WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Joint Center for
Political and Economic Studies (Joint Center) is launching an effort to
engage the African American community on the issue of climate change. The
move is being funded by the Bipartisan Policy Center which is providing the
Joint Center with a $500,000 grant to expand its capacity to conduct
climate change research and outreach.
Energy and climate change policies are vitally important to African
Americans. Black communities are likely to be disproportionately affected
by the health effects of climate change -- particularly those related to
extreme weather events like Hurricane Katrina and further degradation of
air quality. They are also more likely to be harmed by rising energy
prices.
"The nation's leaders are formulating policies for a transition to a
new energy economy. Those policies will have varying impacts on different
socioeconomic and racial groups, and African Americans need to have a seat
at the table in their formulation and implementation," said Ralph Everett,
president and CEO of the Joint Center.
The Joint Center has a long history of tackling issues of concern to
African Americans and other communities of color. This grant will allow the
Joint Center to build on the work it is already conducting in the
environmental, health, education, and governance arenas. The funds will
enable the Joint Center to hire a senior research associate, as well as to
form a distinguished national advisory committee to provide policy
direction and point the way to opportunities to build a broader coalition.
"African Americans are not as involved in climate change policy as they
should be," Everett said. "We need to take assertive action to beef up our
research in this area. We need to jump-start the kinds of civic and
political processes that are going to help the black community get ahead of
the curve on climate change.
"This grant will help the Joint Center get to the next step, which is
to build a framework for involving the black community more deeply in the
process of determining just how our communities will be impacted by future
climate change-related events -- and how to prevent the awful things that
happened in New Orleans after Katrina," Everett added.
The Joint Center is one of the nation's premier research and public
policy institutions and the only one whose work focuses primarily on issues
of particular concern to African Americans and other people of color. The
Joint Center's activities are focused on improving the socioeconomic status
of black Americans and other minorities, expanding their effective
participation in the political and public policy arenas, and promoting
communications and relationships across racial and ethnic lines to
strengthen the nation's pluralistic society.
The BPC -- led by four former U.S. Senate Majority Leaders (Howard
Baker, Tom Daschle, Bob Dole and George Mitchell) -- was formed to develop
and promote solutions that would attract the public support and political
momentum to achieve real progress. The BPC acts as an incubator for policy
efforts that engage top political figures, advocates, academics and
business leaders in the art of principled compromise. In addition to
advancing specific proposals, the BPC also is broadcasting a different type
of policy discourse that seeks to unite the constructive center in the
pursuit of common goals. Working with its National Commission on Energy
Policy, the BPC is working to engage new voices in the climate change
policy debate.
For more information, contact:
Betty Anne Williams
Director of Communications
(202) 789-3505
bawilliams@jointcenter.org
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