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By:
Harison Maina | |||||||||
| Posted:
Apr,06-2016 18:36:55
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BOSTON, Mass.,__While responding to a question by Ajabu Africa News, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker said there was money to fund community organizations in the state and therefore very unfortunate that most members of the ethnic communities in the Commonwealthhave no idea about it, leaving them disadvantaged to access state funding even for newly announced economic opportunities. Governor Baker revealed that the Massachusetts Capital Growth Fund(view website),a state fund that writes small checks of between $50,000 and $250,000 to help fund the operations of locally based organizations within the Commonwealth, is a resource that many in the ethnic communities could access to help grow their community organizations. The governor was speaking and taking questions during a round-table meeting with members of the ethnic media in the Commonwealth held Wednesday March 16 at the Statehouse on Beacn Hill. "Part of the issue is that maybe people don't know about it. That's part of why we are here, to hope that you folks can increase the megaphone to help us communicate with people about some of the opportunities that are available here," he told members of the ethnic media present. Frustrated with the situation, Governor Baker directed his staff to convene a meeting very soon where representatives of various ethnic communities will be invited to brainstorm on ways to overcome barriers to access faced by their communities. "We should sit down and talk about this. This issue, you know,-- if a tree falls in the forest and nobody knows about it---then it does not matter. This is a legitimate issue. We have talked about this once or twice before, we now have a bunch of things that we are starting to do there that have some real potential to be successful--if we get them before the right people. We should have a meeting about this." "We had a ton of community based meetings in communities all over the Commonwealth, primarily communities of color and had a pretty good attendance at those meetings." The administration said that more meetings have been scheduled in the next two weeks to reach out to more especially in the gateway cities in eastern and western Massachusetts including Lowell, Springfield, Worcester, Brockton and more. The governor directed that his administration announce the meetings through the ethnic media platforms present at the meeting well in advance to make sure that folks in those communities get the information. The concern came after the governor informed the ethnic media about a new $10 million capital grant program announced 3 weeks ago to help vocational and technical schools update and upgrade their equipment and operations, as well as another $75 million contained in a new bill by his administration to further assist organizations providing jobs and skills training to residents of the Commonwealth update and expand their programs and operations. "It's a $75 million commitment to matching capital grants to vocational and technical schools and other job training operations so that they can expand and modernize their existing facilities and equipment. Many of these places have tremendous capacity to serve populations that need to build skills that make it possible to qualify for different jobs. The state is going to be the lion's share of the match where it will provide 80% of the needed funds," said Governor Baker. However, the governor added that the funds will be provided in a competitive bid format. "To be successful in this, you got to have an employer or group of employers who are ponying up something up as well, whether it's hard dollars,in kind, teaching facilities or whatever it is to make this thing work." While accompanying the governor, the Massachusetts Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development, Ronald L. Walker said that the State relies heavily in partnerships with community based organizations to reach folks within the commonwealth in order to disburse funds for various programs aimed at spurring economic growth. He added that while the unemployment rate in the State stood at 4.7%(lower than the national average at 4.9% as of Feb, 2016),there was still about 166,000 people unemployed, most of them from minority and communities of color. Walker said that within that number, there was the chronically unemployed populations who historically continue to have doubled the unemployment rate based on populations they represent.
"When the governor signed the executive order, we agreed to look at the barriers facing the chronically unemployed populations. We are talking about Latinos, African Americans persons with disabilities, gulf war vets coming back and youth is in that equation and the long-term unemployed." The Secretary said that as a result, Governor Baker recently signed an executive order to look into the undesirable situation. "A panel of 13 individuals, who included economists, people from educational organizations, community based organizations and businesses did a deep dive and did an extensive study within the Commonwealth to understand the real barriers to employment for these target populations." The task force found out a couple of common barriers affecting these communities. "There was lack of access, lack of skills and training, soft skills, hard skills, persons with disabilities having problems with transportation and continuation of service and limited partnership between the commonwealth and community based organizations," he added. He then detailed various new programs the Baker administration has put forward to provide grants aimed at providing job skills that help the unemployed in the state gain skills crucial for employment. But according to the Secretary, the State relied heavily on community based organizations among other outlets to channel the funds to different communities out there. However, during the meeting, the administration seemed to be unaware that the disbursement methods currently employed are not finding their way to new immigrants and ethnic communities who are traditionally hard to reach, and don't have well developed community organizations. Complicating matters further for these communities, larger community organizations in the Commonwealth that receive most of the State funds hardly make any significant outreach efforts to ethnic communities as revealed by Ajabu Africa News. "We need a meeting on this," stressed governor to his staff accompanying him at the conclusion of the meeting. He urged members of various ethnic communities to show up for the meetings once announced to make sure they get crucial information to help them get ahead. The administration also detailed new efforts the state is embarking to combat the opioid addiction epidemic through the recently passed bill to fight the scourge. | |||||||||
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Source:
AJABU AFRICA NEWS
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