While Buffalo enjoys an economic renaissance, many in Erie County are not seeing its benefits in terms of jobs. A community summit was held in Buffalo to explore disparities in race and employment.
Participants at this summit, held inside the Mount Olive Baptist Church in Buffalo, included business leaders, labor leaders, clergy, elected officials and other concerned community representatives.
"The business community, the education community, political leadership, the whole gamut, it's a problem that's been here for decades and we have to start solving it, using the backdrop of the economic expansion," said Richard Lipsitz, president of the Western New York Labor Federation, AFL-CIO.
During the three-hour workshop, summit participants reviewed a report released in January by the Partnership for the Public Good. The report revealed that from 2010 through 2014, Erie County's unemployment among whites was about 6-point-4 percent. African-American and Hispanic populations had unemployment rates at least twice that. The number rose to at least 20 percent for blacks ages 20 to 24.
The report also found that for every dollar earned by a white worker in Erie County, other ethnic populations earned no more than 73 cents.
In his opening remarks, Pastor George Nicholas expressed his faith in the participants that while the nation has not successfully eradicated racial disparities in the past, it can be done and he encouraged Buffalo to take a leading role.
"In this room right now, we possess all the knowledge, connections, resources and hopefully the will to solve this problem," Pastor Nicholas said.
