When I think about New Year’s resolutions, I’m hard-pressed to recall the promises I’ve made in the past, let alone the ones I’ve kept. Resolutions, no matter how well-intentioned, can turn to vapor. Still, as I look back over the
When I think about New Year’s resolutions, I’m hard-pressed to recall the promises I’ve made in the past, let alone the ones I’ve kept. Resolutions, no matter how well-intentioned, can turn to vapor. Still, as I look back over the triumphs of 2008, I find myself looking ahead not to 2009 but to 2016.
So this year, instead of making a resolution, I’ll make a forecast: African Americans in Chicago can make quantum leaps toward achieving growth and economic and educational parity. But we have to connect the dots now between economic and political interests, and develop a strategic plan for no less than the next eight years.
Why eight years? Because Black Chicagoans would benefit exponentially from three potential game changers during this period: The 2016 Olympic Games, a two-term Obama administration and the selection of a new chief of Chicago Public Schools.
Next fall, the International Olympics Committee will announce the host city for the 2016 Games. If Chicago is selected, that would mean major infrastructure improvements that would create thousands of jobs and provide numerous opportunities to grow small businesses, particularly construction and professional services firms.
But winning the bid to host the Games, of course, would only be the beginning. The city will need a skilled workforce to tackle Olympics-related projects. That means stepping up efforts to build skills now, not when the work is about to start. We also have to build the capacity of minority-owned businesses so they can compete for their fair share of Olympics-related contracts.
But even if the city loses its bid, there’s still plenty of work to do, and everybody has to do their portion. Certainly the election of a Chicagoan to the White House has bolstered the city’s Olympics bid, and a two-term President Obama would be a win-win for Chicago in many ways. Obama has proposed the biggest economic stimulus package the nation has seen since the Roosevelt era. But for me, the question is: Will the African American community benefit? Obama’s presidency alone will not ignite economic prosperity in African American communities. We have to build strong advocacy around these programs to ensure that we address the specific needs of our communities. To prosper, we have to participate and create a road map for success.
For certain, one of the key barriers to our active and equal participation in economic endeavors continues to be education. The Black/white achievement gap in Chicago Public Schools remains formidable. I cannot express enough the importance of filling Chicago Schools Chief Arne Duncan’s soon-to-be vacant position with the right person. Reforms under Duncan, Obama’s pick for U.S. education secretary, raised test scores across the board. Yet, significant achievement gaps persist between Black and white students, and fewer Black students complete high school than all other racial and ethnic groups. We have to close the gap, period, and reverse the status quo mentality as it relates to Blacks and education.
The Chicago Urban League and the Quad County Urban League sued the State of Illinois last summer, asking the courts to rule the state’s school funding scheme unconstitutional and a violation of civil rights. Unequal funding, I believe, is the only plausible explanation for why the achievement gap between Blacks and whites remains so wide.
Also, in February, the Urban League will hold its 2nd annual Economic Summit focusing on developing a strategic plan for the next eight years. The African American community needs to be thinking about how to create its own sustainable economic infrastructure, for instance, by identifying specific corridors for development in our communities, setting timelines and establishing metrics that are real and measurable.
In 2009, I would like to see the Urban League lead the movement to create a wish list for Black people over the next eight years. I’m not going to call it a resolution because resolutions are flimsy things. But it’s going to require creative thinking, flexibility and buy-in from the African American community. I’ll keep you informed right here in the Chicago Defender and on the Chicago Urban League’s new television show debuting in February called "nextTV" on the local Fox affiliate.
Next Wednesday, I will not publish a column in this newspaper, but I’ll be back in 2009. Until then, thank you for your readership, and have a blessed and joyful holiday season.
Cheryle R. Jackson is the president of the Chicago Urban League. She can be reached at president@thechicagourbanleague.org.
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