Enlarge Willie Ratchford sums up points at the community conversation on jobs.

Posted: March 5th, 2010 Andria Krewson

We don’t give up.

Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx used those four words to sum up a Charlotte meeting about jobs at Friendship Missionary Baptist Church on Beatties Ford Road on March 4.

With Charlotte’s unemployment rate higher than the national rate, civic groups convened a community conversation to talk about jobs.

Key speakers were Foxx and Jennifer Roberts, chair of the Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners. Panelists were Jay Bryson, global economist for Wells Fargo; Natalie English, senior vice president of the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce, and Patrick Graham, president and CEO of the Urban League of Central Carolinas.

Foxx said he has attended three town hall meetings and has spoken to more than 500 people about jobs. At one of those meetings, a 64-year-old woman who spoke up about her struggle for work connected with an employer, Foxx said.

And that’s his goal: “To connect people to the things that they need,” he said.“A job means dignity, it means a meal, a roof, clothes. It means the basic things we need to survive,” he said.

Graham of the Urban League echoed that theme.

 “I’ve lived in communities that have always been struggling with employment,” he said, recounting the story of his mother, who was born in Alabama and migrated to New York to work as a nurse’s aide. With two children and no husband, having a job was a requirement, not a choice.

And now, others are in the same position as Graham’s mother. “People’s lives are at stake,” he said.

Graham shared statistics from Northeastern University’s Center for Labor Market Studies that showed this recession disproportionately affects those at lower salary levels, with those households that make $100,000 or more having unemployment rates of 4 percent or less.

But high unemployment for middle-income and lower-income households has affected all parts of the economy, destabilizing the housing market, property values and property tax income, Graham said.

“It really tells you who we are, that we’re interdependent,” he said.

Other key themes from the meeting:

Stay in school, or return to school: Companies that are considering moves to Charlotte will judge the future work-force capabilities by the health of the school system, speakers said. Inexpensive education is available through community colleges, and those colleges frequently target classes to specific jobs and employers. “We have very nimble community colleges,” Roberts said.

Get experience: Even if you don’t have a job, volunteer, seek an internship or continue to create your own work. “Get your experience wherever you can,” Graham said.

Support small businesses: They account for more than 90% of the jobs in Mecklenburg County, Foxx said. Representatives of the Charlotte Chamber are working to make it easier to start a small business, English said, and Foxx mentioned an idea for a “speed dating” conference to connect investors with small businesses.

The meeting was organized by Mecklenburg Ministries, the Community Building Initiative and the Community Relations Committee. Other speakers included Maria Hanlin of Mecklenburg Ministries, the Rev. Paxton Hughes of Friendship Missionary Baptist, Willie Ratchford of the Community Relations Committee and Dianne English of the Community Building Initiative.

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