National Urban League Supports National Action Network's
25-City Rally for Jobs and Justice on Friday

NEW YORK (December 8, 2011) – National Urban League President and CEO Marc H. Morial today urged supporters to participate in the National Action Network’s 25-city Rally for Jobs & Justice on Friday.

“As economic first responders, the Urban League Movement has been on the front lines of the nation’s jobs crisis and we see first-hand the truly urgent for action at every level, both public and private, to address financial inequities,” Morial said. “National Action Network and Rev. Al Sharpton are providing much-needed moral leadership in the effort to call attention to the crisis, and I thank them for their tireless efforts.”

The 25-city rallies will call attention to key issues that have not yet been remedied such as the disproportionate layoffs of Blacks, Latinos, and other minority groups, and the growing wealth gap.The rallies will be held in cities that are most impacted by joblessness and attacks on workers’ rights.

Rallies are being organized in the following cities: New York City, NY; Philadelphia, PA; Cleveland, Ohio; Indianapolis, IN; Milwaukee, WI; Atlanta, GA; Chicago, IL; Houston, TX; Las Vegas, NV; Akron, Ohio; Memphis, TN; Montgomery, AL; Shreveport, LA; Baltimore, MD; Detroit, MI; Boston, MA; New Haven, CT; Columbus, MO; Newark, NJ; Columbus, Ohio.  For details, visit www.nationalactionnetwork.net.

A National Urban League study released earlier this year, “At Risk:  The State of the Black Middle Class,” found almost all the economic gains that blacks have made in the last 30 years have been lost in the Great Recession that started in December 2007 and in the anemic recovery that has followed since June 2009. Not only is the size of the black middle class  shrinking, Morial said, the fruits that come from being in the black middle class are dwindling, and the ladders of opportunity for reaching the black middle class are disappearing. In response to the crisis, the National Urban League has developed a 12-Point Plan for Putting Urban America Back to Work; among the solutions recommended are Urban Jobs Academies, reauthorization of a reformed and revised Workforce Investment Act, and Green Empowerment Zones in areas of high unemployment.

CONTACT:    Teresa Candori