Published February 10, 2011

The NPA includes co- chairs Johnny Ford and Webster Guillory; and Ralph B. Everett, President and CEO Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.

Today in the Roosevelt Room of the West Wing, the President met with members of the National Policy Alliance (NPA) to discuss a variety of issues including his vision for America to win the future by out-innovating, out-educating, and out-building global competitors while balancing our nation’s budget and reforming our government. The President and the participants at the meeting agreed that the federal government should adopt policies that will make our budget leaner and smarter while accelerating economic growth and by the recession while protecting the core services that support communities and African American families hardest hit by the current recession. The President reaffirmed that we cannot go back to the kind of economy that led us into this recession, acknowledging that many of the choices we will have to make in our national budget will be tough, but will lead to a better more robust economy that works for all American families.

While noting the positive news that 1.1 million jobs were created in 2010 and that private sector job growth has continued for twelve consecutive months, the President expressed his concern about the unemployment rate, which is particularly high among African Americans. He also spoke about clean energy investments, economic prosperity through access to education, public-private partnerships created by the Minority Business Development Agency, protecting affordable health care for all Americans, and SBA loan programs developed during this Administration to support small businesses and entrepreneurs in order to spur job creation in communities nationwide.

The President also laid out the need to build a 21st century infrastructure to help businesses and incentivize them to invest in America, which includes everything from repairing and modernizing roads and bridges to strategic investments in broadband.

The National Policy Alliance is an 11-member coalition of African American local elected officials and policy-related organizations. This is the President’s second meeting with the National Policy Alliance.