Obama the community activist coming out:My Brothers Keeper

[Sir X]

Obama Launches 'My Brother's Keeper' to Improve Lives of Black, Hispanic Youth
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BY MELISSA BARNHART , CP REPORTER
February 27, 2014|5:00 pm

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President Barack Obama(Photo: Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)U.S. President Barack Obama speaks at Union Depot in St. Paul, Minn., Feb. 26, 2014.
President Barack Obama announced Thursday the strategy behind his administration's "My Brother's Keeper" initiative that aims to close the achievement gap for black and Hispanic youth by ensuring they receive education and job opportunities so that they can reach their full potential in life.

Obama remarked that in the 50 years after Martin Luther King Jr. shared his dream for America's children, the advancement of "the average black and brown child in this country lags behind, by almost every measure, and is worse for boys and young men."

"If you're African American, there's a one-in-two chance that you grew up without a father in your house. If you're Latino, you have a one-in-four chance," Obama added, noting that fewer black and Latino men are participating in the labor force, which is leading to higher unemployment and poverty rates.

Obama said he started his term as president with the desire to provide equal opportunitues for every American. And he's going to spend the remainder of his term focusing on his agenda and policies that are "designed to give a hand up to everybody. Every child, every American willing to work hard and take responsibility for their own successes."

The president added that even though the United States is the land of opportunity, there are some Americans who are consistently doing worse, generation after generation. And the My Brother's Keeper initiative is a new solution to help close the achievement gap among black and Hispanic youth.

Believing that Americans are becomming numb to the education, labor, economic and mortality statistics refelected in poor black and Hispanic communities, Obama commenetd that "we assume this is an inevitable part of American life," and added that Americans should be outraged.

Obama asserted that these moral and economic issues are negatively impacting the U.S., and are among the reasons why he wants all sectors of the community to take action and find solutions to these unresolved problems.

"I'm reaching out to some of America's leading foundations and corporations on a new initiative to help more young men of color facing especially tough odds to stay on track and reach their full potential," Obama said.

My Brother's Keeper is a collaborative effort between the White House and government agencies, such as the Department of Education, that will maintain a website to "assess outcomes for boys and young men of color," and a private sector partnership with local businesses, corporations and philanthropic foundations.

Obama announced that the White House will partner with nine sponsoring foundations that have already approved or awarded $150 million to expand opportunities, and are committed to investing $200 million more over the next five years to "find and rapidly spread solutions that have the highest potential for impact in key areas."

The key areas of impact being targeted include: early child development and school readiness, parenting and parent engagement, third grade literacy, educational opportunity and school discipline reform, interactions with the criminal justice system, ladders to jobs, economic opportunity and healthy families and communities.

By connecting boys with leaders in the business sector to provide a support network, the administration believes young men of color will attain the skills they need to find jobs, go to college, and join the middle class so they can contribute to their families and communities.

The administration will "do its part by helping to identify and promote programs that work," a White House spokesman said.

According to Obama, these foundations will "work over the next 90 days to design a strategy and infrastructure for coordination of these investments, which can be aligned with additional commitments from a diverse array of actors from other sectors."

Obama also commented on recently released data which shows that boys and young men of color, regardless of their socio-economic background, are reading below proficiency levels by the fourth grade.

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"Eighty-six percent of black boys and 82 percent of Hispanic boys are reading below proficiency levels by the fourth grade, compared to 58 percent of white boys reading below proficiency levels," accordng to the White House.

The president also mentioned the disproportionate number of black and Hispanic men who are unemployed or cycling through the criminal justice system, noting that it's a "perilous drag on state budgets, and undermines family and community stability."

"These young men are more than six times as likely to be victims of murder than their white peers and account for almost half of the country's murder victims each year," Obama added.

Obama will also sign a presidential memorandum establishing the My Brother's Keeper Task Force, an interagency effort, chaired by Assistant to the President and Cabinet Secretary Broderick Johnson.

Johnson will "help to determine what public and private efforts are working and how to expand upon them, how the federal government's policies and programs can better support these efforts, and how to better involve state and local officials, the private sector, and the philanthropic community in these efforts," a White House official said in a statement.

The Task Force will work across executive departments and agencies to:

Assess the impact of federal policies, regulations and programs of general applicability on boys and young men of color, so as to develop proposals that will enhance positive outcomes and eliminate or reduce negative ones.
Recommend, where appropriate, incentives for the broad adoption by national, state, and local public and private decision makers of effective and innovative strategies and practices for providing opportunities to and improving outcomes for boys and young men of color.
Create an administration-wide "What Works" online portal to disseminate successful programs and practices that improve outcomes for boys and young men of color.
Develop a comprehensive public website, to be maintained by the Department of Education that will assess, on an ongoing basis, critical indicators of life outcomes for boys and young men of color in absolute and relative terms.
Work with external stakeholders to highlight the opportunities, challenges and efforts affecting boys and young men of color.
Recommend to the president means of ensuring sustained efforts within the federal government and continued partnership with the private sector and philanthropic community as set forth in the presidential memorandum.
Along with investments from the business and philanthropic communities, the My Brother's Keeper initiative will include participation from elected officials who are expected to join the public-private sector collaborative efforts.

Obama first mentioned the My Brother's Keeper initiative during his State of the Union address last month.

"I'm reaching out to some of America's leading foundations and corporations on a new initiative to help more young men of color facing especially tough odds stay on track and reach their full potential," Obama said in his speech.

As part of Thursday's announcement, Obama met with a number of business leaders including: Joe Echevarria of Deloitte; NBC hall-of-famer Magic Johnson of Magic Johnson Enterprises; Glenn Hutchins of Silver Lake Partners; Adam Silver of the National Basketball Association; Thomas Tull of Legendary Entertainment; Rosalind Brewer of Sam's Club; Ken Chenault of American Express and Don Thompson of McDonald's.

The President was also joined by faith leaders, public sector leaders, and federal, state and local officials including: General Colin Powell, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg; as well as participants of a youth guidance program called "Becoming a Man" that targets boys who live in Chicago's South Side.

Also in attendance at the White House was Fox News host Bill O'Reilly, who will provide his analysis of the initiative on "The O'Reilly Factor" Thursday night.

During a pre-Super Bowl interview with Obama earlier this month, the president defended his administration's efforts to address problems within minority communities.

"We address it explicitly all the time. … Talking about the importance of men taking responsibility for their children. Talking about the importance of young people delaying gratification. Talking about the importance of when it comes to child rearing, paying child support, spending time with your kids, reading with them. So, whether it's getting publicity or not is a whole different question," Obama said.

The foundations that joined the president at the White House to launch the initiative include: The Annie E. Casey Foundation; The Atlantic Philanthropies; Bloomberg Philanthropies; The California Endowment; The Ford Foundation; The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation; The Open Society Foundations; The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; The W.K. Kellogg Foundation and The Kapor Center for Social Impact.

[Sir X]

If Jamaica could have a leader with such commonsense and pragmatic,practicality not afraid to put ganja (criminalisation /profits ) on the table.

[Gamma]

The benefits of being a lame duck! He would have never initiated this in his first term

[Sir X]

Lame duck or calculating ,he seems more free.I loved the speech ,his anectdote of his youth was touching in its honesty.

[Gamma]

I'll split the difference with you

[Sir X]

I will take it.

[Islandman]

He wouldn't, but it is good that he is initiating it now and not after he leaves office.

If it catches on it could be his greatest legacy. I will be watching it closely.

[MdmeX]

Devil's Advocate - says he should have done it long time

[Jangle]

There were bigger fish to fry. Without the worry of campaigning, he can now focus his attention on his social agenda.

[MdmeX]

Well perhaps the smaller fish needed greater attention

[Jangle]

Fi dem time now fi start eat some food. The big ticket items are almost done. Just Immigration Reform left.

[Islandman]

In a perfect world, yes. But alas, we don't live in a perfect world.

He needs something to boost his legacy because he really doesn't have much to show considering the great fanfare he came into office with. Not all his fault by any means but the reality is very little has been accomplished, and his signature legislation is still very unpopular.

[Jangle]

He needs something to boost his legacy because he really doesn't have much to show considering the great fanfare he came into office with. Not all his fault by any means but the reality is very little has been accomplished, and his signature legislation is still very unpopular.

You're right. His legacy needs some more boosting......

1. Passed Health Care Reform: After five presidents over a century failed to create universal health insurance, signed the Affordable Care Act (2010). It will cover 32 million uninsured Americans beginning in 2014 and mandates a suite of experimental measures to cut health care cost growth, the number one cause of America’s long-term fiscal problems.
2. Passed the Stimulus: Signed $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009 to spur economic growth amid greatest recession since the Great Depression. Weeks after stimulus went into effect, unemployment claims began to subside. Twelve months later, the private sector began producing more jobs than it was losing, and it has continued to do so for twenty-three straight months, creating a total of nearly 3.7 million new private-sector jobs.
3. Passed Wall Street Reform: Signed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (2010) to re-regulate the financial sector after its practices caused the Great Recession. The new law tightens capital requirements on large banks and other financial institutions, requires derivatives to be sold on clearinghouses and exchanges, mandates that large banks provide “living wills” to avoid chaotic bankruptcies, limits their ability to trade with customers’ money for their own profit, and creates the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (now headed by Richard Cordray) to crack down on abusive lending products and companies.
4. Ended the War in Iraq: Ordered all U.S. military forces out of the country. Last troops left on December 18, 2011.
5. Began Drawdown of War in Afghanistan: From a peak of 101,000 troops in June 2011, U.S. forces are now down to 91,000, with 23,000 slated to leave by the end of summer 2012. According to Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, the combat mission there will be over by next year.
6. Eliminated Osama bin laden: In 2011, ordered special forces raid of secret compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in which the terrorist leader was killed and a trove of al-Qaeda documents was discovered.
7. Turned Around U.S. Auto Industry: In 2009, injected $62 billion in federal money (on top of $13.4 billion in loans from the Bush administration) into ailing GM and Chrysler in return for equity stakes and agreements for massive restructuring. Since bottoming out in 2009, the auto industry has added more than 100,000 jobs. In 2011, the Big Three automakers all gained market share for the first time in two decades. The government expects to lose $16 billion of its investment, less if the price of the GM stock it still owns increases.
8. Recapitalized Banks: In the midst of financial crisis, approved controversial Treasury Department plan to lure private capital into the country’s largest banks via “stress tests” of their balance sheets and a public-private fund to buy their “toxic” assets. Got banks back on their feet at essentially zero cost to the government.
9. Repealed “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”: Ended 1990s-era restriction and formalized new policy allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military for the first time.
10. Toppled Moammar Gaddafi: In March 2011, joined a coalition of European and Arab governments in military action, including air power and naval blockade, against Gaddafi regime to defend Libyan civilians and support rebel troops. Gaddafi’s forty-two-year rule ended when the dictator was overthrown and killed by rebels on October 20, 2011. No American lives were lost.
11. Told Mubarak to Go: On February 1, 2011, publicly called on Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to accept reform or step down, thus weakening the dictator’s position and putting America on the right side of the Arab Spring. Mubarak ended thirty-year rule when overthrown on February 11.
12. Reversed Bush Torture Policies: Two days after taking office, nullified Bush-era rulings that had allowed detainees in U.S. custody to undergo certain “enhanced” interrogation techniques considered inhumane under the Geneva Conventions. Also released the secret Bush legal rulings supporting the use of these techniques.
13. Improved America’s Image Abroad: With new policies, diplomacy, and rhetoric, reversed a sharp decline in world opinion toward the U.S. (and the corresponding loss of “soft power”) during the Bush years. From 2008 to 2011, favorable opinion toward the United States rose in ten of fifteen countries surveyed by the Pew Global Attitudes Project, with an average increase of 26 percent.
14. Kicked Banks Out of Federal Student Loan Program, Expanded Pell Grant Spending: As part of the 2010 health care reform bill, signed measure ending the wasteful decades-old practice of subsidizing banks to provide college loans. Starting July 2010 all students began getting their federal student loans directly from the federal government. Treasury will save $67 billion over ten years, $36 billion of which will go to expanding Pell Grants to lower-income students.
15. Created Race to the Top: With funds from stimulus, started $4.35 billion program of competitive grants to encourage and reward states for education reform.
16. Boosted Fuel Efficiency Standards: Released new fuel efficiency standards in 2011 that will nearly double the fuel economy for cars and trucks by 2025.
17. Coordinated International Response to Financial Crisis: To keep world economy out of recession in 2009 and 2010, helped secure from G-20 nations more than $500 billion for the IMF to provide lines of credit and other support to emerging market countries, which kept them liquid and avoided crises with their currencies.
18. Passed Mini Stimuli: To help families hurt by the recession and spur the economy as stimulus spending declined, signed series of measures (July 22, 2010; December 17, 2010; December 23, 2011) to extend unemployment insurance and cut payroll taxes.
19. Began Asia “Pivot”: In 2011, reoriented American military and diplomatic priorities and focus from the Middle East and Europe to the Asian-Pacific region. Executed multipronged strategy of positively engaging China while reasserting U.S. leadership in the region by increasing American military presence and crafting new commercial, diplomatic, and military alliances with neighboring countries made uncomfortable by recent Chinese behavior.
20. Increased Support for Veterans: With so many soldiers coming home from Iraq and Iran with serious physical and mental health problems, yet facing long waits for services, increased 2010 Department of Veterans Affairs budget by 16 percent and 2011 budget by 10 percent. Also signed new GI bill offering $78 billion in tuition assistance over a decade, and provided multiple tax credits to encourage businesses to hire veterans.
21. Tightened Sanctions on Iran: In effort to deter Iran’s nuclear program, signed Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act (2010) to punish firms and individuals who aid Iran’s petroleum sector. In late 2011 and early 2012, coordinated with other major Western powers to impose sanctions aimed at Iran’s banks and with Japan, South Korea, and China to shift their oil purchases away from Iran.
22. Created Conditions to Begin Closing Dirtiest Power Plants: New EPA restrictions on mercury and toxic pollution, issued in December 2011, likely to lead to the closing of between sixty-eight and 231 of the nation’s oldest and dirtiest coal-fired power plants. Estimated cost to utilities: at least $11 billion by 2016. Estimated health benefits: $59 billion to $140 billion. Will also significantly reduce carbon emissions and, with other regulations, comprises what’s been called Obama’s “stealth climate policy.”
23. Passed Credit Card Reforms: Signed the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act (2009), which prohibits credit card companies from raising rates without advance notification, mandates a grace period on interest rate increases, and strictly limits overdraft and other fees.
24. Eliminated Catch-22 in Pay Equality Laws: Signed Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in 2009, giving women who are paid less than men for the same work the right to sue their employers after they find out about the discrimination, even if that discrimination happened years ago. Under previous law, as interpreted by the Supreme Court in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., the statute of limitations on such suits ran out 180 days after the alleged discrimination occurred, even if the victims never knew about it.
25. Protected Two Liberal Seats on the U.S. Supreme Court: Nominated and obtained confirmation for Sonia Sotomayor, the first Hispanic and third woman to serve, in 2009; and Elena Kagan, the fourth woman to serve, in 2010. They replaced David Souter and John Paul Stevens, respectively.
26. Improved Food Safety System: In 2011, signed FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, which boosts the Food and Drug Administration’s budget by $1.4 billion and expands its regulatory responsibilities to include increasing number of food inspections, issuing direct food recalls, and reviewing the current food safety practices of countries importing products into America.
27. Achieved New START Treaty: Signed with Russia (2010) and won ratification in Congress (2011) of treaty that limits each country to 1,550 strategic warheads (down from 2,200) and 700 launchers (down from more than 1,400), and reestablished and strengthened a monitoring and transparency program that had lapsed in 2009, through which each country can monitor the other.
28. Expanded National Service: Signed Serve America Act in 2009, which authorized a tripling of the size of AmeriCorps. Program grew 13 percent to 85,000 members across the country by 2012, when new House GOP majority refused to appropriate more funds for further expansion.
29. Expanded Wilderness and Watershed Protection: Signed Omnibus Public Lands Management Act (2009), which designated more than 2 million acres as wilderness, created thousands of miles of recreational and historic trails, and protected more than 1,000 miles of rivers.
30. Gave the FDA Power to Regulate Tobacco: Signed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (2009). Nine years in the making and long resisted by the tobacco industry, the law mandates that tobacco manufacturers disclose all ingredients, obtain FDA approval for new tobacco products, and expand the size and prominence of cigarette warning labels, and bans the sale of misleadingly labeled “light” cigarette brands and tobacco sponsorship of entertainment events.
31. Pushed Federal Agencies to Be Green Leaders: Issued executive order in 2009 requiring all federal agencies to make plans to soften their environmental impacts by 2020. Goals include 30 percent reduction in fleet gasoline use, 26 percent boost in water efficiency, and sustainability requirements for 95 percent of all federal contracts. Because federal government is the country’s single biggest purchaser of goods and services, likely to have ripple effects throughout the economy for years to come.
32. Passed Fair Sentencing Act: Signed 2010 legislation that reduces sentencing disparity between crack versus powder cocaine possessionfrom100 to1 to 18 to1.
33. Trimmed and Reoriented Missile Defense: Cut the Reagan-era “Star Wars” missile defense budget, saving $1.4 billion in 2010, and canceled plans to station antiballistic missile systems in Poland and the Czech Republic in favor of sea-based defense plan focused on Iran and North Korea.
34. Began Post-Post-9/11 Military Builddown: After winning agreement from congressional Republicans and Democrats in summer 2011 budget deal to reduce projected defense spending by $450 billion, proposed new DoD budget this year with cuts of that size and a new national defense strategy that would shrink ground forces from 570,000 to 490,000 over the next ten years while increasing programs in intelligence gathering and cyberwarfare.
35. Let Space Shuttle Die and Killed Planned Moon Mission: Allowed the expensive ($1 billion per launch), badly designed, dangerous shuttle program to make its final launch on July 8, 2011. Cut off funding for even more bloated and problem-plagued Bush-era Constellation program to build moon base in favor of support for private-sector low-earth orbit ventures, research on new rocket technologies for long-distance manned flight missions, and unmanned space exploration, including the largest interplanetary rover ever launched, which will investigate Mars’s potential to support life.
36. Invested Heavily in Renewable Technology: As part of the 2009 stimulus, invested $90 billion, more than any previous administration, in research on smart grids, energy efficiency, electric cars, renewable electricity generation, cleaner coal, and biofuels.
37. Crafting Next-Generation School Tests: Devoted $330 million in stimulus money to pay two consortia of states and universities to create competing versions of new K-12 student performance tests based on latest psychometric research. New tests could transform the learning environment in vast majority of public school classrooms beginning in 2014.
38. Cracked Down on Bad For-Profit Colleges: In effort to fight predatory practices of some for-profit colleges, Department of Education issued “gainful employment” regulations in 2011 cutting off commercially focused schools from federal student aid funding if more than 35 percent of former students aren’t paying off their loans and/or if the average former student spends more than 12 percent of his or her total earnings servicing student loans.
39. Improved School Nutrition: In coordination with Michelle Obama, signed Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act in 2010 mandating $4.5 billion spending boost and higher nutritional and health standards for school lunches. New rules based on the law, released in January, double the amount of fruits and vegetables and require only whole grains in food served to students.
40. Expanded Hate Crimes Protections: Signed Hate Crimes Prevention Act (2009), which expands existing hate crime protections to include crimes based on a victim’s sexual orientation, gender, or disability, in addition to race, color, religion, or national origin.
41. Avoided Scandal: As of November 2011, served longer than any president in decades without a scandal, as measured by the appearance of the word “scandal” (or lack thereof) on the front page of the Washington Post.
42. Brokered Agreement for Speedy Compensation to Victims of Gulf Oil Spill: Though lacking statutory power to compel British Petroleum to act, used moral authority of his office to convince oil company to agree in 2010 to a $20 billion fund to compensate victims of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico; $6.5 billion already paid out without lawsuits. By comparison, it took nearly two decades for plaintiffs in the Exxon Valdez Alaska oil spill case to receive $1.3 billion.
43. Created Recovery.gov: Web site run by independent board of inspectors general looking for fraud and abuse in stimulus spending, provides public with detailed information on every contract funded by $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Thanks partly to this transparency, board has uncovered very little fraud, and Web site has become national model: “The stimulus has done more to promote transparency at almost all levels of government than any piece of legislation in recent memory,” reports Governing magazine.
44. Pushed Broadband Coverage: Proposed and obtained in 2011 Federal Communications Commission approval for a shift of $8 billion in subsidies away from landlines and toward broadband Internet for lower-income rural families.
45. Expanded Health Coverage for Children: Signed 2009 Children’s Health Insurance Authorization Act, which allows the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) to cover health care for 4 million more children, paid for by a tax increase on tobacco products.
46. Recognized the Dangers of Carbon Dioxide: In 2009, EPA declared carbon dioxide a pollutant, allowing the agency to regulate its production.
47. Expanded Stem Cell Research: In 2009, eliminated the Bush-era restrictions on embryonic stem cell research, which shows promise in treating spinal injuries, among many other areas.
48. Provided Payment to Wronged Minority Farmers: In 2009, signed Claims Resolution Act, which provided $4.6 billion in funding for a legal settlement with black and Native American farmers who the government cheated out of loans and natural resource royalties in years past.
49. Helped South Sudan Declare Independence: Helped South Sudan Declare Independence: Appointed two envoys to Sudan and personally attended a special UN meeting on the area. Through U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice, helped negotiate a peaceful split in 2011.
50. Killed the F-22: In 2009, ended further purchases of Lockheed Martin single-seat, twin-engine, fighter aircraft, which cost $358 million apiece. Though the military had 187 built, the plane has never flown a single combat mission. Eliminating it saved $4 billion.

[Islandman]

Nice political ad, but it doesn't mean much. I guess all that is why his approval rating is in GW Bush territory. His list is quite long too.

Things look sticky when you have to list these as part of your legacy:

Let Space Shuttle Die and Killed Planned Moon Mission OK then!

Protected Two Liberal Seats on the U.S. Supreme Court Sigh. That was really tough. 2 people resigned and he appointed 2 more.

Pushed Broadband Coverage Wow! I didn't know anyone was against broadband coverage.

Helped South Sudan Declare Independence How exactly?

Recognized the Dangers of Carbon Dioxide


His lasting legacy as far as I am concerned is:

a) Staying out of the way and allowing Ben Bernanke to implement the right fiscal policies to prevent a complete financial meltdown.

b) Killing Bin laden and ending the Iraq war. (Ignoring the fact that he also escalated the Afghan war and increased drone strikes at the same time)

c) Beginning the process of health care reform. It will require major fixes and adjustments to be viable long term but it was finally a start that HOPEFULLY will not be totally dismantled.

d) Changing the public opinion on the LGBT community

e) Not opposing the inevitable nationwide legalization of weed

The Green energy drive was largely a failure, fossil fuels are bigger than ever in the US today.

Immigration has been a dead end

The US infrastructure is worse than it was when he took office.

Major tax reform is not happening.

Reform of SS/Medicare entitlement has been a non-starter

[Jangle]

You don't think if you and your Republican cronies or is it your Tea Party friends (you just don't know these days), didn't set out to block every proposal put forward, we wouldn't be in a better position today?