On Monday, Miami is the focus of two days of Congressional Black Caucus attention on a now-familiar subject: the jobs deficit in the African-American community.
Miami is the fourth stop on the Congressional Black Caucus “For the People” Jobs Initiative, which includes a series of town halls and job fairs in five U.S. cities. Previous stops in Cleveland, Ohio, Detroit, Michigan and Atlanta, Georgia have attracted thousands of job seekers, along with sometimes anxious town hall crowds.
Miami’s town hall, which takes place at 6 p.m. at Mount Herman AME Church in Miami Gardens, was set to include several Caucus members, along with Don Graves, the Executive Director of the White House Council on Jobs and Competitiveness.
MSNBC anchor Tamron Hall will moderate.
Miami’s event is a two-day affair, with a job fair planned for Tuesday, at the James L. Knight Center downtown.
Previous town halls have featured some tough rhetoric from CBC members, particularly California Rep. Maxine Waters, who in Detroit said black America could “unleash” the caucus to get tougher with the president. The rhetoric was less fiery at the Atlanta town hall, but Miami faces a tough job market, particularly for African-Americans.
Miami-Dade County’s unemployment rate stood at 13 percent July, nearly three points higher than the statewide unemployment rate. And the jobless rate in predominantly black neighborhoods like Liberty City, Miami Gardens and Little Haiti are estimated to be significantly higher.
The town hall will be streamed live on TheGrio.com.