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Press Release
Urban Career Fair Initiative
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Urban League Wants to Boost Working Males
Date: Friday, July 23, 2004
By: NIA NGINA MEEKS, BlackAmericaWeb.com
DETROIT – Neil O. Brissett and William G. Clark spent much of
Thursday afternoon at the COBO Convention Center visiting prospective
employers at the job fair sponsored by the National Urban League.
Unemployed for months – Brissett, a new car salesman until the
economy dried sales, and Clark, a roadie for Vicki Winans before getting
laid off – the two 20-somethings came to the hall to “see what
opportunities were around,” Brissett said.
“We’re not drug dealers. We’re not menaces to society,” Clark told
BlackAmericaWeb.com. “We just do what we have to do to
get by.”
Addressing the plight of unemployment and underemployment among black
males heads the Urban League’s agenda, said President and CEO Marc H.
Morial.
“The unemployment levels for black males are at a catastrophic rate,”
said Morial. “I will concede to you, there are no easy, quick, simple
solutions. We can all give sound bites. What we want to do is focus on
the kind of public policy changes for attitudinal changes that we need
in our community.”
 In
addition to the convention job fair, the Urban League plans to study the
conditions of black males across the country, with employment being a
key focus.
Northeastern University scholars recently concluded that the economic
boom between 1991 and 1999 produced the lowest historic unemployment
rate among people of color. But after 1999, those opportunities dried up
and even constricted. Contemporary rates of employment pale to those of
the Civil Rights era, they say.
During 2003, just 56 percent of young men in Brissett and Clark’s
demographic were employed, according to the Northeastern study. That
rate compares to 77 to 83 percent employment in the 1960s.
In 2002, one out of four black men ages 20 to 64 went without a job
for a full year. That year-round joblessness was twice that of white or
Latino men. For men like Brissett and Clark, who live on Detroit’s west
side, the likelihood of long-term joblessness is twice that of their
suburban counterparts.
Carlos Brown, a 30-year-old from Detroit looking to upgrade his
accounting job, experiences the disparity on a daily basis.
“I have a college degree, but for anyone who doesn’t, it’s definitely
a crisis,” he said.
Being unemployed or even looking for work is more complex than just
filling out an application. Some people don’t have access to information
about events such as this, Clark said. Or, they lack the confidence to
consider such arenas.
Both men realize they ultimately must assume responsibility for their
future.
Brissett hopes to enroll in Henry Ford Community College to study
architectural engineering technology, and Clark plans to attend the
Detroit Recording Institute to bolster his production skills.
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