Joe K III rolls out back-to-work plan
Starts statewide tour to collect input
U.S. Rep. Joseph Kennedy III is rolling out a coronavirus-era New Deal that seeks to put Americans back to work in jobs that would help the country recover from the pandemic while also boosting economic opportunities in Black and brown communities.
The Kennedy Justice and Jobs Initiative the U.S. Senate hopeful introduced Wednesday would place millions of unemployed Americans into jobs related to health care, food distribution and manufacturing, with the short-term goal of expanding contact tracing and access to food and personal protective equipment as the country remains in the grips of the virus.
In the long-term, Kennedy envisions a federal public works program that would partner with community colleges, labor unions, workforce development groups to create training programs designed to boost minority and women workers in fields where they’re currently underrepresented.
“As we undertake the difficult work of recovering and rebuilding, we not only have an obligation to provide immediate relief to every American family, but the responsibility to rethink, refashion and rebuild the economy into something better,” Kennedy said.
The congressman launched a multi-day working tour of the state Wednesday to solicit input on his sweeping proposal, which did not include a price tag or means of funding, though Kennedy said recovering from the crisis that’s already cost trillions of dollars would take a “historic federal investment.”
Kennedy started by visiting a handful of minorityrun businesses in Grove Hall who said they’ve struggled to get access to federal aid during the pandemic.
Mike Whittaker, director of operations at the Pure Oasis marijuana dispensary, which was only open for a couple of weeks before COVID-19 hit and was then looted after it reopened, said federal regulations have proved “very difficult” and urged lawmakers to do more to help businesses like his secure the loans they need to invest in their communities.
Lanice Mikell, a barber at Blue Hill Barbers, described two months he was out of work as “difficult.”
He called Kennedy’s jobs proposal “a brilliant idea” to help support workers who make up the backbone of the local economy, but also said “more can be done so we’re saving the shops in the neighborhood.”
Ed Gaskin, executive director of Greater Grove Hall Main Streets, told Kennedy, “There’s no way to get all these little barber shops and stores organized in a way that would have any leverage on the government to lobby to get a bailout.” But “we have all these people that really need it.”