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First Lady to Address
the Council on Critical Need to Win the Future by Promoting Youth Achievement
WASHINGTON,
DC –The White House Council for Community Solutions will hold its inaugural
meeting on Friday, February 4, 2011. The
Council was created with the goal of advancing the President’s domestic agenda to
win the future by out-educating, out-innovating, and out-building our way to a
stronger economy. Specifically, the
Council’s focus will be finding the best ways to prepare our nation’s youth for
the jobs of the future.
Melody
Barnes, Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, will charge the
Council with bringing together the public, private and nonprofit sectors to
identify promising community solutions for connecting or re-connecting young
people to school and work and to build public support for the need to
effectively tackle this important national challenge.
First Lady
Michelle Obama will address Council members and emphasize their critical role
in finding and promoting solutions that are working at every level. Mrs. Obama will thank them for lending their
time and expertise to lifting up young people everywhere.
More
than 1.3 million students drop out of high school each year, and the
unemployment rate for young people ages 16-24 is at an unacceptable high of
almost 20%. Today’s changing labor market
demands that young people get some post-secondary education or credentials to
compete in the global economy. There are many
promising solutions that have been developed in communities across the country
to address these challenges. By engaging
the private, nonprofit and philanthropic sectors in greater collaboration and
collective action, these promising solutions have the potential to connect more
American young people to school and work.
The Council will work to turn the
attention and concern generated by the current job and education crisis into a
rallying cry to ensure this nation reclaims our heritage as the land of
opportunity for all our youth. Portions of the meeting will be live streamed on
Whitehouse.gov/Live to allow the public to
participate in the meeting. The public can continue
to connect to the work of the Council at Serve.gov/CommunitySolutions.
The White House Council for Community Solutions:
The
White House Council for Community Solutions was established by Executive Order
on December 14, 2010. The Council will provide advice to the President on the
best ways to mobilize citizens, nonprofits, businesses and government to work
more effectively together to help connect young people to school and work in
communities across the country. The White House Council works closely
with the White House’s Domestic Policy Council and the Corporation for National
and Community Service, a federal agency that strengthens communities by
engaging more than five million Americans each year in service through its
Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, and Learn and Serve America programs.
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