Flores, the woman who was whacking at the weeds. She is 81, and mostly gets around in a wheelchair. Flores is a native Spanish speaker, and her English was difficult to understand, especially above the incessant barking of her caged dog, Tuffy. But the story she told Brancatelli was familiar to him. Teenagers had been in and out of the two vacant houses next door, she said, and her son, who visits her regularly, at one point boarded up the windows himself. “Are they going to tear them down?” she asked. Brancatelli crossed himself. “I hope so,” he mumbled.

 ”YouthBuild: one stimulus model,” - The Christian Science Monitor
The program has turned lives around and builds affordable community housing.

Daniel Brito finished high school, but he didn’t know what to do next. His family, in a low-income Boston neighborhood, just wasn’t there for him. He was scared he’d be a failure.

Then a former teacher connected him with YouthBuild Boston, a local affiliate of a nationwide program that enables low-income young people to stay with their education and learn job skills while building affordable housing for their communities.

“Coalition plans two food stores in Detroit,” - The Detroit News
Community-operated sites would offer more nutritional groceries.

DETROIT — A Detroit neighborhood coalition seeking to bring healthy food to the city is eyeing two sites — one on the east side and one on the West — for the community-run grocery store it envisions.

The M.O.S.E.S. Supermarket Task Force, a partnership among neighborhood groups, churches and a union, among others, is designed to give residents greater access to healthy food through community-owned and run grocery stores.

For all you folks in the DC area, check out this event next week co-sponsored by PolicyLink and the Center for American Progress:

Recovery Package = New Jobs

How Do Low Wage Workers Fit Into the Equation?

February 17, 2009, 9:30am - 11:00am

Coffee will be served at 9:00 a.m.

Featured Panelists:
Heather Boushey, senior economist, Center for American Progress Action Fund
Angela Glover Blackwell, founder and CEO, PolicyLink
Ian Kim, green-collar jobs campaign director, Ella Baker Center for Human Rights
Mala Thakur, executive director, National Youth Employment Coalition

Moderated by:
Joy Moses, Policy Analyst, Poverty Program, Center for American Progress Action Fund

With U.S. unemployment reaching 7.6 percent and a loss of 3.6 million jobs since the beginning of the recession, job creation is a priority for the Obama administration and 111th Congress. The still-pending American Recovery and Reinvestment Act includes substantial investments in infrastructure, green jobs, and technological improvements that are aimed at getting America back to work. What will these efforts mean for disadvantaged and low-wage workers? How do we ensure that low-income people and communities of color benefit from this major national investment to get our economy back on track?

This panel will provide an overview of the current state of unemployment and jobs, the impact of the recession on low-wage workers, the job creation potential of a recovery package, and federal and state-level advocacy efforts to ensure that disadvantaged communities are not left behind.

Location

Center for American Progress Action Fund
1333 H St. NW, 10th Floor
Washington, DC 20005
Map & Directions

Nearest Metro: Blue/Orange Line to McPherson Square or Red Line to Metro Center

RSVP for this Event

Cross-posted on the Huffington Post.

Grim, yet hopeful. Constrained, yet honest. President-elect Obama’s gripping recovery press conference today promised, in his words, a “clean break from a troubled past.”

Let’s hope so. Central to a clean break must be an emphasis on recovery for all Americans, not the just usual beneficiaries. This means a direct focus on the poor, the vulnerable and people of color who have not been able to participate for some time.

If we invest this money differently, this package can be the “new and hopeful beginning for America” that Obama called for.

More info (and video of the speech) after the jump…

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