| HIRE Minnesota is working to ensure that public investments in infrastructure and renewable energy help lift people out of poverty, reduce racial disparities and contribute to healthier communities for all of us.
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To end racial disparity, take the first step
HIRE Minnesota Coalition Members Louis King and Maura Brown authored this Star Tribune commentary:
A recent national study showing that blacks in our area are three times more likely to be unemployed than whites has resulted in a spike of attention to the issue. We must now fan this spark to bring about the flames of change. Talk alone will not do it.
The study, released by the Economic Policy Institute, named our metropolitan area as the worst in the nation when it comes to unemployment disparities. Rather than simply revisiting the problem, let's instead view this as the next chapter in the quest for equity in this country, just as we did with slavery, segregation and voting rights. In these cases, blacks stood up and took the initiative to pursue the promises of America. Whites joined them, supported them and
ultimately triumphed with them. We firmly believe that the people of the Twin Cities are up to a comparable task. We simply have to be willing to become bridge-builders.
In addition to having a rich legacy of caring about the common good, Minnesotans also have innovative leaders who get the job done when presented with the opportunity to do the right thing. This has been our experience with HIRE Minnesota, a coalition of more than 70 organizations from all types of communities that has united to ensure that public investments in infrastructure and green jobs benefit low-income people and people of color. Together we have begun to secure investments in training and outreach as well as commitments to transparent
reporting of hiring patterns.
Because, make no mistake, it takes investment to change the patterns that are before us. As we begin the slow and arduous process of rebuilding our economy, we need to ensure that public investments are made strategically and deliberately -- so that they will provide fair economic opportunities for all, not perpetuate the structural inequities of the past...Read more
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|  | | A recent Insight News article features HIRE Minnesota's public action on MN's racial disparity in employment. Read
In their Star Tribune commentary, HIRE Coalition Members Maura Brown and Louis King discuss how to take the first step to end MN's racial disparity in employment. Read
This Star Tribune article featuring HIRE Minnesota discusses how the Twin Cities is the worst in the nation for unemployment racial disparities. Read
In a Star Tribune commentary, the Organizing Apprenticeship Project examines MN's high racial employment diparities and discusses the importance of HIRE's goal to achieve hiring equity. Read
Tanya Hill, who has been a leader with HIRE Minnesota efforts, tells some of her personal story in this MPR article discussing how MN has the nation's second highest racial disparity in unemployment. Read
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