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As Prepared
Celebrating National Historically Black College and
Universities Week
Marriott Crystal Gateway Hotel
Arlington,
Virginia
September 17, 2003
Thank you, Dr. Sullivan for that kind introduction. We are delighted to
have the benefit of your service as Chairman of the President’s Board of
Advisors on Historically Black Colleges.
I want to first commend the U.S. Department of Education and the White
House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities for hosting
such a wonderful event.
Once again this year, President George W. Bush’s honored the
contributions of historically black colleges and universities to our
nation’s heritage with a proclamation. It read, “Our nation’s
historically black colleges and universities have opened the door to knowledge
when other doors were barred. And today, they offer exciting opportunities to
young people to contribute to their country.”
Opening that door to opportunity is a goal we share at the Department of
Labor. We have a great working relationship with historically black colleges
and I am here today to make it even stronger. We look forward to your
participation in our forum this afternoon, so that we can find new ways to work
more closely together.
So much has happened since the last year’s celebration of
Historically Black Colleges and University week. This year, we have been
delighted to have many outstanding interns from historically black colleges and
universities join us at the Labor Department.
Lance Thompson, who shared his student experiences with us on the video
you saw earlier was terrific! And Vanessa Shaw-Jennings, whom you will meet
this afternoon—they were both student interns with us, and I am so pleased
that they chose to join us full-time this fall.
It is also great to have Howard University President Patrick Swygert who
is serving as a member of the President’s Council on the 21st
Century Workforce.
In these and others ways, we are working together to build new and
creative partnerships to ensure that the gates of opportunity are wide open for
African Americans.
As the education provider of choice for so many African Americans, you
are making a tremendous contribution to building the economic foundation for
your community in the 21st century workforce.
You have a deep, personal understanding of the economic needs and
potential of the African American community. That is why I believe employers
will keep turning to you to provide skill enhancement education and lifelong
learning opportunities.
As you know, President George W. Bush is committed to ensuring that no
child is left behind in the American school system. In the same way, the
President is committed to ensuring that no worker is left behind in the
21st century workforce.
To help Americans find good jobs, we must link educational and training
opportunities with the real world of work. We have an opportunity to do that
through the $12 billion public workforce investment system that trains workers
for jobs.
We want to link this network of 1,800 One Stop Career Centers throughout
the nation with employers who know where the jobs are and what skills are
needed. And we want to link educational institutions with employers,
occupations and industries that are experiencing growth in order to train
workers for good paying jobs that are in demand now.
It is all part of the Workforce Investment Act—or WIA—a law
that governs so many federal job training programs and expires at the end of
this month. The Department of Labor is using the WIA reauthorization process to
transform the employment and job training system from one with a
social-services orientation into one that fosters economic development and job
creation.
We are determined that the One-Stop Career Centers in your communities
will be places where job seekers can find the full array of training services,
including job counseling, skills assessment, and job placement.
To reach this goal, we are working with industry leaders and community
colleges to identify occupations that are experiencing growth and skill sets
that are in demand by employers.
Clearly, jobs are not being created fast enough to ensure that every
American who wants to work can find employment. But even in this challenging
period, a number of occupations and industries are expanding. Currently, there
are 3.1 million jobs seeking workers.
For example, we need to double the number of computer engineers.
According to the Department of Labor’s own Bureau of Labor Statistics,
eight of the ten fastest-growing occupations are in information technology.
They will account for one-quarter of all job growth through 2008.
Health care, in particular, is seeing rapid growth. The health care
industry now accounts for about 13 percent of our annual GDP, and provides more
than 11 million jobs. We need to train 500,000 new health care aids and as many
high-tech support specialists. And there will be more than 1 million job
openings for registered nurses alone in the next 7 to 8 years.
The biotech field is another rapidly growing part of the economy.
Biotech jobs will grow by three million over the next seven years—with
double-digit increases in such areas as pharmaceutical manufacturing,
biological technicians and scientists.
The retail industry is looking to improve the information technology and
customer relations skills of its workforce. By 2010, the industry will add 1.6
million new jobs and employ 16 million workers, and the skilled trades are
experiencing rapid growth as well.
Our goal is to use training to link up workers seeking jobs and
employers seeking workers.
We need to expand the capacity of our post-secondary institutions to
help train workers with the skills they need to access these opportunities.
Historically black colleges can play an important role in helping to fill this
need.
President George W. Bush recognized this fact by requesting $224 million
in this fiscal year for Historically Black College and Universities. He has
also noted how important it is for the Board of Advisors on Historically Black
Colleges and Universities to pursue greater private sector support for
endowments and to build partnerships that strengthen faculty and cooperative
research programs.
At the Department of Labor, the Employment Training Administration has
given grants to Tuskegee University, Bethune-Cookman College, Albany State
University, Norfolk State University and Denmark Technical College. Total Labor
Department funding for historically black colleges in fiscal year 2002 was
nearly $6 million, which was primarily for job training and career-related
education.
These and other grants are primarily for job training and career-related
education. It is my sincere hope that they will help historically black
colleges and universities to become more aware of the funding opportunities
available through the publicly funded state and local workforce investment
system.
We are building other partnerships for workers, as well. The
Occupational Health and Safety Administration has signed a memorandum of
understanding with Howard University’s College of Applied Health Sciences
to teach a safety and health seminar at no cost to the University. This MOU
includes a professional exchange program supported by OSHA’s professional
staff.
In the future, we want to work even more closely with historically black
colleges to ensure that your graduates are prepared to take advantage of
opportunities in high growth fields. We need your advice and assistance in
furthering employer-led training and educational programs. We need you to help
spread the word about these programs and the benefits of lifelong learning and
workforce training.
Historically black colleges have always been on the frontline of
removing barriers to opportunity. Long before discrimination was struck down as
the law of the land, historically black colleges were the lifeline of the
African American community to hope and opportunity.
As an immigrant to this country, I deeply appreciate the role higher
education plays in helping families achieve the American dream.
I believe that historically black colleges and universities can make an
even greater contribution toward building the workforce of the future and
strengthening our nation’s economic security.
Working together, I know we can help African Americans gain the skills
they need to build brighter futures for themselves and their families so that
no worker is left behind.
Thank you again for letting me join you, and have a great
conference.
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