DETROIT—Today, President Obama announced the My Brother’s Keeper Community Challenge, an effort to spur cities, counties, suburbs, rural municipalities, and tribal nations to implement an integrated cradle-to-college and career strategy aimed at improving life outcomes for young people, with special emphasis on boys and young men of color. The new Community Challenge is a key component of the President’s My Brother’s Keeper initiative, which was announced in February and leverages public, private, and nonprofit resources to improve literacy, educational and career opportunities for youth. Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) issued the following statement:
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| U.S. Representative John Conyers, Jr. |
“I commend President Obama for his strong and steadfast commitment to closing the Opportunity Gap. The Community Challenge builds on the findings of the White House’s My Brother’s Keeper Task Force, calling on local leaders to establish actionable plans to boost literacy, create employment opportunities, ensure high school graduation, reduce violent crime, and improve relations between youth and law enforcement. The Community Challenge creates a framework for leveraging public and private investments to meet concrete objectives related to these priorities. Today’s announcement represents an essential tool in the effort to close the school-to-prison pipeline. "
“I am especially pleased that the City of Detroit, MI, which I have the honor of representing in the US House of Representatives, has been designated as an “Early Acceptor” of the My Brother’s Keeper Community Challenge. Through this initiative, parents, educators, elected officials, philanthropies, and business leaders will empower the young people of our community to reach their full potential. "
“At a time when an estimated 5.8 million young Americans are neither in school nor working, we have an urgent obligation to create opportunity for young people. This month, Senator Bernie Sanders and I introduced the Employ Young Americans Now Act (H.R. 5489) to provide $5.5 billion in grants to states and local governments to provide job opportunities to one million young Americans, and offer job training to hundreds of thousands more. This is an important complement to the President’s prudent approach."
“I look forward to continuing my work with the Obama administration to ensure the success of the My Brother’s Keeper Initiative and the success of minority youth in Detroit and throughout the nation.”
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