PRESS ADVISORY

Greetings,

We hear that the economy is beginning to recover - but for whom?

The December 2009 unemployment rates for African Americans and Latinos were higher than any annual rate for the past 27 years. Black unemployment is now 16.2% and Latino unemployment is at 12.9%, while white unemployment just fell for the second month in a row.

Last month President Obama rebuked the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) for demanding that some of the stimulus money be targeted to the poorest communities of color; he said recovery efforts must help "all Americans." But our new State of the Dream report, shows that untargeted stimulus spending mostly reaches white people. African Americans and Latinos are continuing to disproportionately experience economic hardships.

State of the Dream 2010 - Drained: Jobless and Foreclosed in Communities of Color, contains data and analysis about the current racial divide in terms of unemployment, median income, poverty, net worth, and rate of foreclosures.

Co-authors of the report are now available for interview, background or comment. They are:

• Ajamu Dillahunt, Board Member of UFE and Outreach Coordinator at the N.C. Justice Center in Raleigh.
• Brian Miller, Executive Director of UFE.
• Mike Prokosch, Board Member of UFE and Organizer at Community Labor United.
• Jeannette Huezo, Education Coordinator at UFE.
• Dedrick Muhammad, Senior Organizer and Research Associate, Institute for Policy Studies.

The report will be available to the general public on Wednesday, January 13, at 8:00 AM from www.FairEconomy.org/dream

In the meantime, you may download a Fact Sheet with key findings under embargo at: www.FairEconomy.org/EMBARGO

To schedule interviews, or for more information please contact me, Mazher Ali, at [email protected] or 617-423-2148 x101.

Sincerely,

Mazher Ali
Communications Coordinator
United for a Fair Economy
617-423-2148 ext 101