Commerce Department investing in equity<\/strong>: The Department of Commerce’s\u00a0Economic Development Administration<\/a>\u00a0(EDA) will “implement a series of programs, collectively called Investing in America’s Communities, to equitably invest the $3 billion it received from President Biden’s American Rescue Plan Act to help communities across the country build back better.” For example, EDA “will allocate $500 million to invest in building and strengthening regional workforce training systems and sector-based partnerships, with a focus on programs targeted at women, people of color, and historically underserved communities.”<\/p>\n Biden administration meets with Cuban American leaders<\/strong>: White House Office of Public Engagement Director Cedric Richmond and Senior Director for the Western Hemisphere for the National Security Council Juan Gonzalez\u00a0<\/a>met with Cuban American leaders<\/a>\u00a0to \u201clisten to their policy recommendations and concerns in light of the recent, unprecedented demonstrations unfolding across Cuba.\u201d In the meeting, officials reiterated Cuba as a \u201ctop priority for the Administration.\u201d Any policy enforcements (or lack thereof) that the Biden administration make,\u00a0play a critical role in his 2021 reelection bid<\/a>\u00a0in battleground states like Florida with large populations of Cuban and Haitian Americans who can sway elections.<\/p>\n Investment toward Puerto Rico\u2019s recovery<\/strong>: The White House Working Group on Puerto Rico held its inaugural meeting in congruence with President Biden\u2019s commitment to provide Puerto Rico with the\u00a0<\/a>\u201cresources and technical assistance it needs to recover and prosper\u201d<\/a>\u00a0from Hurricanes Maria and Irma, 2020 earthquakes, and COVID-19. This commitment includes investments in economic, education, and workforce development for the island that foster long-term resilience and ensure \u201ccommunities and infrastructure can withstand future disasters.\u201d\u00a0<\/a>11.7 percent<\/a>\u00a0of Puerto Ricans are of African descent.<\/p>\n Debate on infrastructure blocked<\/strong>:\u00a0The Hill\u00a0<\/em>reports<\/a>\u00a0Senate Republicans \u201cblocked the Senate from debating a bipartisan infrastructure proposal\u201d with a 49-51 vote. In order to begin to bring the debate to the Senate floor, 60 votes are needed. Bipartisan groups are still negotiating the details of the bill. The bill will reportedly include legislation in line with Joint Center research on broadband, workforce development, and several other expenditures that could help Black communities.<\/p>\n CBC continues the fight against voter suppression<\/strong>: Members of the Congressional Black Caucus held a press conference with Black women Leaders & Allies (full recording here<\/a>) \u201cto demand votes on the\u00a0For the People Act,\u00a0H.R. 1, and the\u00a0John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act,\u00a0H.R. 4.\u201d\u00a0This eventfollows last week\u2019s arrest of Congressional Black Caucus Chair Joyce Beatty (D-OH)<\/a>\u00a0after she marched with members of Black Women Leaders & Allies to call attention to Republican Senators who refused to \u201cengage meaningfully in drafting federal legislation to ensure that every American has equal access and opportunity to vote.\u201d CBC Chair Beatty describes voter suppression as \u201csimply unacceptable\u201d and makes clear\u201cwe are not accepting it anymore, we know what we have to lose.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Building a Jan. 6 Select Committee of \u2018integrity\u201d<\/strong>: In an effort to create a Jan. 6 select committee that respects the \u201cintegrity\u201d of the Capitol insurrection investigation,Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) rejects two Republican picks<\/a>, Congressman Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Congressman Jim Banks (R-IN), who are former President Trump allies who voted against certifying President Biden\u2019s election victory. Congressional Black Caucus Member Congressman Bennie Thompson (D-MS), who wasappointed as Chair of the House select committee<\/a>,\u00a0contends how imperative finding the truth is to ensure that \u201csuch an assault on our Capitol and Democracy cannot happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n Critical race theory gains political attention<\/strong>:\u00a0GOP lawmakers in both the Senate and House are\u00a0pushing legislation<\/a>\u00a0toblock critical race theory in public schools,\u00a0EdWeek\u00a0reports, seeing critical race theory as a\u201csticking point in congressional House races.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0Black congressional members express disappointment as progression on issues of racial justice continue to face pushback.\u00a0The dialogue surrounding critical race theory has been compared to \u201cdefund the police\u201d discourse, which became a \u201ckey flash point last November.\u201d<\/p>\n Remembering Gloria Richardson<\/strong>: Congresswoman Nikema Williams (D-GA) called Gloria Richardson\u2019s life a \u201clesson in justice.\u201d Richardson, who passed away last week at the age of 99, was a civil rights pioneer known for the famous photo (above) where she pushed away a National Guardsman\u2019s bayonet. In 1962, she led the\u00a0Cambridge Movement<\/a>\u00a0on Maryland\u2019s Eastern Shore to desegregate all schools, recreational areas, and hospitals in Maryland.\u00a0Senators Ben Cardin (D-MA)<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Chris Van Hollen (D-MA)<\/a>\u00a0also shared statements on her passing. The Joint Center mourns the passing of Gloria Richardson, and champions her legacy.<\/p>\n CBCF searches for new president<\/strong>: Current President and CEO of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Tonya Veasey will step down from her role in September. The CBCF Board of Directors Chair appreciates Tonya\u2019s \u201c<\/a>notable contributions during her tenure\u201d<\/a>\u00a0and looks forward to \u201cfinding our next leader who will build on and augment the organization\u2019s solid foundation.\u201d<\/p>\n Analyzing Black chiefs of staff to cabinet secretaries in the Biden administration<\/strong>: The Joint Center released\u00a0Report Card on Black Chiefs of Staff to Cabinet Secretaries in the Biden Administration<\/a>.\u00a0While Black Americans accounted for approximately 22 percent of President Biden\u2019s votes during the 2020 general election, they account for just 13 percent of chiefs of staff. Chiefs of staff can play critical roles in determining the extent of Black appointments within an agency. Chiefs often serve as principal advisors to department secretaries on political appointments, act as gatekeepers to determine which candidates are considered by the secretary, and can help create an inclusive culture throughout the agency that actively works to recruit, retain, develop, and promote racially diverse appointees. Karra McCray, a Ph.D. candidate at Brown University, authored the report card.<\/p>\n Biden on track to appoint more Black women to U.S. Appeals Court than any other president<\/strong>: President Biden is\u00a0now tied<\/a>\u00a0with former President Bill Clinton in appointing three Black women to the U.S. Court of Appeals after the Senate confirmed Biden\u2019s judicial nominee Tiffany Cunningham to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Court (see below). If President Biden\u2019s judicial nominee Eunice C. Lee is confirmed, he will have appointed more Black women than any other president.\u00a0HuffPost\u00a0reports \u201cPresident Barack Obama appointed two Black women to federal appeals court seats, George W. Bush appointed two, and Jimmy Carter appointed one. Donald Trump appointed zero.\u201d As\u00a0HuffPost\u00a0notes, of the 838 people who served as federal appeals court judges, only 11 Black women \u201chave ever been confirmed as federal appeals court judges since the U.S. courts began in 1789.”<\/p>\n In February, the Joint Center\u00a0urged President Biden to prioritize Black appointments to the U.S. Court of Appeals<\/a>, as none of President Trump\u2019s 54 appellate court nominations were Black, and 10 of the 18 active Black U.S. Appellate Court judges were eligible to retire. The Joint Center commends President Biden, and hopes to see more Black Americans nominated and confirmed to the U.S. Court of Appeals.<\/p>\n Tiffany Cunningham confirmed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.<\/strong>\u00a0Ms. Cunningham is the first Black judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The Senate confirmed the patent litigator by a 63-33 vote. Ms. Cunningham has served as an intellectual property litigator for almost two decades. She first began her legal career in the U.S. Federal Circuit in 2009 as a clerk to then-judge Timothy Dyk.<\/p>\n Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. confirmed as the Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division at the Department of Justice.<\/strong> The Senate confirmed the former U.S. Attorney with a 56-44 vote. Mr. Polite is returning to the Department of Justice from Morgan Lewis, where his practice focused on internal investigations and corporate compliance. Prior to Morgan Lewis, he worked as the vice president and chief compliance officer at Entergy, a Fortune 500 electric power company.<\/p>\n Righting the tax code<\/strong>: The\u00a0Senate\u2019s $3.5 trillion budget legislation could\u00a0end tax breaks<\/a>\u00a0favoring the rich, neutralizing \u201csome of the most durable and robust components of structural racism in the United States,\u201d writes New School Professor Julie Ott in the\u00a0Washington Post.\u00a0Black families\u2019 wealth is less than 15 percent that of white families.<\/p>\n Raise taxes on wealthy<\/strong>: Policymakers should\u00a0increase taxes<\/a>\u00a0on the nation\u2019s wealthiest households, urges the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Black and Latino households make up fewer than 1 percent of the wealthiest households.<\/p>\n Recovery stalls for many<\/strong>: In his semiannual testimony to Congress, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell acknowledged that the hardest hit groups from the pandemic still have\u00a0the most ground to gain<\/a>, and indicated that the Fed is focusing on an\u00a0employment mandate across racial and income groups.<\/p>\n Capital for microbusinesses<\/strong>: Grants for Black\u00a0microbusinesses<\/a>\u00a0are a good source of much-needed capital. Microbusinesses account for nearly 80 percent of all U.S. small businesses.<\/p>\n Tech support<\/strong>: Public Knowledge calls on Congress to provide $500 vouchers tohelp low-income Americans\u00a0purchase computers<\/a>, tablets, and other devices to gain access to the internet. African American households are more than twice as likely as white households to lack a home computer.<\/p>\n Injecting competition in broadband<\/strong>: President Biden signed anexecutive order\u00a0promoting competition<\/a>, which includes policies to reduce the cost of internet, adding new urgency to efforts to accurately measure the price of internet services. In a bid for price transparency, the order encourages the FCC to require internet providers to regularly report broadband rates. Affordability is a reason that Black families in the\u00a0Black Rural South<\/a>\u00a0lack broadband.<\/p>\n Do more to curb AI bias<\/strong>: The ACLU challenges the Biden administration to\u00a0address bias<\/a>\u00a0in artificial intelligence that perpetuates racial and economic inequities.\u00a0Examples include housing discrimination and hiring biases.<\/p>\n Rashad driving change<\/strong>:\u00a0The Hill\u00a0profiles Rashad Robinson, president of Color of Change, calling him\u00a0a driver of change<\/a>\u00a0well before he led calls for Facebook to conduct a racial equity audit.<\/p>\n Speed study<\/strong>: Three-week\u00a0<\/a>micro-internships<\/a>\u00a0are a promising route to paid internships and jobs in tech for Black students.<\/p>\n Training pipelines help Black students<\/strong>: Stackable credentials in health care, manufacturing and engineering technology, and information technology are helping Black students in Ohio see similar or larger\u00a0earnings gains<\/a>\u00a0than white students, a RAND study finds. However, white students recorded larger gains from additional credentials and had larger overall earnings gains than Black students.<\/p>\n Pell Grants in prison<\/strong>: Advocates are urging the Department of Education to bring Pell Grants back for\u00a0incarcerated people<\/a>\u00a0earlier than the current July 1, 2023 decision deadline,\u00a0Politico<\/em>\u00a0reports.<\/p>\n Racial inequities worsen<\/strong>: The pandemic exacerbated\u00a0America\u2019s racial issues<\/a>, the National Urban League\u2019s 2021 \u201cState of Black America<\/a>\u201d report finds. The report outlines stark inequities in economic justice, policing, and health care systems for Black communities.<\/p>\n Mortality ratio declines<\/strong>: The Black-white\u00a0mortality ratio declined<\/a>\u00a0between June 2020 and January 2021, the\u00a0Lancet\u00a0reports. Cumulative mortality rose by 61 percent for Black Americans and 90 percent for white, reducing the mortality ratio by 0.4 (25.8 percent).<\/p>\n Postal workers at risk<\/strong>: The U.S. Postal Service and OSHA\u00a0failed to protect<\/a>\u00a0postal workers during the pandemic,\u00a0ProPublica\u00a0reports.<\/p>\n Black New Yorkers remain vulnerable<\/strong>: DailyCOVID-19\u00a0case counts are rising<\/a>\u00a0in New York City due to the more contagious Delta variant. Although 64 percent of New Yorkers have been vaccinated, lagging vaccination rates in Black neighborhoods put many Black residents at risk.<\/p>\n New Joint Center report finds people of color are significantly underrepresented in U.S. Senate committee top-level positions<\/strong>: The report,\u00a0Racial Diversity Among Senate Committee Top Staff<\/a>, found that while people of color account for 40 percent of the U.S. population, they make up only 7.9 percent of Senate staff directors and 15.7 percent of non-staff director top staff roles (e.g., deputy staff director, chief counsel, general counsel, and policy director). While African Americans account for 12.4 percent of the U.S. population, they make up only 2.6 percent of Senate staff directors and 2.4 percent of non-staff director top staff.<\/p>\n LGBTQ discrimination on the rise<\/strong>: One-third of Black LGBTQ individuals experienced increased discrimination<\/a>, a 2020 survey by the Center for American Progress finds. Nearly one-third say they shy away from public spaces to avoid discrimination. Two in five have moved away from family to avoid discriminatory experiences, and one in five avoids travel.<\/p>\n Watershed moment in NYC<\/strong>: Black candidates are on track to occupy several of New York City\u2019s\u00a0top elected offices<\/a>, including the mayor\u2019s office, two of the five district attorney offices, and public advocate. Eric Adams is expected to become the city\u2019s second Black mayor.<\/p>\n African American Policy Forum announces their Critical Race Theory Summer School:\u00a0\u201cForbidden Knowledge\u201d Fights Back: Unleashing the Transformative Power of Critical Race Theory<\/a>, that welcomes teachers, journalists, labor unions, parent groups, students, researchers, DEI practitioners, faith-based organizers, and others in exploring Critical Race Theory and why it has become the center of political debate.<\/p>\n Consumer Reports releases a project focused on\u00a0fair and affordable internet servicing<\/a>\u00a0that tests broadband users’ internet speeds to \u201ccompare quality and speeds across the country\u201d and analyzes consumers’ bills to \u201cunderstand what consumers actually pay for broadband.\u201d<\/p>\n The Education Trust releases new research that outlines\u00a0three key strategies to solve \u201cunfinished learning\u201d<\/a>\u00a0and includes a state-by-state breakdown of how much K-12 education relief funding each state will receive.<\/p>\n Upcoming events include\u00a0Expanding Broadband in the Black Rural South<\/a>\u00a0(Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, July 28);\u00a0\u201cSTATEHOUSE FUTURES: A Progressive Policy and Strategy Summit for a New Generation of Leaders\u201d<\/a>\u00a0(Run for Something Action Fund and Democracy Policy Network, July 28);\u00a0\u201cHow wage suppression was caused by policy decisions made on behalf of the rich and corporations\u201d<\/a>\u00a0(Economic Policy Institute, July 29);\u00a0\u201cBlack Women’s Equal Pay: Waiting Another Century is Not an Option\u201d<\/a>\u00a0(Institute for Women\u2019s Policy Research, July 29).<\/p>\n Last week, events were held by\u00a0National Urban League<\/a>,\u00a0Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security<\/a>,\u00a0The Hill<\/a>, and the\u00a0Urban Institute<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Joint Center thanks the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Boul\u00e9 Foundation, the Democracy Fund, Toyota Motor North America, Inc., UPS, and the Walmart Foundation for additional support that has allowed us to do some of our COVID-19 and Black Communities work.<\/em><\/p>\n To receive the Joint Center\u2019s emails, sign-up here. <\/em> ![\"John](\"https:\/\/jointcenter.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/image-9-e1595089187281.png\")
In memory of John Lewis<\/strong>:\u00a0One year since the passing of Congressman John Lewis, President Biden\u00a0called on Congress<\/a>\u00a0to pass the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. Vice President Kamala Harris, who met with\u00a0Black women leaders<\/a>\u00a0last week to discuss voting rights, told\u00a0CBS News\u00a0that she\u2019s speaking to Republican elected officials and leaders about voting rights legislation. Both President Biden and Vice President Harris have stated that they are against filibuster reform. In a CNN town hall, President Biden said recent attempts to disenfranchise voters is \u201cJim Crow on steroids,\u201d and that engaging in a debate on filibuster reform could\u00a0\u201cthrow the entire Congress into chaos\u201d<\/a>\u00a0at a critical moment.<\/p>\n
\nThe Hill<\/h3>\n
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\nAppointments<\/h3>\n
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\nEconomic Studies<\/h3>\n
\nTech Policy<\/h3>\n
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\nFuture of Work & Learning<\/h3>\n
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\nPolitical Studies<\/h3>\n
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\nMovement Building<\/h3>\n
\nEvents<\/h3>\n
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