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Lenore Neier
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CSS and Medgar Evers College Sponsor “The
People’s Debate"
Mayoral Candidates Face-Off in Crown Heights Over Agenda
for the Poor
New York, NY, July 28, 2005 -- The concerns of
the nearly two million New Yorkers trapped below the federal poverty
– The Unheard Third – will be injected into the 2005
mayoral campaign when the Community Service Society (CSS) and the
DuBois Bunche Center for Public Policy at Medgar Evers College co-sponsor
“The People’s Debate” tonight in Brooklyn. The
event will be held at 8:00 p.m. in the Founders Auditorium on the
campus of Medgar Evers College at 1650 Bedford Avenue. It will be
carried live over NY 1 and rebroadcast on Sunday at 10:00 a.m. over
WRKS 98.7 KISS-FM.
After a summer of stadium madness and Olympic flirtations, fundamental
quality of life issues will finally be aired when mayoral candidates
Fernando Ferrer, C. Virginia Fields, Gifford Miller, Thomas Ognibene,
and Anthony Weiner face a distinguished panel of journalists, including
Jamal Watson, Executive Editor of the New York Amsterdam News, Evelyn
Hernandez, Opinion Page Editor of El Diario/la Prensa, Bob Slade,
News Director for WRKS 98.7 KISS-FM, and Juan Manuel Benitez, reporter
for NY 1 Noticias. Dominic Carter, political reporter for NY 1,
will serve as moderator.
Over the last two years the Community Service Society has focused
its research, policy advocacy efforts, and community outreach on
the alarming rate of black male joblessness, the degree to which
black and Latino youth are “disconnected” from the labor
market and educational opportunity, the burgeoning crisis in affordable
housing, and the dearth of technically proficient and academically
rigorous vocational education geared toward today’s technology
driven economy. Framing these issues is the organization’s
unique annual survey of low-income New Yorkers, “The Unheard
Third,” the only assessment of its kind in the nation that
captures the opinions and sentiments of the working poor.
CSS President David R. Jones notes, “This debate is a natural
extension of our work at CSS. It has become clear that a third of
our city that is mired in poverty and fighting to escape its grip
is clamoring to be heard. As we assessed the political landscape,
we felt it incumbent that we reach out to our friends at Medgar
Evers College, an important institution in the life of our city,
to provide a platform so these issues could see the light of day.”
The Community Service Society is a 160-year-old New York
institution with a storied history. Since its inception, through
direct service, policy research and analyses, and civic engagement,
CSS has been at the forefront of efforts in New York City to address
the conditions of poverty. From aiding victims of the Titanic disaster
and creating the prototype of the first school lunch program to founding
the Columbia University School of Social Work and leading efforts to
expand the number of black and Latino members of the New York City Council,
CSS has played a prominent role in shaping the civic contours of the
nation’s largest city.
The DuBois Bunche Center for Public Policy, named for scholar
and NAACP founder Dr. W.E.B. DuBois and the Nobel Prize winning
diplomat Dr. Ralph Bunche, is an urban think tank housed at Medgar
Evers College that focuses on the concerns of central Brooklyn and
communities of color. The Center produces research reports, convenes
conferences and seminars, and produces public affairs programming
of interests and relevance to Brooklyn residents. The DuBois Bunche
Center has examined issues in the areas of community development,
criminal justice, media and telecommunications, voting rights and
redistricting, and the 2000 decennial Census.
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