katharine gallogly:hi, everybody. welcome to the white house. thank you all forbeing here today. and, welcome to washington,d.c. we are excited to have you here at the white house. i'm katharine gallogly,i run the white house community leadersbriefing program. and, i'm just thrilled thatafter weeks and months of planning, we have gotyou all to washington.
and, i'm just thrilled thatyou're all here today. a couple of quick logisticalnotes; i already mentioned this, but this is the mostoften asked questions. so, the bathrooms arejust down the hall. the men's room's to theright, the women's room to the left. and, more importantly;perhaps or as importantly, we would love you guys totweet throughout this event, using the#whitehousecommunityleaders.
you'll hear from a fantasticset of panelists and white house officials todayabout their experience. and, we are very, veryhonored to have you all here and to have them as well. to start us off, we'rejoined by roy austin, one of my favorite members ofthe obama administration. roy is deputy assistant tothe president for urban affairs, justice, andopportunity, and previously served in thedepartment of justice.
and, he can speakextraordinarily well to the broad range of thepresident's domestic agenda. and, that's why we'reexcited to have him here to open things up today. thank you all, again. (applause) roy austin: so, thank youvery much, katharine. you know, right now, i thinkour thoughts and our prayers in this administration, i'msure, out there, are with
the people of charleston,south carolina. the horrific act thathappened last night is something that we have todo everything we can in our power to prevent fromever happening again. the president spoke aboutthis earlier today, and he's noted that, "hatred acrossraces pose a particular threat to our democracyand our ideas." and, that's absolutely true. i spent the bulk of mycareer as a civil rights
prosecutor traveling thenation; prosecuting hate crimes and policemisconduct cases. and, this instance is areminder that we all have an incredible amount of work tocontinue to do; these, and so many other issues forthose who are struggling in our communities. i have the honor of beinghere at the white house working, and workingon issues that i feel passionately about.
and, as i looked at the workthat the corps does, the work that we do here at theoffice of urban affairs, justice, and opportunity,we're doing the same things. you're doing it out there inthe field, directly with the people. and, we're doing it herethrough changing policies to make it easier for you tocontinue to do your work. so, we work on everythinghere from criminal justice reform to civil rights; tohuman services to labor; to
housing to our place-basedinitiatives like promise zones and the my brother'skeeper initiative. that's the work that weare doing here on policy. and, everything i justlisted is work that you're doing out there: the workwith disconnected kids, from foster youth to those whoare just having trouble finding a job. and, we're trying to doeverything we can to lift them up so that they can bethe hand that pulls down and
lifts up the next person,and, to give them the power and the ability to do so. and, that's whatyou're doing. and, the work we're doing onthings like making sure the kids have a chance to getinto the workforce; get the skills they need to succeedin the workplace, from stem to just basic skillsthat they need. we're doing everything wecan on the education front. and, the team that i get towork with on education is
working on things like freecommunity colleges and making sure that we havepre-school for all. and, these are things thateveryone should believe in. and, you're going to be outthere on the streets and in the communities helpingpeople to fight for the things that they need most. we do a lot of stuffon juvenile justice. how do we continue the trendthat we're seeing, which is a good trend, of fewer andfewer young people being
held in secured facilities? how do we make sure thatthere are alternatives to incarceration andbeing locked up? how do make sure that incertain states 16 and 17-year-olds are not beinglocked up as adults? look, we know this. we know that a 16 and a17-year-old deserves a second chance; deserves achance to be treated like a child.
too many of these young people never had that opportunity. so, we as a community, we asan administration, you as corps members have to findways to work with these kids. to make sure that when they see you, they see opportunity. they see hope. they see a chance not onlyfor themselves but also a chance to lift up theirfamilies; a chance to lift up their communities;a chance to believe in something and tofight for something.
these kids wantthis, we know that. we know it because we'veseen this in ferguson and we've seen it in baltimore. and, we've seen itin staten island. and, we've seen it incommunities around this country. these kids knowwhat they want. they want people tohelp them to get there. and, they're going todo everything they can. but, they need a boost.
they need someone tohelp to lead that way. they need someone to makewhat is sometimes anger constructive. that's somethingthat you can do. that's something you have anopportunity to do out there on the streets and in thecommunities of this great nation that we live in. we also have things thatwe're working on criminal justice reform.
and, there's a recognitionthat we're locking up too many people for too longfor the wrong reasons. and, the president, veryearly in his presidency, signed the fair sentencingact which tried to even out the disparate impact of oursentencing laws on those who were using crack and thosewho were using cocaine. well, first of all, we haveto give people a reason not to use anything at all. but, we also can't treatpeople differently when
those differencesreally don't matter. and, that's something thatthis administration is constantly working towardand constantly making sure that we get right. and, how do we make surethat those who do get involved get the educationalprogramming; get the skills programming, get the mentalhealth programming that they need to succeed? how do we direct themin the right way?
that's the question for you. and, that's the questionthat you when you're out there working with thesepeople are going to have a chance to answer. and, direct them in aconstructive place. and, look; 70 million peopleright now have an arrest or criminal record. 70 million americans have anarrest or criminal record. after they've done theirtime, they need an
opportunity to succeed. we need to stop closing thedoor to them with needless collateral consequences. i think the aba counted40,000 collateral consequences. that's things that say, "youcannot apply for this job." or, "you cannot have thisjob because you have a record." well, you've done your time. and, now it's time for usto help you to succeed. and, these are young people.
we know that about 50percent of african-american boys are going to have anarrest before they are 23 years old. that number's insane. so, we have to do everythingwe can to prevent them from having that arrest or thatcriminal conviction in the first place. but, when they do get introuble, we have to give them a real second chance.
we have to find a way tolift them up and encourage them to do better. and, make them see successin themselves so that they're not hopeless. again, i'm just talkingabout the policy stuff (inaudible) work that youhave been doing for years. and, many of you are goingto go out there and do very soon again. you're the ones on thestreet doing this day in and
day out; meeting the realpeople behind the policies that i'm talking about. and, i want to encourage youto keep fighting for those things. we do a ton of stuff withdisabled youth and disabled adults; who want nothing buta real job that pays them a real wage, so that they canprove that they belong in this country justlike everybody else. we have to remove thebarriers to that.
we work with our lgbt youth. and, i believe you're goingto hear more about that today. but the idea that someonebecause of who they love is different from someone elsebecause of who they love? well, that's a sillynotion; and, one that this administration is notgoing to stand for. and, one that you, whenyou're out there working with these individuals, havea place to be an advocate for and make it clear thatthis is a fellow human
being; a fellow american whodeserves the same rights and privileges and opportunitiesthat everyone else has. so, i come to you toencourage you; to say welcome to the white house;to say that we are behind your efforts; that we wantto see you succeed; that we want to make sure that youcontinue the amazing work that this -- that thecorps member stands for. you have a responsibilityon your shoulders. you're young leaders.
and, old folks like myselfneed you to do better than we did. and, so with that i thankyou for your service to this country, the corps. and, please, don't hesitateto reach out if you think there's something that i'vemissed when i was describing the work we're doing. if you think there's apolicy we need to do, write us, tell us, be active.
and, we'll seewhat we can do. we only have about -- ithink it's somewhere the neighborhood of about 580days until the weekend. that's the amount of timeleft in this administration. (laughter) and, we're going to workevery single day to make life better for everybody. so, thank you so much. katharine gallogly: i hopeyou all are inspired.
i know i am; thank you toroy and, again, to you all for being here. we're now going to heardirectly from some of your own corps network members. and, so i will let themdo most of the talking. i'll welcomethem up on stage. if you all want to take aseat; let's give them a round of applausefirst of all. katharine gallogly: and, i'dalso like to welcome mary
ellen sprenkel, the ceo ofthe corp network who's going to introduce the panel andserve as our moderator. thank you. mary ellen sprenkel: thanks. good afternoon. multiple speakers:good afternoon. mary ellen sprenkel:good afternoon. mary ellensprenkel: thank you. i know roy's already left,but please thank him for
those powerful remarks. it's good to know that wehave advocates here in the white house, championingthe causes that we care so deeply about and workon, on the ground. the obama administration hasbeen a good friend to the corps network and to corps. and, we look forward tobuilding on that strong relationship overthe next 18 months. we are particularly excitedabout the possibility of
participating in a numberof new initiatives that the administration iscurrently rolling out. i'd also like to thankkatharine who has worked with the corps network forthe past several months to make this opportunitypossible. and, it's not everyone who-- all groups that get invited to sort of havea dialogue about what's important. so, this is a really greatopportunity; thank you.
i'm mary ellen sprenkel. i am the presidentof the corps network. and, it is my great honorand privilege to be here with you today. corps are the directdescendants of the civilian conservation corpsof the 1930s. today service andconservation corps engage 25,000 young adultsand veterans in conservation-related serviceprojects in urban areas and
on public lands each year. these projects are designedto tackle some of american's greatest challenges; likedeteriorating natural spaces and infrastructure; climatechange and natural disaster; youth unemployment; and thegrowing opportunity gap. tied to these projects,corps members receive education, workforcedevelopment, and supportive services which often includean americorps stipend and education award.
unfortunately, rightnow the house and senate appropriations committeesare moving legislation that includes drastic cuts toamericorps and national service. bill basl, who is thedirector of americorps and will be moderating oursecond panel this afternoon, will tell you more aboutthese possible cuts and what they could mean forprograms like corps. fortunately, we have astrong advocate in president obama.
and, we have hundreds ofsuccess stories like the ones that you're going tohear about how national service and corps inparticular are helping young people re-engage in society;advance our education; gain workforce skills and explorecareer pathways, and develop into the next generationof community leaders and environmental stewards. first, we'll hear fromray santos from american youthworks in austin, tx.
ray's currently a crewleader for their opportunity youth initiative which isdesigned to specifically serve formerly incarceratedand court-involved young people. next, we'll hear fromkanisha jackson, an alumni of greater miamiservice corp. kanisha is currently usingher americorps (inaudible) award to go to college at southern new hampshire university. next, we'll hear from aishadorn, and alumni of civic
works in baltimore. she will share how her corpsexperience prepared her to open her own business,lifeline environmental. finally, we'll hear fromkatherine martinez. katherine is a current corpsmember at the curlew job corps center in washingtonstate -- or, i can't say that five times fast, whereshe is obtaining important life and job skillsand leadership skills. so, let's start with ray,who'll tell us about how
american youthworks andamericorps helped him turn his life around and is nowallowing him to help others do the same. ray santos: hello, everyone. my name is raymundo santos. i grew up ineast austin, tx. american youthworks andamericorps has changed the direction of my life. and, i was able to transformmy life through service
to others. as a teen, i made poordecisions and that resulted in the involvementin the court system. for 30 minutes of my lifeaffected my entire life of (inaudible) poor decisions. i got one ticket withthree infractions. it was speeding, drivingwithout a license, and failure to maintainvehicle responsibility. adding to all this, mygirlfriend broke up with me
at the time. and, i fell intoa depression. i fell behind in school,and i dropped out. and, in my funk i failedto pay the tickets which resulted and turned intowarrants for my arrest. i enrolled inalternative high school. but, before long ifell behind again. i dropped out. a counselor suggestedthat i take my ged test.
i completed two out of thefive tests and never and never finished the third one; third, fourth, or fifth one. i needed money. so, i startedworking at pizza hut. but, i realized thatthat was a dead-end job. and, on top of that, ididn't like smelling like pizza dough. my brother had gone toamerican youthworks and graduated from in the pastand suggested i finish my
high school education thereand also gain some job skills. i started with youthbuildaustin and had worked in construction with mydad over the summers. so, my skillsmade me stand out. the staff gave me positivefeedback that increased my confidence. i felt accomplished and theamerican youthworks teachers and trainers believed in meand saw something then; not many other peopledid at the time.
with their encouragement,i powered through my ged studies and got my gedwithin two months. i joined a full-time crewcalled clean energy service corps through the americorpsnetwork and the corps network. our crew's like a family. they encouraged me tofurther my education and to enroll in community college. we were remodeling homes ineast austin, where i grew up. and, i was givingup to the community.
we helped elderly people whocouldn't leave their homes. we were making a difference for the people of my neighborhood. and, that felt really good. i was doing somethingimportant with my life. i wanted to go to college. but, first i had to clear upmy warrants so i could get a license. when i went to the court,and i told the judge that i was an americorps member,his eyes lit up like the
skies of texas. he knew i was doingsomething positive with my life. he dropped the late fees,the court costs, and i got to pay the originalticket amounts. by taking care of myresponsibilities, i had a clean record, driver'slicense, and college was again in my reach. i was even granted communityservice through the time that i was at americanyouthworks as a national
service americorps member. i got a driver's license,and i became a driver for one of the crews; making memore valuable to the crew. weatherization work forlow-income families taught me principles at helpingthose in need as well as technical constructionskills and energy efficiency construction. american youthworks asked meto become a site foreman at that time.
and, i jumped on theopportunity immediately. i wanted to give back as acrew leader, just like the crew leaders gave me advicewhen i was a americorps member. i was a mentor for thementor-involved crew members who were going even throughdarker times than i was. i encouraged them to stickwith it and take of the opportunities americorpsprograms offered. and, i got to drive them toaustin community college for welding and automotive classthat i took along side
with them. eventually, i was asked tobecome a member for american youthworks. and, i said, "yes. i want to pay it forward." i received $9,775 inamericorps education awards. and, i attended nightclasses at austin community college towards anassociate's degree in construction management;to accomplish my goals in
becoming a constructiontrainer at american youthworks. without the guidance andrespect from american youthworks, and the staffwho believed in me, i would not have found my career andmy true passion for helping others. i have the ability to makea difference for the people and community i care about. and, my life story is atestimony on how important it is that americorpsprograms, like american
youthworks, are supported. so, that individuals like mecan find purpose and to help others that are court-involved in our communities. mary ellen sprenkel:thank you, ray. what an inspirational story. it's easy to see why you area mentor and role model to other young people whoare facing challenges re-entering society. and, i'm really pleased tohear that you are returning
to college. that is so important. a number of corps and manyof you here in the room participated in piloting aprogram to develop a program around post-secondaryeducation success. to help out-of-schoolyouth and first-generation students enroll andpersist in college. and, now we will hear fromkanisha; who participated in one of those programs and isnow going to college as a
result of her experience ingreater miami service corps. kanisha jackson:hello, everybody. i am from miami, florida. and, that's in the greatermiami service corps. who would've knew three tofour years from now, i'll be back here and now tellyou about my life story. i grew in a badneighborhood, so sorry. i grew up in abad neighborhood. and, (inaudible) was to evensit on the bus stop wrong.
you were liableto get shot at. you walked down the street,and you around the wrong group of people at thewrong time, you get killed. so, i pause because there'sso much hatred in the world. and, i just had to think,like "oh my god; like, i really lived in atough neighborhood." i did a lot of things thata lot of young girls really shouldn't be doing it atthe age i was doing it at because of my environmentand because of where
i was living. my father wasn't inmy life at the time. so, i just ran the streets;did a lot of things, got arrested, wasin fist fights. so, don't let'slooks fool you. i really (laughs)came a long way. i wound up gettingpregnant in 2012. and, i didn'thave my diploma. and, i didn't have a job.
so, i was very lost. i did not know what to do. i was like, "should i keepmy baby, should i not?" and, then ithought about it. i was like, "there's alot of people out here, especially women that aretrying to get pregnant and can't get pregnant; becauseof, you know, little predicaments that theyprobably have been in." and, i'm like, "who ami to kill a human being?
who am i to kill my baby?" so, eventually, once i heardthe ultra sound, i was like, "oh, no. i have to keep my baby. there's no way in heck i'mgoing to kill my child. whether the father want tobe in his life or not, i'm his mommy." so, i kept my baby. but, then, i was like, "ihave to get my high school diploma."
luckily, my cousin wasliving with us at the time. and, he actually had a bestfriend that was working the front desk wherei work at now. and, he told me, you know,"go down there, they help you with your diploma,help you get you money for college. go down there andsee how you like it. and, start from there." so, i went.
and, i was down, no,i was like, "oh, no. i need to work. i'm going to go outside, iwant -- whatever i have, i want to do." and the (inaudible)is looking at me. ms. price looking at melike i was crazy-like. "girl, you can't gooutside, you're pregnant." i'm like, "i need money." he said, "no.
you need a diploma. and, so we're going to putyou on our own program called (inaudible)which is online. and, they help youget your diploma." so, i got into it. it was fast. i was in it forlike three months. and, sure enough, i got mydiploma a month before i had my baby.
my baby was my motivation. he pushed me. i can honestly say if iwould've never got pregnant, i don't know wherei would've been. i said, "i can'tbe this person. i'm going to have to changefor the sake of my child." so, they told me about i was like, "i don'twant to do it." they was like, "no, do it.
you know, you'regoing to like it." and, i was like, "i don'tthink i'm smart enough to be in college." i remember one of theassignments they was like, i got so attached to it. they was like, "explainwhat you love to do and how you're going to do it?" so, i explained how to rap. and, i did a video rapping.
and, from there, you know,they was helping me. ms. (inaudible) was helpingme with assignments. and, eventually i starteddoing assignments on my own. i was mastering them. but, then i got intolike personal problems. and, i was slacking off. and, then they droppedme from the program. but, i just recentlygot back in. on (inaudible) time, i hadto write a whole essay of
why i should get back in. and, now, i'm doingbetter than ever. so, greater miami servicecorps really did save me. i'm glad i had themr. andrew's -- he was always in my ear. and, he's old. no offense; he's an old man. (laughs) so, you know, who they is;like they tell you from the
tee rather you wantto hear it or not. and, i'm gladi have ms. day. she was always telling mestuff from her experience and what she went through. and, i'm glad i have mr.(inaudible); even though half the time i neverunderstood what he was talking about because healways used these big old words. but, then eventually, he waslike, "you know what, you
need to get a dictionary,you need to search these words, you need -- you know,he was always nudging me. glad i have ms. theresawhich was always sweet and nice to me. and, mr. (inaudible) andmr. (inaudible) for keeping me in the program. and, also, i found thelove of my life there. he really is so awesome tome and is very much the greater half of me.
i don't know what i woulddo without him and my son. and, of course, my family. so, i want young girls tolook at my story, and to grow from my story. don't make the same stupidmistakes that i made; because now that i look backat it, yeah, i went through it. and, some might judge, somepeople might cry, some people mightshake their head. but, and thenthere's my story.
i didn't sit on my butt; igot up, and i went go get what i wanted to get, nomatter what anybody ever had to say about me. lot of people said i wasn'tgoing to be a good momma; did it. lot of people said iwouldn't amount to anything. i'm here speakingto you all. my executive director wastrying to get me to speak for so many years.
i got into theprogram at 2013. i didn't start speakinguntil this year. so, she sees something in methat i couldn't even see in myself. and, i thank her because shenot only keep me; she saved me. mary ellen sprenkel:thank you, kanisha. you're definitely settinga great example for other young mothersand for your son.
and, you're also setting agreat example for how corps can provide pathways toand through post-secondary education. and, our next speaker,aisha dorn, used her corps experience at baltimorecivic works as a pathway to a career. in fact, it enabled her tostart her own business. aisha. aisha dorn: caneverybody hear me?
hi, my name is aisha dorn,founder/ceo of lifeline environmental frombaltimore city, md. we specialize in asbestosabatement, led abatement, mold remediation,demolition, and all types of hazardous waste removal. i established lifelineenvironmental one year after completing my civicworks certifications. it was because of thesecertifications that i was able to start my businesswith no questions asked
(laughs). my experience combined withmy husband's experience gave us our llc within a week. the certifications that igot was asbestos supervisor, lead abatement worker, leadabatement renovator, lead inspector, hazardous wastehandler, first aid and cpr, osha construction safety,and confined space operations. the reason civic works wasso attractive to me is because i was dying to getinto the environmental field.
i wasn't exactly sure how. but, when i saw the postingfor civic works, and the free certification, i said(laughs) "that's the way to go." certificationscost over $1,000. and, i didn't haveit at the time. i also wanted to createjobs for baltimore. and, going through thisprogram, i realized this is my way to giveback to my city. civic works gave me hands-onexperience; taught me about
safety and, not only how tokeep myself safe, but to keep workers around me safe;because it only takes one mistake from anybody;whether it's the person supervising or the worker inthe back of the tank working on his own. to do my part in baltimorecity was made national news in the past weeks for: thecivil unrest, the high unemployment, anddilapidated buildings in neighborhoods.
my plan is to grow our leanhouse initiative where we plan to buy houses inbaltimore city; vacant buildings that have beensitting for years, falling apart on themselves, debrisfalling in the streets. and, we plan to growthese neighborhoods back. these neighborhoods werefilled at one time with laughter, schools,factories, even. and, what we plan to do isabate all the asbestos, lead, mold.
and, get them move-in readyand ready for further development. and, we plan to do this,using civic work workers. i've been invited back somany times to not only speak at graduations and tellthem that they can do it themselves, start their ownbusiness, get into a field, and see whereit can take you. i also get invited backto their job fairs. and, i'm just filled with somuch provide to be able to
give a job toworkers; excuse me. to give a job to workersthat came from the same place i did (cries). excuse me. i remember my firstjob after civic works. it was a hydro carbonrecovery company, basically ore recovery and recycling. it was there i met mypartner and my husband. and, we were able to talkevery day about the safest
way to do a job and notonly safely but correctly; because asbestos, lead, andmold are something that you do not want to be around anylonger than you have to. so, it was there weinstilled in the workers that we worked with, andalso in ourselves, that we can not only do this work,but that we can also complete thesejobs ourselves. so, after we left fcc, westarted our own company. and, through that i was ableto employ four workers.
and, i'm very fortunate forthe role that civic works has played in my life. my first large-scale projectwas at the historic clifton mansion, johnshopkins' summer home. it was there we were ableto hire four workers. we did all the asbestos,lead, and demolition for that project. and, we also were thegeneral contractor for the project.
so, we oversaw plumbers, weoversaw electricians, and we oversaw all the trades thatneeded to happen alongside ours. we took great care topreserve the many historical details that made themansion so special. there was the civic works10th anniversary, where i was allowed to open forkathleen kennedy and robert f. kennedy jr. and, it's through that talk we were inspired to not only takeour business past old recovery but also createsustainable energy grids,
which cities can run on. i hope that you can hear ourstories and know that there is change being made. help me help baltimore city. help city workshelp workers. help city worksstart businesses. help create change. mary ellen sprenkel: thankyou, aisha, for your story and your continuedsupport of baltimore.
i think it's wonderful thatyou not only add value to the community and makeit healthier, but you're employing former corpsmembers like yourself. next and our final speakeris katherine martinez. she is also using her corpsexperience at the curlew jo center to provide for acareer in a non-traditional career in welding. she's also using her corpsexperience to develop impressive leadership skillsshe did not even know she had.
katherine martinez: hello,my name's katherine. so, i have beenself-conscious and quiet most of my life. and, i went through highschool and college sitting timidly in the corner. i thought that going tocollege to become an engineer would make me feelimpressive and, in turn, give me that inner strengththat i was looking for. after three semesters offeeling empty, i realized
that i would never developthat strength until i pursued my truefashion of welding. yes, i said welding. (laughs) it was while i was enrollingat portland community college, and institute thatoffered welding that i noticed a flyer for jobcorps; a trade school that offered to teach me forfree, with free room and board, seemed like a perfectopportunity that i couldn't pass up.
i signed up immediatelyknowing that this was going to be the greatestalternative to having to pay thousands of dollarsat a college. although i now realize thatjob corps is so much more than learning how toweld at no cost to me. welding has been great, andso has the staff at curlew job corps. i have learned so much; notjust about welding but in life, too.
staff members expecteveryone to get involved in leadership in dorm; even ifjust you trial it for a few days. after i had been askedseveral times to trial, i finally gave in and landed asmall leadership position. i left the position after amonth because i realized i wasn't patientenough for it. i wasn't successfulin the position. but, i wouldn't say that ifailed entirely; because at
least i now knewwhat it took. and, i learnedfrom my mistakes. the small position allowedme, for the first time in my life, to be a leader. after years of beingoverlooked as a leader, or someone with the possiblepotential to become one because i was the quiet andshy girl, i was finally given an opportunity. i found my inner strength;all due to the staff and
teaching at job corps. curlew job corps stressesthe importance of good leadership. anyone can be thrown intoa higher position and call themselves a leader. but, it takes a good workethic, understanding, patience, and the ability tonot only give constructive criticism but toreceive it as well. the staff tries to each usthese qualities and to guide us.
but it is ultimately up tothe student whether or not they want to put in the workto develop the qualities that are needed. after ruining them myselffrom my position dorm, i became the foremanfor welding. and, for one of the curlewjob corps' camp crews that went out on afire last year. my crew worked at thecarleton complex for two weeks. it was one of the largestfires that the west coast
has ever seen. after receiving thesepositions, i realized that i still had a lot to learn. i had the qualities to bea good leader, but i still needed to fullydevelop them. with the guidance andpatience of my trade boss and camp crew boss, overtime i was made into a respected leader. it takes greatresponsibility to be a leader.
i always try tolead by example. my fellow camp crewmembers see this. and, they try to followsuit; allowing them to develop their ownleadership skills. becoming a leader also meansthat i now have the duty to try to help others advancein their own work. i now make a willing effortto help all of my fellow welders, instead of justfocusing on my own gain. some welcome my help morethan others, but that's
alright; because at least iknow that i've done my duty as a foreman. and, that these people willbecome better welders. and, in turn, have a betterchance of making a career out of it. after job corps, i planon making a career out of welding. i don't think i would be asconfident and patient as i am now if i'venever been a leader.
as for the staff members atcurlew job corps who pushed me into it, i thank them. without them and job corps,i would not be ready to step out into the working world;ready to climb my way up the leadership ladder. unfortunately, not everyonehas what it takes to be a good leader. i do think though thateveryone deserves a figure that out on their own.
to put it bluntly, i wouldhave probably failed in the working world if it was notfor job corps who showed me my potential. so, i ask policy makers inwashington, d.c., to support me and others like me bysupporting leadership development opportunities atcorps like curlew job core. without this center, i wouldnot be the person who is standing before you. and, the fact that i had theopportunity to get selected
to come to d.c., to talkto all of you today is a testament to job corp'seffectiveness and the importance that ithas on young lives. mary ellen sprenkel:thank you, katherine. we look forward to seeingwhere your career pathway and your leadershipskills will take you. perhaps one day you'll beback here at the white house in a different capacity. right.
so, that wrapsup this panel. please thank me and joiningthe panelists, the corps directors, staff, andmembers who traveled from all over the country to behere and our friends at the administration for theirlong-time support and for making thisopportunity possible. katharine gallogly: so, weare very grateful to all of you for speaking andthankful that you had a chance to share some ofthose amazing experiences.
and, it's a credit to thecorps network and to the work that you all have done,i think, and really speaks to some of the issues thatroy spoke about at the beginning. so thank you; one moreround of applause for our panelists. katharine gallogly: youwere truly fantastic. so, it's now my privilege tointroduce our next speaker, michael smith, who's aspecial assistant to the
president; a very specialassistant to the president, and runs my brother's keeperinitiative here out of the white house. and, he's going to speakabout some of the issues he works on out of here. and, how you all can getinvolved in helping. michael smith: thank you. good afternoon, everybody. how's everyone doing?
(talking simultaneously) good, good, good, good, goodto see everybody; good to see so many familiar faces. i will give a very brief update on my brother's keeper. and, then i'm going to breakprotocol and take questions and comments from you;because i know many of you are helping to lead thiswork in many places around the country. and, i want to hear, one;what questions you might
have for me, but two; whatyou need from us in order to do this work. i'll give an update. but, you know, when thepresident launched my brother's keeper in 2014,i do think we were able to help coordinate a movement. i think we were able toenergize a movement. but, we know that folks likeyou and your communities have been working on theseissues for a long time.
and, so you have theexpertise, and i want to hear from you. i also just want to say whatan honor it is to be here with all of you, and tospend some time with folks like you; who are dedicatingyour lives to changing your communities and the world. you know, i grew up inwestern ma, in springfield, ma. any springfield folks,anyone know springfield?
hi (laughs) -- -- the birth place ofbasketball and dr. seuss. and, you know, springfieldsounds like this idyllic new england city. and, in many ways it is. you've got the rollingberkshires and all of that. but, most recently it wasrated the second most violent city in allof the northeast. in the past 10 yearsthere've been almost 200
murders, most of those kidslooked like me; boys and young men of color. you know, one of thosecities where it's last in everything good andfirst in everything bad. and, i grew up -- my parentswere 16 years old; both of them were 16 years-oldwhen i was born. and every statistic wouldshow for the neighborhood that i grew up in, and thecircumstances that i grew up in, that i probablyshouldn't be here as a
special special assistant. i loved that, bythe way, thank you. to the presidenttalking to all of you. but i am, and i am becauseof a whole lot of grace; certainly, to an amazingsingle mom, but also because of folks like youwho got in the way. who sacrificed your owntime, who didn't wallow in self-pity but said, "i wantto make a difference not only for myself butfor my community."
and, i stand on theshoulders of folks like that. and, i just want to saythank you to those of you who are staff, to those ofyou who are corps members, and those of you who aredoing the most important work in making a differenceand making this country a better place. so, i'll give you just avery quick update on my brother's keeper. we're about 15 months old.
so, we're a toddler. i guess we're juststarting to walk. and, the idea behind mybrother's keeper was simple. it was, "how do you addressthese persistent opportunity gaps that boys and young menof color are facing in this country and make sure thatall young people can achieve their potential?" and, when you look at what'shappening with boys and young men of color inthis country, it's
really startling. as early as reading at gradelevel by third grade, you know, that really importantmoment when you switch from learning to read to readingto learn, we've got 80 percent of black boys andlatino boys that aren't reading at gradelevel by third grade. and, we know, you can almostpredict high school drop-out right there. when you look at the highschool graduation rate, we
can applaud that we'vemade it this year to an 80 percent graduation rate. and, we're even seeingupticks in african-american and latino populations. but, you still have manyblack and latino and tribal boys where the graduationlevel is around 50 percent. we actually had a group infrom rochester not too long ago. three years ago, they weregraduating 9 percent of their black boys inrochester; unacceptable for
the greatest country onthe face of the planet. you look at unemploymentrate where you have double digit unemployment numbers. and, you haven't really seenmuch movement in a big way since the civilrights movement. and, you look at theinteraction with the criminal justice system. and, that's really shocking. well, we just saw recentnumbers that show almost
half of black men will havebeen arrested once by the way they're 24 years old. and, while 6 percent of thenation's population, black boys represent over halfof the nation's homicide victims. and, so when you look atthat challenge, you realize we've got to roll up oursleeves, and we've got to get active; because americadepends on these young people. you guys knowthese stats, right?
there are 6 million kidsin this country that are considered disconnected. most of them happen to beboys and young men of color. they're not in school,they're not in work. and, for a society that isbased on production and consumption, this isnot just a moral thing. this is an economicimperative. we need more people makingteslas and i-phones. we need more people that areconsuming with $30, $40, $50
an hour jobs and not $9,$10, $11 an hour jobs. and, so if you hear thepresident talk about it, he'll say "it's because it'sa moral obligation that america remains a placewhere you can make it if you try." if you work hard and playby the rules, we have a responsibility tohelp you succeed. but, it's also an economicimperative if we're going to stay the most globallycompetitive nation; globally
competitive city. and, so that's what mybrother's keeper is all about. our work is divided intothree different areas: one, policy; two, place;three, private sector. on the policy side, thepresident created the my brother's keeper task forceby presidential memorandum. so, almost every singlemember of the cabinet that has anything to do withdomestic policy, secretary of education, attorneygeneral; they all are
responsible for givingrecommendations to the president on what we cando to make a difference on these issues. the ceo of the corporationfor national community service is on thattask force as well. and, they gave thoserecommendations. and, you're seeing all sortsof things like what you're working on likeyouth opportunity. americorps is in many waysa result of my brother's keeper.
the american apprenticeshipinitiative that came out of department of the labor;$100 million american apprenticeship initiativetalks about this population and how we need tore-engage in the workforce. you look at new guidancethat's coming of doj and department of education oncorrectional education, school discipline reform;really, really pushing. you guys know about theschool discipline issue. we've got kids in k-2ndgrade that are being kicked
out of school, many timesinvolving law enforcement officials, for-- i don't know. when i was going to school,i might've gotten a time out, or a threat thatsomebody would call my mother. and, that's allit would take. but, you've got kids arebeing taken out of school. and, we're trying to dosomething about that. so, the policy workis going really well. i encourage you to look atwhitehouse.gov/mbk to learn
more about it. my favorite part of thiswork is our community work. the my brother's keepercommunity challenge was launched in october of lastyear by the president. and, we now have 233 mayors,tribal leaders, and county executives that havesaid, "we are taking your challenge, mr. president. and, we're going to closethese opportunity gaps in our own communities"; 233communities, 20 tribal
nations, 47 states,puerto rico, and d.c. philadelphia was actuallythe first to release their plan on whatthey're going to do. and, one of the big goalsthat they have is to reduce juvenile arrestby 50 percent. and, they have a planto get that done. boston is expanding theirmentoring initiative in a major way. indianapolis is doing areplica of the harlem
children zone. so, really amazing workthat's happening all over the community, all over thecountry; i know you guys are involved in a lot of it. and, lastly is privatesector action. the president said, "thishas to be an all-hands on deck moment." and, the private sector isstepping up in a major way. there's been almost a halfbillion dollars in private
sector commitments since mybrother's keeper launched. most recently, there was$100 million-ish commitment for the creation ofsomething called my brother's keeper alliance,which is being led by joe echevarria; a hispanicbrother who grew up in the bronx who went on to becomethe ceo of deloitte's and has now decided to focus therest of his life on building opportunities for youngpeople, whom may not normally have them.
and, they're giving realmoney, real expertise, real talent to communities thathave plans to address these opportunity gaps. so, there's lots of greatwork that's taking place. thank you for your work, andwith that i'll be quiet. well, actually, anotherthing i'll say (laughs) is, you know, the first year hasreally been about building the infrastructurearound this work. and, the next year thepresident is really pushing
us to impact. the president was us to beable to measure change and how people's lives areimproved as a result of this work. and, so, we look forward tolocking arms with all of you and many others to do that. so, i'll be quiet and happyto take any questions or comments thatyou might have. yes, sir?
male speaker: myname is clark smith. i'm from america youthworks in austin, tx. and a (inaudible) recentlyat the aspen institute's have been on opportunity(inaudible). and, what was really clearat that conference was that one of the big thingsthat my brother's keeper initiative is doing isputting this equity lens on boys and men of color andhow (inaudible) out of opportunity theyare at the moment.
and, so, i'm so glad you've(inaudible) networks a bit. and, you're going to drawthis correlation between this incredible work thathappens in the field, giving young people the opportunityto succeed out on projects that make a difference intheir own communities to kind of grow that provide. and, so i just wanted tosort of encourage you and appreciate you forwhat you're doing. but encourage you also toreally keep working with
those mayors and the countyofficials at the state level as well; driving theseinitiatives all the way down to that level. so, that they intentionallysort of use this equity lens to think about employingyoung people in these initiatives; in every waythat they can in a way you've been doing it for thedepartment of justice, the department of the interior,department of ag has been really strong behind this.
so, we can get that comingup from the bottom as well (inaudible). so, thank you. michael smith:absolutely; thank you. we will. male speaker: (inaudible) michael smith: yeah. so, we obviously don'tcontrol the work that's happening in communities.
but, in the case ofphiladelphia and about 50 other communities, they haveput plans out saying exactly what they're going to do. and, so i encourage folkswho are in communities to hold them accountable. and, what is the americorpsprogram in philadelphia? power -- power core. michael smith: power core.
you're with power core. and, so i think powercore -- of course. i knew that. so, i think power core wasone of the announcement events that happened a fewmonths back with the mayor. but i encourage you guys --you guys are going to have to hold people accountable. mayors come and go. they're wonderful,they're extraordinary.
but, we need buy-in. but, if this work is goingto last and be meaningful, folks like you are goingto have to hold them accountable, and say, "yousaid you were going to do this." or, "where isyour youth voice? you had that one roundtablewith young people. but, how are we making surewe're staying involved?" and, so i would say be thechange you want to see. don't wait for them to act.
go ahead and act. it's -- you know, the greatthing about my brother's keeper is that it's a mantlethat anyone can pick up on. and, you don't have towait for anyone else. but, look at theirplan, hold them --