Congressman Elijah Cummings
In Washington, one of the lessons of the recent events in Baltimore is beginning to gain traction. Reforming the manner in which our law enforcement officers interact with our people is gaining bipartisan support.
Yet, if we truly are to rebuild Baltimore and our other major cities in a sustainable way, we also must address the concentrations of unemployment that limit the future for far too many Americans — and, especially, for our young people.
President Obama and U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez understand full well that our nation can no longer afford the intense concentrations of poverty that plague our inner cities.
Here in Baltimore, Secretary Perez offered additional federal support for local job-training programs when he responded to the tragic events of last April. From his prior experience as Maryland’s Labor Secretary, he knew that this additional federal funding would offer our young people “a chance to chart a new course, gain job skills and find stable, meaningful careers.”
This month, the Obama Administration made a substantial down payment on that commitment, providing the Mayor’s Office of Employment Development an additional $5 million federal grant targeted at helping young people in Baltimore’s low-income neighborhoods qualify for the jobs that are available in construction, health care and comparable fields.
In Baltimore City, among 16- to 24-year-olds alone, more than 18,000 young men and women are neither working nor in school. For the young people helped by this federal investment in Baltimore and six other American cities, job training can offer a new beginning.
All of us will benefit as a result.
We also know, however, that to successfully rebuild Baltimore and our other major American cities, we must be far more ambitious than a one-time grant.
Earlier this year, I was deeply gratified when colleagues in the Congressional Black Caucus and the Joint Economic Committee joined me in holding a forum at the University of Baltimore to gain local expertise in addressing solutions to income inequality and the persistent economic problems of our communities.
Then, in July, Senator Barbara Mikulski and I introduced the REBUILD Act that would appropriate more than $1.2 billion in emergency funding to address critical challenges facing our nation’s inner-city neighborhoods.
Our message to the Congress is clear. Deep, systemic, and pervasive economic challenges unnecessarily limit the lives of too many inner-city residents in this nation — and the Congress must act.
Senator Mikulski and I are now working to gain the bipartisan support that will allow us to begin to address the most urgent consequences of our lack of investment in urban areas and the disproportionate impact that the Great Recession has had upon our inner-cities.
“The people who live in our most distressed neighborhoods deserve a government on their side – one that works as hard for them as they work for their own families and communities,” as Senator Mikulski has observed.
Both the Senator and I know, of course, that a sustained effort will be required to obtain this critical funding from congressional Republican majorities — but neither Barbara Mikulski nor I have ever backed away from a fight when the lives and livelihood of our community have been at stake.
We also realize that rebuilding the economy of Maryland’s major city will require significant and sustained commitments from both our state government and local employers as well.
Candidly, I have been disappointed in Maryland Governor Hogan’s lack of urgency on the critical issues of education and transportation funding for the Baltimore Region — including his withholding of $11 million in state education aid for Baltimore City and his cancellation of the Red Line light rail project.
At the same time, I have encouraged and will continue to applaud the foresight of both the Baltimore Metropolitan Council and our Region’s major health care providers.
Funded by a $3.5 million Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the “Baltimore Regional Plan for Sustainable Development” offers a menu of serious, practical and effective steps to reduce the extensive pockets of generational poverty that beleaguer our region (opportunitycollaborative.org).
The proposal by our major health care systems to train and hire 1,000 new workers is also good news. If approved by Maryland’s Health Cost Review Commission, this initiative would provide training to those without degrees or work history — and would include some who have criminal records.
As President Ronald Peterson of the Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System recently declared, “ primary purpose is to give people with relatively low educational attainment an entry-level job, and then give people the chance to move up over time if they so desire.”
The wisdom of the federal training grants, our proposed REBUILD Act, the Baltimore Regional Plan, and our major health care providers’ initiative is compelling.
When we train our people and help them obtain jobs, they, in turn, will help us rebuild Baltimore and all of America’s cities.
Congressman Elijah Cummings represents Maryland’s 7th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives.