Current Newsletter

May/June 2013 Volume 1 Issue 4 The Silent Warrior ISSN: 2326-182X

Chair’s Corner In this issue: Making Sure Everyone Has a Shot to Make It In America Honorable Steny H. Hoyer In the spirit of US House of Representatives, Democratic Whip innovation and th American 5 congressional district of Maryland ingenuity, this edition we focused on all Derrick Figures things that Education and Community embrace the Development Policy Advocate theme, “Make It In America”. Make It In America: An Alma Derrick The viewpoints in Director this issue cover the spectrum of American Initiative Deloitte Consulting LLP opinion: candid, thoughtful and in By the Honorable Steny H. Hoyer some cases, provocative – good things Wiliam E. Spriggs, Ph.D all. In short, we want to inspire and For ten years, I had the honor of Chief Economist remind folks how we really built our serving alongside Rep. Augustus AFL-CIO country’s foundation and what we need Hawkins in Congress, and I had a to do now if we intend to maintain our chance to witness firsthand his Garrick T. Davis track record for trailblazing to compete commitment to advancing the growth Augustus Hawkins Foundation in the world market. This may seem a of opportunities for working families Board Member bit off the education and workforce and those struggling to achieve the

track for some, however we American Dream. Throughout his Honarable Jason M. Fields understand that a trained and long career in public service, he experienced workforce is perpetually in fought with a quiet but powerful Former Wisconsin State need of actual ‘work’ and that those determination to shape policies that Representative that provide this work – small help more of our people make it in Vice President, Business Development Continued on Page 4 America. Spring Water Asset Management Corporation For the past three years, I have led

In the Spotlight: Art Sanctuary – an effort by House Democrats to Stacy Brown One of Philadelphia’s Cultural create jobs and grow the kind of opportunities Rep. Hawkins worked Columnist with the Washington Manufacturers Informer so hard to expand. Our plan, which we call “Make It In America,” places a strong emphasis on attracting manufacturing jobs back to our shores and making sure our graduates are well prepared to succeed in those jobs. Traditionally, manufacturing careers have been gateways to the middle class, enabling workers and their families to afford higher education, attain homeownership, access quality health coverage, and retire with peace of mind.

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Art Sanctuary Johnetta Cole describes the Art Sanctuary as “sacred” to Philly’s artistic community. In addition to regular monthly Whether celebrating famed photographer Erin Cosby’s programming, Art Sanctuary annually hosts the exhibit “Beauty” highlighting the images of women and Celebration of Black Writing festival, during which writers children from around the world, hosting the 29th Annual discuss their work with up to 1,500–2,000 students, and Celebration of Black Writing Festival, introducing the another 2,000–3,000 people participate in panels, fabulous musical works of saxophonist, composer and workshops, a teachers’ symposium, Family Pavilion, main arranger Odean Pope to Philly’s next generation of stage, and much more. musicians at a Jon Coltrane concert or honoring poet, playwright and author Ntozake Shange, recording artist and one half of the legendary songwriting and production

team and musical duo Ashford & Simpson Valerie

Simpson and veteran journalist Annette John-Hall Warrior TheSilent during its Lifetime Achievement Awards Ceremony, Art Sanctuary as given breath to artistic expression for those who use their creative talents to ‘Make It In America’. Founded by esteemed, best-selling author, educator and activist Lorene Erinn Cosby and Valerie Gay Cary in 1998

and located in Lorene Cary’s literary achievements are many. Her North published works include her latest novel, If Sons, Then Philadelphia, Heirs; best-selling memoir Black Ice, an American Library Art Sanctuary Association Notable Book for 1991 taught in several Odean Pope and a young fan colleges and high schools; The Price of a Child a 1995

novel chosen as the first One Book, One Philadelphia is an African American arts and letters 501(c) 3 non-profit selection; Pride, a contemporary novel, and FREE! Great organization that uses the power of African America Escapes on the Underground Railroad, a collection of visual, literary and performing arts through events, true-life stories for young readers, scheduled for reprint promotion and education to transform individuals, unite fall 2011 by Temple University Press. cultural and ethnically diverse people, and enrich, and draw inspiration from the inner city of Philadelphia. Cary’s essays have appeared in publications including Recognizing ‘art’ as an industry, the organization invites Newsweek, Time, Essence, and O Magazine. In established and aspiring artists to help create excellent December 2010, the public opening of The President’s lectures, performances, and educational programs, House on Independence Mall in Philadelphia introduced enriching the community and stimulating an appreciation visitors to five videos, shot from Cary’s original scripts, for the economics of Art. depicting the lives of nine enslaved Africans in the

household of President George Washington as well as the free black men and women who helped two of them run to freedom. In 2003, Cary was recognized by the city of Philadelphia for her arts activism, her writing, and for serving as a Senior Lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania receiving the Philadelphia Award, the city’s highest civic honor.

One of Art Sanctuary’s popular trans-generational programs is Hip H’opera. This collaborative program between Art Sanctuary and the Opera Company of Philadelphia is a three-phase project taking teaching artists and workshops to more than 100 students and their Johnetta Cole and Valerie Gay teachers in seven area schools. Students learn the history and aesthetics of hip-hop and opera, genres that use the Some15-years after bringing Cary’s cultural vision to life, human voice to tell profound stories, and then, using more than 10,000 diverse participants enjoy Art poetry, fiction, and non-fiction, these students capture Sanctuary’s unique programs of excellent African- their own urban stories. American arts and letters in inner-city Philadelphia. A Continued on Page 3 thriving oasis of expression by artists of every genre,

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Librettist Marc Bamuthi Joseph, named one of America’s Gay offers an organic perspective of Art Sanctuary’s Top Young Innovators by Smithsonian Magazine and contribution to the Make It In America concept. “We look composer Daniel Bernard Roumain known at every community, in our country to see the beauty and internationally for his collaborations with Philip Glass, creativity and potential contributions that those citizens Cassandra Wilson, Bill T. Jones, Savion Glover and Lady can make to the betterment of us all, and we expose to Gaga are the creative team behind artistic operatic . them the beauty and provide for them opportunity, they often exceed our expectations”. The initial pieces, which premiered in 2008, were work shopped with young librettists, and then performed, first as poetry by the teens, then in musical form by opera An American Initiative continued from Page 1 singers, a string quartet, a pianist, and intergenerational

chorus. Hip-H’opera sold out two local performances. Investment in a strong manufacturing base will help us

secure the jobs of tomorrow and enable more Americans Warrior TheSilent to enter a growing middle class.

Already our manufacturing sector has seen promising gains, with thousands of jobs created over the past few years after decades of decline. A rise in wages overseas and a decline in energy costs here at home have contributed toward making our country an attractive place for manufacturers to locate their operations. Plus, our workers are still the world’s most productive. The Make It In America plan is designed to build on these gains.

Since first launching our plan in 2010, we’ve achieved a number of important successes. Working across the aisle, we reauthorized the Export-Import Bank in order to help American businesses compete on a level playing field overseas. Congress also passed landmark patent In 2013, professionals plan to craft the students’ new work reform that promotes innovation and the into an opera for a new fall 2014 production. Students will commercialization of new products. Both of these will have an opportunity to work with a librettist, dramaturge, encourage private sector hiring. To ensure that those in producer, composer, and choreographer while mounting our workforce can compete for new jobs, we enacted the the final production. They will also be involved in such America COMPETES Act, which invests in science, technical areas as set design and costuming. The technology, engineering, and mathematics – or “STEM” – program is expected to become a national model for education initiatives. However, heightened partisanship in bridging genres and bringing new energy to inner-city Congress prevented the bulk of Make It In America music study. legislation from reaching the House floor.

Art Sanctuary has also partnered with more than 20 public Recognizing that the only way jobs legislation will make it and charters schools in Philadelphia providing similar through Congress and onto the President’s desk is artistic collaborative opportunities to expand the range through bipartisan consensus, I joined with other House and reach of inner-city future artists. Democrats in early April to unveil four key Make It In America priorities for the 113th Congress that will have Art Sanctuary is lead by Executive Director Valerie Gay. the greatest chance of success. Not only success in Like Cary, Gay is no stranger to Philadelphia’s art world. securing wide support across the aisle, but also in The former assistant dean of Institutional Advancement achieving our goals of stronger job growth and a more for the College of Education at Temple University and a competitive economy. member of the Board of Directors of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, Gay was named one of Philadelphia’s “101 Connector Leaders”, and serves on I Board of Directors for both the Marian Anderson Award and the Blues Babe Foundation, is a Trustee for the Continued on Page 4 Concerto Project of New York, and is a 2006 Leadership Philadelphia alumna. Previous civic engagement includes serving as Chair of the Board of Directors for Women’s Way of Philadelphia, Trustee of the Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia, and a member of the Advisory Council for MAKE A DONATION TO THE the Barristers’ Association of Philadelphia, and member of AUGUSTUS F. HAWKINS FOUNDATION the Education Committee for the Mann Center for the [email protected] Performing Arts in Philadelphia.

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An American Initiative continued from Page 3 Congress, and it remains a top priority under Democrats’ Make It In America plan today. Recognizing that the only way jobs legislation will make it through Congress and onto the President’s desk is Democratic House Members have introduced a number of through bipartisan consensus, I joined with other House bills in each of these four areas. Some already have Democrats in early April to unveil four key Make It In Republican cosponsors, and we are working to secure America priorities for the 113th Congress that will have Republican support for the rest. I am hopeful that the greatest chance of success. Not only success in Congress can come together over the coming weeks and securing wide support across the aisle, but also in months to take action on Make It In America legislation. achieving our goals of stronger job growth and a more Doing so will do much not only to advance causes to

competitive economy. which Rep. Hawkins dedicated his career, but also to lay

the groundwork for a more secure future filled with Warrior TheSilent First, much like other nations have successfully done, we opportunities for all Americans. must adopt and pursue a national manufacturing strategy to leverage our strengths. We ought to make sure federal Congressman Steny H. Hoyer is the Democratic Whip in the U.S. House of Representatives. He represents agencies are working together in a coordinated fashion to th help our manufacturers compete and succeed. the 5 congressional district of Maryland.

Next, we must do more to help American businesses increase exports and access new markets for their Chair’s Corner continued from Page 1 products. Promoting U.S. exports will help our businesses expand and hire, growing our economy and businesses, corporations, nonprofit organizations and leading to more opportunities for workers and their government, all have a central role in fueling real families. President Obama’s 2010 goal of doubling employment for America’s people. exports within five years is an ambitious one – but we’re making solid progress toward meeting it. Congress needs Equally relevant, our to do more to give manufacturers the tools and assistance economic shake-ups they need to move their goods to market more efficiently have sparked by and to compete on a level playing field. necessity, a renewed age of entrepreneurship. For many, a job has become an apprenticeship for business ownership. Accordingly, we equally appreciate the essential balance that no growing business can in fact "grow" without a competent and supported workforce to ensure some level of perpetual success. As with each generation, our individual, inherent role as citizens is to turn our personal American Dream into the Great American Story. That begs the question, how do we define success? And how

do we as individuals and as complex segments of society America remains the world’s leading innovation economy, apply it to the times we live in? but that will change unless Congress takes action to encourage manufacturers to innovate here and bring jobs Most in this great democracy strive to achieve the back home. When production moves overseas, often American Dream. But what does that dream look like innovation and research follow, and we must take steps to today and who within our multi-racial, multi-generational draw both back to our shores. Through targeted tax borders really has a fair shot at fulfilling it? Nostalgia credits and support for research, we can create an about everything from homeownership, a steady, living- environment where manufacturers want to establish their wage job, boot-strapping' entrepreneurial ship, sending operations here in our communities, bringing new jobs one's kids to college and a secure retirement in what were and new opportunities with them. once thought of the 'golden years’ has given way to

foreclosures and under water mortgages, stagnate The fourth component of our plan centers on training and unemployment, restrictive access to credit, rising tuition securing a strong workforce for the twenty-first century. and fluctuating 401Ks and increasing instability for the Congress must take steps now to invest in programs that future of Social Security and Medicare. These certainly will help us compete over the long-term by preparing aren't the dreams of our parents and grandparents. students for the high-skill, high-wage jobs of the future. When we have a prepared workforce, we will attract more high-wage jobs to our shores. A key part of that effort is expanding job training programs, especially those that Continued on Page 5 teach advanced manufacturing skills for in-demand jobs. This was a central goal of Rep. Hawkins’s work in

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From our families, our culture, our economic standing, our There is an emerging ‘new’ normal for our current education and our social exposure, the road to generation. Whether white, brown or black, man or achievement is as diverse as the human fabric that is woman, 20-something or 70-something, Republican or America. And as the economy struggles to re-shape itself Democratic, it is essential that we quickly 'get with the into something that we can trust once again (as if that global program', re-evaluate our view and reshape our were possible), casting off 20th century norms and approach to nation building (there's a phrase we don't evolving in some directions that defy reason for some of hear much about anymore). We should embrace our us, we are constantly challenged to excel, and overcome homegrown human capital collective and appreciate that and somehow 'Make It In America'. other countries are hungrier in their quest for economic growth and stability than we seem to be of late and as

While we claim to embrace America’s diversity as a part such, are much more willing to do what is necessary to of our greatness, too many in the diversity pool seem to capitalize on their collective constituency. The recent Warrior TheSilent draw the short straw. Access to credit is still a challenge purchase of American corporate icon, Smithfield Foods by for MBEs and pay equity for women is a top legislative China to help bolster China’s economy is a prime example priority. It is also evident that we don’t always put our of our letting our precious U.S. assets slip through our money where our mouth is. We place education on the fingers into foreign pockets. We would be wise to take a top of our priority list but Head Start like so many sage cue from the title of inspirational thought leader, programs has never been fully funded. Additionally, the executive coach and author Marshall Goldsmith’s book, Augustus F. Hawkins Centers for Excellence, a public law “What Got You Here Won't Get You There”. signed by President George Bush in 2008 to increase the pool of minority teachers in Minority Serving Institutions For those that rail against the idea that government has a has not even had a pilot program. foundational role to play or for those who express concern about excessive entitlement programs, the same concern As troubling, we have nurtured some perverted corporate did exist when the GI bill was in play but it sure seems to vehicles that generate exorbitant profits while depriving stir the pot these days with Pell Grants. We should all American workers from living-wage jobs by exploiting our remember that the safety of the food we consume nation’s prison population in what might be everyday, the secure and consistent transport of described as modern-day slave labor, corporate products to retailers, our allowing privatized prisons to access to international trade capitalize on a disproportionate Ecclesiastes 1:9 tells us opportunities and the education of number of incarcerated African- “there is nothing new multiple generations of our Americans and Latino under the under the sun” workforce are all overseen by that guise of what some describe as re- entity that we frequently talk about entry training programs. This is a real shrinking. Ironically while we debate example of negative corporate production the pros and cons of downsizing when we have to question what America actually “makes”. government, our population is steadily increasing and (*See Stacy Brown’s Private Prisons Equal Big diversifying as is our demand for much more public Business – courtesy of the Washington Informer on page support and infrastructure at every level of government. 16) Ironically, the full implementation of any one of the Appreciating that government isn’t a ‘catch-all’ for aforementioned programs, policies or legislative everything, we do require a functional government with mandates would be a significant step forward for the the realistic capacity and flexibility to successfully sustain 'collective' America moving us that much closer to forging our wide-ranging and growing population. Ecclesiastes fundamental success for the country's future. 1:9 tells us “there is nothing new under the sun”, so again taking a page of inspiration from our own history books – Moreover, as great a nation as we are, we are rapidly provided we actually read our history books - tells us that developing an attitude of complacency. Resting on our in times of financial crisis, our government has always 20th century laurels, 21st century Americans are neither ‘right-sided’ our economy when America runs off-track guaranteed job security, opportunity for advancement or and the track record for this intervention as consistently access to various collaborative programs (called proven to be an integral part of America’s success. entitlements by some) as were the case for many of our parents and grandparents. As important, when we talk about today’s workforce, it is increasingly necessary to reiterate the meaning of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and the Humphrey-Hawkins Full Employment Act, ensuring full employment and equal opportunity for everyone. We must continue to make the case that there are no segments of our society that should be treated as a short-lived, disposable commodity with a temporary shelf life.

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TheSil

Back to the question of success, what’s needed now? A move. I think this lesson sometimes is lost in translation delivery system of resources to not just educate the next between Washington, D.C. and Main street America. generation but to retool a talented, experienced but technologically dated workforce that is living longer and Over the next several months I’ll highlight initiatives launching second and third careers is needed. This across the country that focus on three issues: generation is competing with technological talent from other shores and for access to capital for entrepreneurs  Community Empowerment: The goal is to discover who are willing and able to harness their skills in order to projects that help communities empower themselves spark innovation that keeps America ahead of the curve through activism and advocacy. as a world leader. American businesses are the leaders in innovation. But innovation lends itself to its production

 Schools and Programs that help guide children environment. When that environment is off our shores, we Warrior TheSilent weaken our stronghold on what is new, forward-thinking, to brighter futures: There are “education reform” provocative and fresh. But when we give people, advocates that do not start with busting unions and communities and businesses the resources needed to firing teachers so we would like to explore programs do their best, it will be all but impossible ‘not’ to Make It in that actually are successful without sacrificing good America. teachers who simply are not afforded the resources

to build brighter futures for school children. Lisa R. Ransom

 Workforce Development: Workforce is always touted but never actually dealt with but in some Community Empowerment For A Global communities across the country action is being taken Economy to actually upgrade local workforces. We’ll share By Derrick Figures

Imagine living in a community thirsty for growth and development but lacking the empowerment it needs to make the change members in that community want to see.

Imagine being a child who has big dreams of becoming extremely successful but lacks the guidance and tools to help you to reach your fullest potential.

Imagine a family with parents who both are in between jobs and seeking a stronger skill set to make them more competitive and better able to help support their growing family.

Recently I have been assisting with a long-term project that focuses on these issues with a keen eye towards one some stories where these actions and policies are community in West Virginia. The team I work with is taking shape. taking a holistic approach to dealing with these issues through a series of sub-projects.

The sub-projects will eventually provide services such as I am hopeful that many of the highlights we cited in this modernized learning centers including schools and column will serve as a platform for replication so that centers for workforce training and development, communities are able to forge their own paths. modernized recreational and fitness facilities and a modernized library amongst other projects. In addition to Derrick Figures is an education and community the projects, the team is also developing leaders within development policy advocate. the community to sustain the projects once they are up and running.

Needless to say, the overall project benefits from a great deal of public and private funding but the example is clear that when interested parties fully engage themselves and partner with the communities they want to serve a lot can

Sharpening America's Innovation Edge By Alma Derricks

The internet as we know it and workforce by 2020. Spanning middle school to early the unprecedented wave of adulthood, the Millennials are at once the most educated, innovation, exploration, and uninhibited, shrewd, and empowered generation that has economic growth it spawned is emerged in a century. They are not content to play by the twenty years old. In the aftermath old rules. of a bruising economic crisis, this single milestone affirms that a As witnesses to spiraling divorce rates, the terrorists’

“new normal” has been attacks of September 11, the housing crisis, and the

established in the global recession, Millennials generally do not have any illusions Warrior TheSilent marketplace. As a generation of about earning more money than their parents, yet they are digital natives comes of age, and enthusiastic about their ability to change the world for the the “new normal” is simply better. Not just in a wistful, starry-eyed sense, but in real, “normal”, we have a unique tangible, hand-on ways that hold the promise of a future opportunity to reignite the innovation flame. We can repair filled with a dizzying array of innovations large and small. the innovation rift that continues to plague our largest and The are challenging the mythology and norms of the most influential organizations. workplace and, in doing so, will redefine value in the economy of the mid 21st century. Individuals and organizations alike tend to become more conservative and risk averse over time. With more at risk, Media-savvy and largely impervious to marketing spin, inevitably lagging systems and processes, and a tendency Millennials are an interconnected community that to revert to business as usual, it’s been said that new demands transparency, authenticity, and a meaningful ideas aren’t launched in American companies as much as value proposition from their organizations, leaders, and they escape. retailers. It's a tough room that stretches the meaning of “the customer is king” in ways that will surely bankrupt Ironically, while the internet has sparked an array of some organizations while serving as the life’s blood of an innovative new business, markets, and channels, the array of new and forwardlooking enterprises confident and digital gold rush of the early 90s also drained mainstream intrepid enough to embrace change. corporations of their most innovative thinkers – the ones who consistently asked “Why not?” and “What’s next?” – leaving companies largely in the hands of their most risk averse employees. While the internet bust in the early Alma Derricks is a Director in Deloitte Consulting 2000s should have created an opportunity to rebalance LLP's Strategy practice and leader of the global “State organizations, early internet pioneers were not warmly of the Media Democracy” customer insights study. welcomed back to their previous roles in corporate She specializes in customer, media, and marketing America. strategy and has managed new product launches and strategic branding, content, and go-to-market Snubbed and rebuffed, this eclectic mix of geniuses, engagements for leading broadcasting, live dreamers, charlatans, virtuosos, and troublemakers took entertainment, video game, telecommunications, their out-of-the-box thinking with them. In doing so, they consumer products, retail and hospitality clients. laid the groundwork for “Internet 2.0” while traditional organizations largely denied or struggled to adapt to the accelerating pace of change. Today, most companies simply lack the healthy tension between “what is” and “what could be” that rabble-rousers used to bring to every task, project, or team meeting.

But there is hope. As the internet has been maturing and evolving over the past two decades, as new generation of “digital natives” who scarcely remember a world without the internet, cell phones, or laptop computers are coming of age and poised to become a majority of the U.S.

Make It In America – An Economist’s View: Putting American Workers First By Bill Spriggs

the expected relationship between output and Some people think we have employment returns. The shorthand of this is that we can entered the “post” manufacturing era, in the expect a slow recovery of jobs if “economic recovery” sense that we now demand means more offshoring and less American based production. services—like smart phone

service, and hi-speed internet

“Making it in America” means we need a focus that will Warrior TheSilent services—more than old bring America’s economic house in order. Companies are fashioned goods. And, so, they believe, we don’t need to more profitable from low-wage offshoring, inaccuracies in worry about what happens to data lead us to believe output is increasing, but the bread and butter realities on Main Street and Martin Luther King manufacturing or “making it in Avenue is that Americans are not being pulled forward America.” with good paying jobs.

Well, in real terms, American consumers have increased This is a part of the story behind several disturbing their demand for furniture and other home durable goods trends—apparent growth in productivity but stagnant wage growth, that in turns leads to either rising debt from by more than 125 percent since 1995—right through the consumers to maintain demand for all that productivity or rise of the dot coms. While demand is growing, output in falling demand and lower employment from unsold the U.S. is falling. inventory. But, the other parts of the story are that the Real gross output of furniture and related products in the weak bargaining position American workers are placed in means lower union membership and less voice from U.S. has fallen by 21 percent over that period; while workers in how to divide the growth in productivity. And employment in that sector has fallen by over 250,000 the globalization of operations has also meant the workers—roughly the entire population of the Wilmington, globalization of tax avoidance strategies. So, our NC metropolitan area. Obviously, the increased demand for goods was met by rising imports, since the US “leading” companies like Apple Computer, pay virtually no produced less, and fewer Americans had jobs making the taxes, and make their major products in China. kind of things we see around our homes. “Making it in America” is a call to restore a virtuous cycle

of rising productivity and rising wages; to put the The problem is simple. If increased household income American economy first by putting American workers first. leads to increased demand for goods, but those goods are imported, then every increase in income will come with a giant leakage—out of the economy and out of the William E. Spriggs, Ph.D. is the Chief Economist for the AFL-CIO, a professor of Economics at Howard country—to buy the things that fill our homes. This, in University and former Assistant Secretary for Policy part, explains why the housing bubble helped construction at the Department of Labor employment, but did not help employment in other housing related manufacturing sectors—like furniture, textiles and appliances.

“Making it in America “ is a simple realization that there must be some rationale behind U.S. economic policy. There is a deeper issue at hand as well. Researchers at the Upjohn Institute have been looking carefully at the latest patterns in US manufacturing and have detected a bias in our accounting of manufacturing production.

Because a rising share of intermediate goods in “American” made products are really imports from low- wage countries, they show we have been overstating American output. The bias caused by over valuing the American content in manufacturing can, in part, explain the anomaly of rising output but sluggish US employment growth. The Upjohn researchers find that when they correct for the bias in the data for undervaluing the amount of imported intermediate goods in manufacturing

An American Trailblazer – Homer B. Roberts WWI Veteran, Innovator, Entrepreneur, Employer - America’s First African American Car Dealer

Sun and listed a partial list of many of his previous Homer B. Roberts was customers to attract new sales. the first African- American Car Dealer in 1922 was another huge year for the Roberts Company. If the USA. A graduate you were Black and wanted a car, 85% of the time you of Kansas State bought it from Homer Roberts. With a flair for Agricultural College, a communications and public relations, Roberts was the first World War I veteran African American in Kansas City to sell Radios for the

who achieved the rank

home. It is believed that by the end of 1922, The Roberts Warrior TheSilent of lieutenant in the Company had a Ford franchise. Army Signal Corps with a background in In March of 1923 The Roberts Company moved its electrical engineering, operations to 1826-28-30 Vine Street in the historic 18th Roberts supervised the establishing of communications and Vine community of Kansas City, Missouri. Selling during numerous heavy battles. cars while under construction, the new building could hold 60 cars. The new facility when completed would offer In 1919 Roberts moved to his first office at 1509 E. 18th accessories, tires, repairs, painting, batteries, Street, 2nd Floor in Kansas City and later that year his upholstering, and a filling station. first ad appeared in the Kansas City Sun listing seven used cars in the ad ranging from $300 to $960 for an On Sunday July 29th, 1923 was the formal opening of the almost new 1919 6-Cylinder Nash Touring Car. new Roberts Company Motor Mart. Over 3000 people attended the event. Later in the year the Roberts Brokering deals exclusively for African-American buyers, Company was selling brand new Oldsmobile automobiles, Roberts sold over 60 cars before the end of the year. a General Motors Product. For most of 1924 the Roberts According to the historic records of the Homer Roberts Company was an Oldsmobile dealer and sold hundreds of Foundation, Roberts hired two salesmen, offered Oldsmobile 6s. insurance to buyers, and eventually founded Roberts Motors, the first African-American-owned car dealership in Roberts’ success helped him land a Ford franchise that the United States. grew to include a 60-car showroom, an auto repair and body shop, a parts store and a filling station. He On August 16, 1919, Mr. Roberts put an ad in the Kansas eventually added Hupmobile and Rickenbacker to the City Sun to promote his new role as an Automobile lineup. . The Hupmobile as a classy car, the Broker. The ad featured a Chevrolet said, "Pick--Any Car, Rickenbacker was a fast car. By the end of 1925, Roberts’ Any Place, Get the money from me. Our 16 years dealership ranked third in the U.S. for sales of practical experience with Motor cars enables us to give Rickenbacker. valuable advice about your intended purchase". His first ad proved successful enough that on September 27, 1919 Growing at such a fast pace, in 1926 The Roberts Homer Roberts place another ad in the Sun, mentioning Company added more sales rooms and a new franchise he had ‘sold 60 pleasure cars in the less than 90 days’. to thei operation, ofthe Whippet. The new sales rooms He not only sold automobiles, he offered insurance to his were on 19th Street, between Paseo and Vine St. By the clients and increased his sales staff by two, Robert L. end of 1927, this would later be known as the Roberts Sweeney and Chauncey Davis. Roberts’ niche was Building, consisting of a drug store, barber and beauty simple, he listed the names of everyone he sold a car to in shop, a shoe store, dress store, and other professional the paper. He basically said, "Ask them", "Class and offices. In 1928 Homer Roberts was selling brand new Distinction almost describes our Cars and Customers". Chevrolets.

On June 20th, 1920, the Roberts Company placed an ad During February of 1929, the Roberts-Campbell Motor in the Kansas City Sun, listing 33-vehicles, all different Mart of Chicago broke all previous Hupmobile sales makes with 6-vehicles being current day 1920 models. records. They sold $38,800 worth of cars there first The terms were 1-3 down, 12 Months to pay the balance. month in business. At the beginning of 1929 Homer It is not known how Roberts was able to obtain the Roberts partnered in with Thomas "Piney" Brown, of vehicles or finance them. Toward the end of 1920 the Panama Taxi and Kenneth Campbell, husband of Sarah Roberts Company was selling Brand New Fords. Rector, “the Richest Colored Girl in the World” at the time. The exact date of their partnership is unknown but Sunday, May 15th, 1921, was the formal opening of The Roberts Company Automobile Brokers Showroom. The goal was to display a different Brand New Car Model every week. Roberts placed a huge ad in the Kansas City Continued on Page 10

Homer B. Roberts continued from Page 9

Roberts-Campbell Motor Mart was based in Kansas City before expanding operations to Chicago. Sarah Rector who moved to Kansas City in 1919 was probably one of Homer Roberts first customers. He eventually opened another dealership in Chicago that claimed the largest number of Hupmobile sales in the nation in 1929.

The Great Depression,

however, marked the end Warrior TheSilent of Roberts’ business success. In 1941, at the age of 56, he rejoined the military and spent four The Price of Inequality: How Today's Divided years in the Army during Society Endangers Our Future by Joseph E. Stiglitz World War II. After his discharge, he returned to *Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1 edition Chicago where he worked (June 11, 2012); Language: English, in media and public ISBN-10: 9780393088694; ISBN-13: 978- relations until his death in 0393088694; ASIN: 0393088693 1952. *Publisher: Taurus (December 3, 2012) Language: Spanish, ISBN-10: 6071121302; ISBN-13: 978- 6071121301

A forceful argument against America's vicious circle of growing inequality by the Nobel Prize– winning economist.

America currently has the most inequality, and the least equality of opportunity, among the advanced countries. While market forces play a role in this stark picture, politics has shaped those market forces. In this best-selling book, Nobel Prize–winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz exposes the efforts of well-heeled interests to compound their wealth in ways that have stifled true, dynamic capitalism. Along the way he examines the effect of inequality on our economy, our democracy, and our system of justice. Stiglitz explains how inequality affects and is affected by every aspect of national policy, and with characteristic insight he offers a vision for a more just and prosperous future, supported by a concrete program to achieve that vision. **Joseph E. Stiglitz is a professor of economics at Columbia University and the recipient of a John Bates Clark Medal and a Nobel Prize. He is also the former senior vice president and chief economist of the World Bank. His books include Globalization and Its Discontents, The Three Trillion Dollar War, and Making Globalization Work. He lives in New York City.

American Trailblazer - Danny Bakewell Sr. President of the National Newspaper Publishers Association and President and CEO of the Bakewell Company

Danny Joseph Bakewell, Sr. Times describes Bakewell’s commitment to bring diverse is President of the National groups of people together in promoting self-help, dignity Newspaper Publishers and respect for African Americans as "one of the most Association and President dynamic leaders in America today". and CEO of the Bakewell Warrior ilent Company. Born in New After the civil unrest of the Rodney King riots of 1992, the Orleans, Louisiana and a rebuilding efforts in Los Angeles set off a frenzy within

graduate of St. Augustine the city for construction jobs. Danny Bakewell held the line

High School, Bakewell for communities of color to ensure that African Americans TheS attended college in Arizona were not left out of job loop. He coined the slogan, "IF WE then headed west to Los DON'T WORK, NOBODY WORK!". Angeles at the height of the turbulent sixties. It was "I want, not just for myself, but for all to enjoy the fruits during the Civil Rights Era that this country has to offer", says Bakewell. Not one to that Bakewell started down shy away from provocative social and racial issues, the path towards Activism. Bakewell led a coalition of community leaders to take on United Paramount Network, forcing the cancellation of a Bakewell began his community activist career as the primetime sitcom, "The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer", Director of New Careers at UCLA, combining academic a show considered disrespectful to the memory of African programs with social consciousness. Dissatisfied that his American slaves. talents and energies were underutilized at U.C.L.A., he became involved along with co-founder, the late Walter In addition to his community activism, Bakewell is a Bremond with the Black Congress, which in 1968 became minority corporate media owner. His most recent media known as the Brotherhood Crusade, an organization acquisition is the purchase of WBOK Radio station in New dedicated to empowering and uplifting the their Orleans, Louisiana, adding to the Bakewell family’s community. For more than three decades, Bakewell expanding media holdings, which includes the Los served as president and CEO of the Brotherhood Angeles Sentinel newspaper, the oldest and the largest Crusade. Under his leadership, the organization grew Black-owned newspaper on the West Coast and the considerably is now a nationally recognized civil rights recently named nation’s Number One Black Newspaper. advocate organization providing more than sixty million dollars to community programs and services throughout As Chairman of the Bakewell Company, one of the largest Southern California. Whether funding the first Shelter for African-American owned development companies in the Battered Women in East L.A., the Marcus Garvey School United States, Bakewell brokers and heads multi-million or the Challengers Boys & Girls Club or voter registration dollar revitalization efforts in the cities of Los Angeles, drives, Bakewell and the Brotherhood Crusade lead the Compton, Pasadena, and other California communities. way. In his 50 plus year career, Danny J. Bakewell, Sr. has become one of the most influential business leaders and social activists in our nation, blazing trails for others to travel.

Danny Bakewell, Dorothy Leavell, Sheila Jackson-Lee and Maxine Waters

In 1974 Bakewell co-founded of National Black United Fund (NBUF), pioneering a national philanthropic vehicle for communities that were either ignored or undeserved by United Way and other such institutions, creating has twenty-two NBUF affiliates nationwide. The Los Angeles

The Silent Warrior Warrior TheSilent

What It Means To Be Made In America Consider this. Ours is a nation of roughly 315 million1 people producing some $15 trillion in good and services in By Garrick T. Davis 2012 alone2. We’ve been able to accomplish these astounding numbers in a wavering economy with some 12 Thomas Paine is among the million workers unemployed3 over the course of the past most frequently quoted figures year. A number of the world’s competing economies have of the American Revolutionary more skilled workers than we have people. era. The pro-independence author of ‘Common Sense’ In his 2007 book ‘The Flight of the Creative Class’ author showed an uncanny knack for Richard Florida points out that United States is still far and

offering words that expressed away the world’s leader in innovation and productivity as

exactly who we are as a nation. demonstrated by practically any meaningful statistical Warrior TheSilent On what makes us unique as a measure: new patents, aggregate Gross Domestic people, Paine is credited with Product (GDP), energy consumption, and more. stating, “Our citizenship in the United States is our national We’ve clearly been able to compete with an increasingly character. Our great title is Americans.” productive and resourceful world despite our social and economic challenges. As a nation, we take deep pride in the cultural and technological advances the United States has brought to Yet, there are deeply troubling concerns. In March 2012, the world. The American Century has proven in many the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations sounded the ways to be the Global Century. Our unique brand of national alarm. Their report ‘US Education Reform and economic and political freedoms, while far from perfect, National Security’ concluded that a lack of adequate have given rise to a new measure of sustainable science, technology, engineering and mathematics prosperity that is the world we have come to know today. (STEM) preparation in America’s K-12 public schools has placed the country in a state of significant peril. Of all the countless creations and awe-inspiring inventions "Educational failure puts the United States' future America has generated in the post-Second World War era economic prosperity, global position, and physical safety alone, none has left a greater mark upon the world’s at risk," warned the report’s task force chaired by Joel I. collective psyche than that which is most readily Klein, former head of New York City public schools, and recognized by our admirers and foes alike. Our people. Condoleezza Rice, former U.S. secretary of state.

Exactly what it means to be ‘Made in America’ is far more Simply put, we can no longer continue to be the than a characteristic of economic or geographical fact. It is Americans the world has come to admire, respect and a statement. A declaration to the world, and one that is even envy, while leaving broad sectors of our population heard loud and clear. on the economic sidelines.

When a crate of goods leaves the port of Baltimore, or The necessity for serious-minded education reform and New Orleans, or Long Beach, it ceases to be a small teacher preparation is not merely a matter of race, a business product. Or the product of a Fortune 500 matter of socio-economic equality, or even a moralistic company. Or even a minority-owned business product. ideal. These categorizations are far too narrow in scope. What arrives on the shores of the country of destination is In some ways, they miss the point. an American product. That title alone means quality. It means dependability. It means that product was crafted This is an existential challenge - one which will slowly but by free people compensated for their toil. It means the surely erode our ability to be the People that we are, if left best product money can be. unchecked. Addressing this crisis is not a matter of choice.

The human spirit and our capacity to encourage its highest level of achievement is America’s oldest original export. All other inventions and innovations have been made possible by this most precious of natural resources. To expand our wealth and prosperity to every community,

1 "U.S. POPClock Projection". U.S. Census Bureau. (figure The statement Made in America says as much about the updated automatically). people who have produced the good or service in 2 "Gross Domestic Product, 1 Decimal (GDP)". Federal question, as it does about the item itself. Reserve Bank of St. Louis. April 5, 2013. Retrieved April 5, 2013.

3 "Employment Situation Summary". United States Department of Labor. May 3, 2013. Retrieved May 3, 2013.

family and individual in our nation – much less the world, we must build more sustainable American lives – one at a time. The necessities of our time demand as much.

In paying respect to the brave men and women of the Royal Air Force during the Battle of Britain, Winston Churchill is famously quoted as saying, “never has so much been owed by so many, to so few.”

The same can be said of our nation’s educators. Let’s Re-Made in the USA: How We Can Restore Jobs, hope we never have to apply the same quote to a Retool Manufacturing, and Compete With the

shrinking and out-gunned American workforce of the World (Hardcover, 234 pages) by Todd Lipscomb future. Publisher: Wiley Publishing Release date: April 12, Warrior TheSilent 2011 ISBN-10: 0470929928 ISBN-13: 978- Augustus F. Hawkins Foundation board member 0470929926 Garrick T. Davis is a former White House policy Todd Lipscomb is founder and president of the analyst and a Latin American fellow with the successful company MadeinUSAForever.com. He American Council of Young Political Leaders. Garrick spent nearly fifteen years in the tech industry, holds a bachelor of Foreign Service from Georgetown including executive roles overseeing Asia finance and University and a master of public administration from worldwide operating expenditures of over $180 million the University of Pennsylvania. per quarter with Western Digital Corporation. His experience watching Asian countries take American manufacturing jobs convinced him to move back to

the United States and start MadeinUSAForever.com,

which sells only high-quality American-made goods.

This book is a business-based rallying cry to reclaim the US economy. There is a nagging feeling that the U.S. is slipping as a nation and our people are powerless to do anything to fix it. Issues such as jobs, product quality and safety, wages, the economy, and our status as the world's leading superpower are all tied together with our massive trade deficit.

Re-Made in the USA addresses these issues using

the author's firsthand observations and analysis, and offers a practical plan for how we can get our economy and global status back.

track

reading this book, you'll finish feeling empowered

international business

America's future does not have to be on the decline. In inspiring terms, Re-Made in the USA lays out the choice Americans have between doing nothing and doing what we do best; rolling up our sleeves and working hard to fix the problem.

Written and Printed in USA.

Will We Meet the Challenge to Make it in It is called Crowdfunding. This is a new fundraising America? mechanism for women, and minority entrepreneurs. By Honorable Jason M. Fields Crowdfunding affords entrepreneurs the ability to use their social networks and online marketing vehicles to collect More than a year ago, the small amounts of money from large pools of investors. Obama Administration announced a $40 million Crowdfunding has its origins in the concept of dollar multi-agency crowdsourcing, which is the broader concept of a person competition, The Make it in or company reaching a targeted financial goal by America Challenge, to receiving and leveraging small contributions from many encourage foreign and sources, often through online social media. Crowdfunding

domestic businesses to build is the application of this concept to the collection of funds

and/or expand their through small contributions from many parties in order to Warrior TheSilent operations in the U.S. finance a particular project or venture.

Companies would be Crowdfunding is used in support of a wide variety of encouraged to bring jobs business, civic and nonprofit activities, including disaster back from overseas and make additional investments in relief, citizen journalism, support of artists by fans, political the U.S. This competition is being funded by the U.S. campaigns, startup company funding, motion picture Department of Commerce's Economic Development promotion-free software development, inventions Administration (EDA) and National Institute of Standards development, scientific research, and civic projects. and Technology Manufacturing Extension Partnership (NIST MEP); U.S. Department of Labor's Employment The Benefits of Crowdfunding and Training Administration (ETA); and the Delta Regional Authority (DRA). While I applaud this initiative and the Crowdfunding campaigns provide businesses and trend toward in-sourcing, I believe it is imperative that nonprofits with a number of non-financial benefits, beyond policymakers address the question of access to capital for the strict financial gains to include: so-called emerging business, many of which are minority- owned. 1. Profile and Branding – a project can raise a company’s profile and provide a boost to their For the record, I served as an Investment Advisor, reputation. Investment Banking Associate; I have also been a former 2. – project initiators can show there is an audience Stockbroker, Personal Banker, Branch Manager of a and market for their project. In the case of an credit union and Wisconsin State Representative. I have unsuccessful campaign, it provides good market come to understand that the term emerging business is feedback. often implied to mean a business that is 51 percent owned 3. Audience Engagement – crowd funding creates by an African-American, Latino, Native-American, a form where project initiators can engage with Woman, or Disabled Veteran. Unfortunately, I can testify their audiences. Audience can engage in the to the fact that the number one issue when it comes to production process by following progress through growing a business by any member of the group updates from the creators and sharing feedback mentioned above is a lack of access to capital. via comment features on the project’s crowdfunding page. 4. Feedback – offering pre-release access to content or the opportunity to beta-test content to project backers as a part of the funding incentives provides the project initiators with instant access to good market testing feedback.

Supporters of the crowdfunding approach contend that the Concept permits new, innovative ideas which may not fit the general pattern required by conventional financiers to break through and attract cash through the ‘wisdom of the crowd’. Should a business concept achieve financial Source: National Small Business Association “traction” through the crowdfunding approach, not only can the enterprise secure seed funding to begin its As we can see from the chart the lack of access to project, but it may also secure evidence of backing from capital makes it virtually impossible for a business to potential customers and benefit from word of mouth grow or expand its operations. There is however hope— promotion in order to reach the fundraising goal.

all is not lost! There are initiatives developing in Washington, D.C. with the passage of the Jumpstart Crowdfunding also offers an opportunity for an Our Business Startups Act of JOBS Act in April 2012. exponential increase in available venture capital. Those

that advices this fundraising practice also cite that a benefit for companies receiving crowdfunding support is that they retain control of their operations, as voting rights are not conveyed along with ownership when crowdfunding.

Potential risks and barriers for the Crowdfunding originator

Crowdfunding also comes with a number of potential risks

or barriers.

1. Funding limitations – Crowdfunding caps an Warrior TheSilent amount an issuer can raise to $1 million in any 12-month period’ Crowdfunding caps the amount Source: National Small Business Association a person can invest in all Crowdfundings over a 12-month period at 10 percent of annual income While not a financial panacea, this new unconventional or net worth (incomes of $100,000 or more) or the method for increasing the access to capital for emerging greater of $2,000 or 5 percent of annual income businesses may offer positive beneficial options to help or net worth (incomes of less than $100,000) businesses large, small and start-up rise to the challenge 2. Reputation – failure to meet campaign goals or and “Make it in America!” to generate interest result in a public failure. Reaching financial goals and successfully James M. Fields is a former Wisconsin State gathering substantial public support but being Representative, and the Vice of President-Business unable to deliver on a project for some reason Development, Spring Water Asset Management can severely negatively impact ones reputation. Corporation. 3. IP protection – many Interative Digital Media developers and contant producers are reluctant to **For more information about crowdfunding, visit: publicly announce the details of a project before production due to concerns about idea theft and http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_crowd_funding protecting their IP from plagiarism. _services 4. Donor exhaustion – there is a risk that if the same network of supporters is reached out to multiple times, that network will eventually cease to supply necessary support. 5. Public fear of abuse – concern among supporters that without a regulatory framework, the likelihood of a scam of abuse of funds is high. The concern may become a barrier to public engagement.

Crowdfunding draws a crowd, investors and other interested observers who follow the progress, or lack of progress, of a project. Sometimes it proves easier to raise the money for a project than to make the project a success. Managing communications with a large number of possibly disappointed investors and supporters can be a substantial and potentially diverting challenge.

Most importantly, the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) has yet to finalize procedural rules around the issue of Crowdfunding although the deadline for completing these rules was December 31, 2012. Recent amendments in the Senate indicate a much heavier lift in regulatory procedure than initially anticipated.

Private Prisons Equal Big Business prisons. The financial windfall that privately managed By Stacy M. Brown prison operators reap from telephone calls is only a small fraction of their overall income, which reaches into the High Incarceration Rates Boosts Income for Operators billions. The country has three types of lock-up facilities; and Government Officials. While newly appointed Federal local or county jail, state and federal prison. However, Communications Commission Acting Chair Mignon instead of operating specific prisons, many local, state Clyburn and members of the Congressional Black Caucus and federal authorities have opted to contract with various continue their fight to reduce the costs for inmates to private corporations to manage the facilities. make telephone calls, a battle against privately run prisons is heating up. Since 2003, the number of private prisons has grown from five to 100 nationwide while prisoners in those facilities

Officials at various civil rights and watchdog organizations have increased from 2,000 to about 130,000. The two claim that private prison operators are using their political largest private prison operators – CCA and The Geo Warrior TheSilent clout to help increase the prison population and to deny Group (GEO) – report revenues approaching $3 billion the release of many who are eligible for parole. "For profit annually, according to financial documents posted on the companies exercise their political influence to protect their New York Stock Exchange, where they are publicly market share," said Tracy Velazquez, the former traded. CCA is currently trading on the Big Board at executive director of the Justice Policy Institute in $38.90 a share while stocks for GEO are listed at $38.81. Northwest Washington, D.C. "We need to take a hard look at what the cost of this influence is, both to taxpayers "The emergence of CCA as a leading prison profiteer is a and to the community as a whole, in terms of the polices result of a thoughtful promulgation of laws and policies on being lobbied for and the outcomes for people put in a federal and state level," said Seema Sadanandan, of private prisons," she said. the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of the Nation's Capital in Northwest Washington, D.C. Sadanandan, 31, Meanwhile, Clyburn and Rep. organized a rally on May 7 at the Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio, of the Central Detention Facility on 19th Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), Street in Southeast Washington, have continued their push to reduce D.C., to protest the way CCA exorbitant telephone call rates that operates that jail and its other prison inmates face when calling home. In facilities. "Through tactics like most prisons a $3.95 connection fee pushing for minimum occupancy is required for all calls and inmates guarantees in its prisons, CCA has pay an additional 89 cents per both contributed to and benefited minute. However, in private prisons, from the explosion in incarceration," the calls can be as much as $5 per Sadanandan said. minute, a fee required of the 2,000 prisoners at the Stewart Prison in Private prison operators are also Lumpkin, Ga. That high fee helps making a fortune off of prisoners, Correction Corp. of America (CCA), the prison's private who are primarily immigrants and African Americans. operator, rake in between $30 million and $50 million a About half of all immigrants detained by federal officials year, according to the Northwest Washington, D.C.-based are held in facilities run by private companies, at an government watchdog, Think Progress. average cost per inmate of approximately $200 a night. Many prisoners are paid about $2 a day for labor. Ten Private prison operators have cumulatively reported years ago, more than 3,300 immigrants were sent to profits of almost $200 million annually, according to a private prisons under two 10-year contracts the Federal 2013 March edition of Bloomberg Businessweek. The Bureau of Prisons signed with CCA worth $760 million. operators, like CCA, average between 42 and 66 percent Now, more than 23,000 immigrants are housed in private commissions, which result in millions of dollars in revenue prisons in the U.S. The incarceration rate for African for the corporations, the Federal Communications Americans is about 3,074 per 100,000 residents, which is Commission (FCC) reported in a 2012 filing. more than six times as high as the national average. "This is [the telephone rates] something that I've been advocating for years," said Clyburn, 51. "It's important that CCA raked in $162 million in net income in 2011, in large families have that contact with their incarcerated loved part because of federal contracts. The Geo Group saw its ones." net income rise from $16.9 million in 2000 to $78.6 million in 2011. Two years ago, The Geo Group finalized a Fudge, who heads the CBC, said it's imperative that the merger with Cornell Companies, Inc., that was valued by costs are reduced. "If (inmates) can communicate with Wall Street at $730 million. CCA pays its chief executive their families, the odds are much better that they will not officer more than $3.2 million a year while The Geo be repeat offenders," said Fudge, 60, who asked the FCC Group's top executive earns $3.4 million annually. to eliminate the per-call charges and establish a "Companies that house prisoners for profit have a reasonable and permanent cap on telephone rates in all perverse incentive to increase the prison population ...

there is no motivation to rehabilitate prisoners," said Lisa Wade, a cultural critic and associate professor at Occidental College in Los Angeles, California.

State-run prisons are much more likely than privately-run prisons to offer programs to help prisoners, including psychological interventions, drug and alcohol counselling, and course work toward a college degree, said Wade, 38. "What is good for private prisons, in other words, is what is bad for individuals, their families, their communities, and our country," she said.

A 2011 report by the Justice Policy Institute in Northwest

Make It In America, Updated Edition: The Case

Washington, D.C., disclosed that private prison operators Warrior TheSilent for Re-Inventing the Economy by Andrew Liveris allegedly paid judges to sentence juveniles with minor offenses to disproportionately longer terms in their Publisher: Wiley Publishing Release date: January correctional facilities. 4, 2011 ISBN-10: 0470930225 ISBN-13: 978- 0470930229 Two Pennsylvania judges were sentenced to prison in America used to define itself by the things it built. 2011 for illegally sending teenagers to jail in a scam that We designed and produced the world's most came to be known as, "Kids for Cash." Over a five year important innovations, and in doing so, created a period, at least 5,000 teenagers appeared before Luzerne vibrant manufacturing sector that built the middle County, Pennsylvania, President Judge Mark Ciavarella class. We manufactured our way to the top and and the county's Senior Judge Michael Conahan. became the undisputed economic leader among all nations. But over the last several decades, and The judges illegally especially in the last ten years, the sector that was sentenced many of America's great pride has eroded, costing millions them to prison in of jobs and putting our long-term prosperity at risk. exchange for nearly Now, as we struggle to recover from the worst $3 million in recession in generations, our only chance to turn kickbacks, things around is to revive the American prosecutors said. manufacturing sector—and to revolutionize it. In MAKE IT IN AMERICA: The Case for Reinventing Ciavarella, 58, ultimately was the Economy, Andrew Liveris — Chairman and sentenced to 28 years in federal prison. Conahan, 56, CEO of The Dow Chemical Company—offers a received more than 17 years. Prosecutors said the judges thoughtful and passionate argument that America’s created the potential for an increased number of young future economic growth and prosperity depends on offenders to be sent to juvenile detention facilities. the strength of its manufacturing sector. The book "Somebody is going to make more money by holding  Explains how a manufacturing sector more kids, there is a pretty good predictable profit creates economic value at a scale motive," said criminal justice consultant Judith Greene, unmatched by any other, and how who heads a nonprofit group called Justice Strategies in central the sector is to creating jobs both New York. inside and outside the factory.

In a 2010 Securities and Exchange Commission filing,  Explores how other nations are building CCA officials stated that, "The demand for our facilities their manufacturing sectors to stay and services could be adversely affected by leniency in competitive in the global economy, and conviction or parole standards and sentencing practices." describes how America has failed to keep Private prison operators, who spend a total of $45 million up. annually on lobbying lawmakers for tougher and longer sentences, should be carefully scrutinized by the government, ACLU officials said. "Privatizing prisons may undermine cost effective sentencing reforms and increase recidivism rates," said ACLU policy director, Shakyra Diaz. "Despite these well-documented concerns, private prison companies continue to promote policies that put money in their pockets and people behind bars," Diaz said

**This article was reprinted courtesy of Stacy M.

Brown and the Washington Informer Newspaper. http://washingtoninformer.com/index.php/us/item/13764- private-prisons-equal-big-business

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