With the enormous bailouts that the federal government provided over the past several months to myriad sectors of our economy, here’s a new twist: How about some relief for the nation’s not for profit and social service sector?

Now, perhaps the idea sounds spurious or even facetious at first, that is until we realize that as our economy has increasingly failed the middle and lower class over the past two decades it is the nation’s social sector that has essentially served as the “safety net” for our country’s most disenfranchised people and communities. This sector has been servicing millions of our country’s neediest people for decades. Yet today, as a result of our nation’s economy, more and more of our nation’s most prominent social, civil and community organizations are in serious financial trouble. And as the economy continues to contract more rapidly, far too many of our most valuable and venerable not for profits–organizations that tirelessly service America’s most disenfranchised–will likely fold under the pressure.

A new survey by GuideStar, the leading provider of nonprofit information, shows that the proportion of charity representatives reporting decreased contributions nearly doubled between 2007 and 2008, and that almost half of participants from nonprofits that rely on end-of-year gifts expect donations to decline during the last quarter of 2008 compared to the last quarter of 2007. In 2007, approximately 40% of the private funding for the not for profit sector came from the same financial sector that is now in a free fall.

Moreover, as financial and other companies all across America aggressively contract to conserve capital, doubtless corporate giving to the not for profit sector will be among the very first casualties. And while this move may seemingly preserve corporate capital in the short run (i.e. it may be good for short term corporate earnings) in the long run this will only serve to accelerate our national economic demise and further exacerbate and make more permanent the dangerous and historically wide gap between rich and poor in this nation.

Consider that as the economy worsens the private and public sectors’ respective financial commitments to the social sector actually wane at the worst possible time. That is, the financial commitment recedes precisely when the sector is needed the most by society.

Today, with an historically high level of people looking for jobs, more people than ever homeless, more in need of emergency medical services with no hospital nearby and no health care plan, more in need of career retraining and new job skills, with all this burgeoning need, the monies available are on the decline.

In the past, charitable workplace giving, in the US at least, was more focused on domestic needs, such as early childhood, health, and social services. Today, charitable giving has a more global outlook. Companies and their employees reflect a global economy and disasters are global events, drawing in individuals through the media, heightening concerns for innocent victims across the globe.

So the demand for the services of this sector of our economy is sharply up, but the sector’s ability to “supply” those services is on the decrease, due to rapidly falling financial commitments. This situation is not only counterintuitive, but also quite dangerous for America. It is a trend that we cannot afford to continue. If ever there was a rationale for government intervention, when the market is not acting “rationally”, then this is it.

Despite the enormous social, civil and civic contributions to America, the not for profit sector lacks the equivalent lobbying and special interest muscle in Washington that Wall Street uses to influence government policy. There is no such force de jure advancing the not for profit cause in Washington today. But logically, if America can provide an off-budget, $800 billion bailout of the financial sector, an $80 billion rescue of a single insurance company, billions more for auto and other manufacturers, and countless billions for other private sector institutions, then it seems quite reasonable to at least ask why a discussion about the current condition of our nation’s not for profit and social service sector is not also on the table. The sector represents our ultimate safety net and it is likely to be the most devastated of all by the economic downturn.

Yet despite what is at stake and the millions who will be further disenfranchised by the sector’s continued demise, so far, the sector seemingly remains walled-off from the discussions about federal support and assistance. Mr. Paulson, it’s time to tear down that wall!

Good morning. Thank you to the Commission for allowing this important testimony to occur.

Many of the panelists have described elements of the housing crisis in vivid detail. The hope is to use this brief time with you to specifically focus on the impact of this crisis on urban communities, and also to pose possible solutions.

We will use a sample neighborhood in South Los Angeles as a proxy for inner city LA. The neighborhood I will be referencing, known as Park Mesa Heights in South Los Angeles is located in the 90043 zip code. Up front note that it is not the most blighted urban community in this city, but then again, it is clearly very far from the top. It faces a major crisis in homeownership, but also major issues in health care access, education/school performance, and violent crime. I want us to focus on this neighborhood because in many ways it both exemplifies the problems we face and also offers a roadmap for solutions.

Park Mesa Heights is an area in South LA that is home to approximately 10,000 residents – about 4,000 of these are under age 24. It is located in the heart of the Crenshaw District in Los Angeles – a traditional African American stronghold.

Today, the area is approximately 66% African American and approximately 32% Latino, with a Latino population that is growing very rapidly.

Median household income in the area is about $31,000/year. But that is where the comparable elements with the city end and a tale of two cities begins.

The local high school – Crenshaw High School, has been one of LAUSD’s 15 worst performing schools for more than a decade. It has a drop out rate of more than 50%, with nearly 1/3 of the students dropping out their freshman year.

The unemployment rate for the area is staggering – over 14%; nearly 3X the average for the city of LA.

Health statistics are abysmal – with chronic illness more than twice the LA averages, and inadequate access to health care facilities.

Violent crime was literally spiraling out of control, reaching rates of more than 250% of the LA average in 2005.

And homeownership – although traditionally higher than the city averages – is now far more threatened than most other areas of Los Angeles.

According to a study conducted by UCLA (covering from the spring of 2007 to the spring 2008), foreclosures in Park Mesa Heights are now more than twice as high as the rest of LA County. Even more startling, notices of defaults are nearly three times as high as the rest of LA County. All this points to both a massive housing crisis in the present, and also an even bigger looming pending foreclosure crisis.

Importantly, I want to stress that as someone who has worked with low income communities all across the nation, there is really nothing about Park Mesa Heights that is atypical for urban Los Angeles nor the inner city area of any other major city today.

So, what happened in this neighborhood and others like it? How were these areas left so far behind in the economic booms of the past two decades? And what is the way out? Well, let me state for the record that this esteemed panel asks really good questions! So in the remaining few minutes, let me try to very quickly address some of them.

In 2005 the Los Angeles Urban League embarked upon a new initiative called Neighborhoods@work. We did so in recognition that present approaches to changing communities like Park Mesa Heights largely were not working. A few important conclusions were reached.

The first is that we have been looking at the problems incorrectly. Like most everyone else, the League has looked at problems like the housing crisis or the crisis in education or the crisis in crime as if they could be solved in isolation. The fact is that they cannot.

We therefore set out to build a model that was holistic. One that recognized that massive unemployment rates can trigger sub prime lending and housing crises. And violent crime can trigger rapid home depreciation.

Poor health statistics and impossible access to preventative health care can prevent even highly trained and skilled workers from gaining employment.

And a poor school system drives down both individual earning potential and a community’s property values.

In other words, if you want to truly transform a community, you must focus on five things simultaneously: Housing, health, safety education and employment.

The second and related “ah­ha” was that we had to break the city down to neighborhoods as the unit of change. We had to build a model that was scalable (or replicable) neighborhood by neighborhood – one which did not try to tackle all of urban LA at once.

So we enlisted consultants to help us pick an initial site and replication partners like USC and others to help us think through how this model would replicate neighborhood by neighborhood.

Third, we realized we could not do it alone. We knew we had to gain a formidable list of partners. So we built a formidable group of public and private sector partners – 100 strong.

Fourth we knew the plan had to be metrics­driven and take place over an extended period of time. In other words, we needed to establish up front that we could not turn a neighborhood around overnight. We established tangible goals – like taking violent crime down by 50% over five years – and linked them to a concrete plan to get us there.

Four keys:

1. Look at the problem holistically.
2. Use neighborhoods, not cities, as the unit of change.
3. Lead with a member of the community and partner with others with core.
4. Create a metrics­driven plan over a long term (5 year) planning horizon.

The results:

• After only the first year, crime was down more than 30%
• The local high school is now undergoing massive reform.
• New job training and employment efforts have been launched, along with exciting
  health initiatives with local hospitals and universities.
• Block clubs have been reenergized and a new sense of pride is sweeping the
  community.
• And we raised about $14 Million in project cash support in the first year.

So what does all this have to do with the housing crisis? Well, housing crises do not occur in a vacuum. And pressures for policy change come optimally from coordinated and well informed bodies of affected persons. Nothing is more powerful and more likely to pressure policymakers for change than highly educated stakeholders. Nothing is more apt to address the housing crisis than a shift to the underlying economics of a community.

I submit that there is no strategy for long term homeownership that can be successful without a joint effort to help provide jobs and training for low income residents. No successful strategy that fails to recognize the staggering economic impact of chronic illness, or health care costs. A comprehensive plan must push preventative medicine with medical providers, and help to provide low cost health care options for urban populations. And it must also recognize and address the staggering impact of violent crime. All this is mandatory, not optional to reverse the housing decline.

And this is precisely what we are building in Park Mesa Heights.

There is a crisis we are now facing as a nation – our middle class is eroding right before our very eyes. Gains of earlier decades are being reversed – disproportionately so in our inner city communities. Today, subprime lending makes up 13% of the total lending market, but accounts for 60% of the foreclosures, according the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Discriminatory practices clearly still exist, and they certainly must be legislatively addressed. But it’s also time for some new thinking. One answer may well be the rigorous pursuit holistic approaches neighborhood by neighborhood all across this great nation.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak before you today.

The cover of the New Yorker magazine this week drove home a stark reality that both columnist Tim Rutten and The Times editorial board missed: Although many Americans appear to be ready for an African American president, the question remains as to whether America itself is ready. The recent cover is the latest example of the willingness of the American media and thought leaders to openly demean African American leaders and play into the worst fears of some American people.

Now, before I am labeled “thinskinned,” let me make some acknowledgments upfront. Yes, I know that the New Yorker is a purportedly “liberal” magazine with a history of satirical illustrations. And yes, I am aware that it has a constitutional right to publish a provocative cover image. But it also has an ligation to be wary of the line between provocative and scandalous. So, regardless of the magazine’s political tilt or its intentions with respect to this or any other cover, in the end, the magazine and its staff must be held fully responsible for such reckless decisions.

If the New Yorker ever published a “satirical” cover photo of a leading German American candidate in front of a Nazi gas chamber with a swastika in the background, the editor responsible would be gone
tomorrow, and rightly so. Yet somehow, when the most powerful African American leader in the land and his wife, no less are portrayed as flagburning terrorists by this publication, we are all supposed to not be offended, to get over it and to see the satirical humor in it all, when for many, it is no less offensive.

With respect to my fellow African Americans, this season is no time for silence. No minority group can maintain any identity or dignity if they willingly forgo opportunities to vigorously defend themselves when mischaracterized and blatantly maligned. With respect to Americans of every possible hue, this type of demagoguery should be repudiated by any and all who seek and aspire to a 21st century vision of America one that is, at long last, not afraid of itself.

And finally, to the staff of the New Yorker, who knew precisely what they were doing and signaling here, it’s past time that you more carefully reflect on that which you advance under the banner of satire. This divisive attempt at satire is not clear, not funny and not acceptable.

• Foreclosure in Park Mesa Heights
• School Achievement in Park Mesa Heights
• Employment in Park Mesa Heights
• Public Safety in Park Mesa Heights - Analysis of LAPD Data
• Public Safety in Park Mesa Heights - Analysis of Survey Data

The playhouse was installed and finished on site Monday and then unveiled for the children during the broadcast. President Blair Taylor and Senior Vice President Trevor Ware thanked CBS and Sears during the playhouse segment.

Please stop by Vernon (located at 1024 West Vernon Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90037) and take a look at the one-of-a-kind playhouse. Thank you to Craftsman, Sears and CBS. Again, kudos to Head Start and the Vernon program.

Good morning.

My name is Blair Taylor. I am the President & CEO of the Los Angeles Urban League.

As some of you may know, the LA Urban League is part of the affiliate network of Urban Leagues across this nation. The network includes 100 affiliates located in major metropolitan areas. As to the Los Angeles Urban League specifically, with an operating budget of more than $30 million/year, and a staff of more than 300 full-time employees, we are the largest affiliate in the nation.

For the past 87 years the LA Urban League has been a central part of the lives of tens of thousands of this city’s most needy residents. We locate jobs and provide employment services for hundreds of residents each year through our Worksource Centers. We provide after-school programs and mentoring services through our Milken Family Literacy and Youth Training Center. We provide childcare services to thousands of children and their families through our 34 HeadStart and State Preschool Centers.

And when the issues of this city arise, when it is time to advocate on behalf of African Americans and other minorities, the Los Angeles Urban League is usually front and center. When issues of police brutality and lack of African American sensitivity had our community in a headlock in the 1990’s, the Los Angeles Urban League led the charge for police reform. And when UCLA’s African American freshman admissions rate fell to a paltry 96 students in 2006, the LA Urban League was front and center, driving the public institution and the entire UC system to refocus on minority enrollment.

I have been at the Los Angeles Urban League in this role for nearly 3 years. During that time, I have had the pleasure and the challenge of working on some of Los Angeles’ most difficult issues. And despite major progress on many fronts, many major issues remain:

• Unemployment rates remain locked at levels 4 to 5 times higher than the average in urban communities.
• High School dropout rates remain near 50% in the African American community.
• Inadequate access to health care and services threatens the lives and well being
  of our community.
• And the latest housing crisis threatens the overall economic stability of the
  entire region.

Yes, there are certainly challenges. But the LA Urban League and our partners have consistently focused on solutions.

And one of the things that has helped me in the ongoing push for social justice are the major allies – corporate, public sector and foundational partners, who have arisen to take on their share of the load.

I place the Bank of America squarely in that camp.

Bank of America is a long-time, solid supporter; not only of the Los Angeles Urban League, but also of other major not-for-profits across the city. Bank of America has provided resources to help rebuild neighborhoods. And it has not only put itself in the mix consistently, but with a passion to help solve problems.

When I assumed the helm of the Los Angeles Urban League, one of the first meetings I had was with then Bank of America President Lynn Pike. At that meeting, we asked Bank of America to support our annual Whitney M. Young Jr. Awards Dinner as the 2006 Chairperson – a $200,000 commitment. The Awards Dinner is the League’s largest fundraising event. The funds raised help to provide the services to thousands of people. And the Dinner Chair position is the most critical one.

Lynn committed Bank of America to the role without hesitation and helped to successfully launch my tenure as President of the League. And for that we were and remain extremely grateful.

During my tenure and for the past several decades, Bank of America has served tirelessly on our Board of Directors. After Lynn, Gayle Lannoy, a Bank of America Vice President, took over the position as a member of the League’s Board. Gayle has done an outstanding job, also serving as a key member of the Head Start Committee –one of the most important Board committees.

Gayle and Bank of America have consistently continued to support League endeavors – including our innovative new approaches to solving community problems.

As one example of Bank of America’s commitment to social sector innovation, through current President Leticia Aguilar and Gayle, the bank is now considering and planning for a large multi-year level of support for the League’s systemic change model, Neighborhoods@Work. The model is designed to change this city, one neighborhood at a time. Neighborhoods@Work focuses on five disciplines simultaneously – education, employment, health, safety and housing. Neighborhoods@Work has received national accolades for its success, having lowered crime in the initial target community more than 30% in its first year. It is a holistic model, with partnerships spanning from the LAPD to the University of Southern California. It is designed to scale neighborhood by neighborhood to address the problems that plague our urban communities.

With the support of Bank of America for innovative holistic initiatives like Neighborhoods@Work, the bank is again revealing its commitment to building 21st Century solutions. So whether it is by facilitating innovative solutions and committing to the development of winning strategies, Bank of America through its unwavering financial support and commitment to innovation, has been the embodiment of corporate responsibility.

I could not be more pleased to have their energy, resources, and talent focused against issues that matter. Bank of America’s service to our organization and our Board has been a vital element in the League’s success in this regard.

What I can attest to is Bank of America’s ongoing commitment to social justice and the well being of the residents of this city. I have seen this first hand, and it has been on display through its efforts with the LA Urban League for many decades.

So, while we should all be cautious about expanding very large institutions in any sector of our economy, I can wholeheartedly support the expansion of this particular institution.

I can do this without hesitation. Because in spite of being the nation’s largest bank, Bank of America has proven, as it has grown, that its commitment is not only to making money but also to changing lives for the better.

You have my thanks for the opportunity to address you this morning.

Why is it that the words from a fiery Black pastor have so stirred America that we seem to have little appetite for anything else? Candidly, I am non-plussed by the right-leaning media’s assault over the past few days waged against Pastor Wright and Senator Obama. Their antagonism to this type of situation is both expected and predictable. But what is surprising and also interesting is the reaction of the so called liberals to the Reverend Wright situation. That is, the reaction of those who claim to be in “favor” of a more fair and just (or colorblind) America, but who are nevertheless somehow shocked and indignant by open expressions from the very people who have yet to see that fairness come to fruition.

What is truly fascinating to ponder is the reality of those who were previously supporting Senator Obama before this fiasco, but have decided against supporting him after.

How could a person who supports Barack Obama’s vision for uniting America and the need for such a vision, ever be “shocked” by the comments of his inner city Pastor?

How remarkable it must be to believe that all African American leaders should be speaking in positive terms about America inside of our own churches, when our populations are experiencing unemployment rates of 40% in many of our urban centers.

How incredible it must be to feel that African American pastors should be speaking only in soft, reasonable and passive tones while their students are dropping-out of high schools at rates exceeding 50%.

How amazing it must be to be able disengage from an African American candidate simply because of the passion of a Pastor who, while watching the kids in his neighborhood be subjected to violent crimes at 3 times the average rates, openly and forcibly expresses his discontent.

How fascinating it is to see someone who claims to support a leader that is trying to bring us all together, balk at the evidence that we are actually far apart.

Please do not misinterpret my analysis. I am not condoning the more insidious statements of Pastor Wright. In fact, I found some of them, such as the “G-D America” comment, very hard to swallow indeed - especially coming off the lips of a man of God.

But that said, with any sober reading of the text of Pastor Wright’s comments over the years, there is really very little about what he says about America (with the possible exception of aids as a deliberate invention), or about being Black in America, that is either factually incorrect, or inconsistent with the African American experience in this nation. This is precisely why he has such an enormous national following and why he is so highly respected by Black and White alike.

Take away the fire and brimstone of You Tube, and we are left with is a pastor who has simply, consistently and usually quite fairly focused on America’s perplexing inequities. And he is not alone: He has a litany of contemporaries and predecessors who have done the same.

Perhaps in the end then, for the “Lip Service Liberal” at least, it is the image of the messenger that is more problematic and offensive than the actual message? Perhaps the image of a fiery African American Pastor who openly and tenaciously critiques the shortcomings of his own nation, is an image that still frightens those who would claim to have voted for a Black man, before they saw that?

I do not have the answers. But I do have a lot of questions. I also have a fundamental belief that this nation - Black and White, Liberal or Conservative - still has much to grapple with about the realities of race and poverty for many of her citizens.

One day, quite possibly many years after Senator Obama and most of us have come and gone, maybe these realities will not be quite so offensive to all of America. And perhaps therein is our collective hope.

The chorus for change was overwhelming: More than 80 percent of all the teachers and faculty at Crenshaw High voted for change, and more than 94 percent of the voting parents did so as well.

The students of Crenshaw High School held a symbolic vote regarding the move to the Innovation Division. Ninety percent voted in favor of the move. In spite of this powerful showing of stakeholder support, there are some who are firmly entrenched in the status quo and are vigorously resisting forces of positive change. They do so without the articulation of clear alternatives and fail to recognize that their participation in improving our schools is welcomed and necessary.

The South Los Angeles community, and the entire city of Los Angeles, must ensure that naysayers cannot sabotage the iDivision process in its early stages. We can best do that by vigilantly upholding the collective mandate for change at Crenshaw now.

Crenshaw High School has languished for years at the bottom rung of performance in LAUSD. Fewer than 20% of the students perform at grade level in English and Math. Approximately 50 percent of them dropout before senior year. And the school has had four principals in the last five years. Although there are many great teachers and a many talented students at Crenshaw, there has been little to unite the pockets of greatness or to facilitate a rigorous pursuit of promising systemic approaches. As a result, there is a rapidly diminishing sense of hope across the campus. And that is just not acceptable.

Within the iDivision, there are three Network Partners proposed to assist Crenshaw with reform and to establish a localized model of control ad oversight. Two established community-based
organizations and a major university will work in concert with parents, teachers and students.

The Los Angeles Urban League has raised more than $13 million in funding and coordinated partners to holistically impact both Crenshaw and the 70-block area surrounding the school. The Tom & Ethel Bradley Foundation has been working with parents, faculty and community members, laying the foundation of change. And the University of Southern California is poised to become a powerful and accountable force on behalf of the school through research projects and a variety of initiatives designed to change the school’s declining outcomes.

We must acknowledge that the stakes are incredibly high. The future of our children is on the line and the economic future of our great city. Perhaps for the first time, all the corrective pieces are in place an alignment between the Superintendent, UTLA, the majority of the School Board, community-based organizations, higher educational institutions, businesses, elected officials and now parents, teachers and students. There simply has never been a better time to pursue true and meaningful reform.

It is time for us to pursue sensible education reform that can serve as a national model. And it’s time for any and all who are truly serious about that to find a way to get involved. We do not even have time to bask in the positive message of the votes. We must instead acknowledge that we remain squarely at the five-yard line of a 100 yard run.

As daunting as the open field remains, for our children, we simply must succeed. We must begin that work together right now.

With the unofficial count done, more than 93% of eligible faculty and teachers voted and of that, 80% voted for the LAUSD iDivision change. Ninety percent of voting parents also supported the iDivision change. In a symbolic vote last week, Crenshaw High School students also voted in favor to join the iDivision by a margin of nearly 90%.

The proposed Network Partners for CHS: L.A. Urban League, the Bradley Foundation and USC will be responsible for helping to create infrastructure and provide resources to facilitate success.

In 2007, LAUSD established the Innovation Division to provide school communities with a new opportunity to accelerate learning through the principles of teacher, parent and student empowerment, partnership with strong community organizations, and accountability for improved academic achievement.