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[[logo]] NAMD

Briefcase
Published by the National Association of Market Developers

SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 1983

NAMD CONVENTION

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John E. Jacob

John E. Jacob, President of the National Urban League, was keynote speaker before the National Association of Market Developers (NAMD) in Louisville, Kentucky. In his speech entitled, "Black Economic Success Through the Balance of the 1980's," Jacob explained his organization's call for the establishment of a Universal Employment and Training System that would guarantee jobs and skills training for all. "We see this as a public-private program that gets us all out of the Depression by putting is all back to work. Back in the 1940's we had a Marshall Plan that pumped billions into building the European economy and it succeeded so well that we're losing markets to those countries today."

BLACK ECONOMIC SUCCESS
Jacob believes that Black economic success will be directly dependent upon Black people's ability to influence the Government and corporate America to create the conditions for success and to actively draw us into the economic mainstream. Jacob pointed out that the gains made in the sixties were eroded in the seventies, and reversed in the eighties. He pointed out that three million people were added to the ranks of the poor in the past two years. He stated that, "It's not just the Depression that is hitting us so hard. For at the very moment when survival needs are increasing, the government is pulling the rug from under the poor. It is cutting survival programs and cutting programs that create opportunities. Congress may be resisting some of these new cuts, but it is just as harsh on the poor. It is just as callous in its refusal to help people off the welfare rolls and onto the job rolls."

Jacob said that because of the expansion of high-tech, some economists are saying the Depression is over. But Jacob doesn't see high-tech as the Black communities' salvation. He doesn't see the economy automatically growing for everyone. "The economy is changing fast, but Black jobs aren't changing with it. Many of us are looking to high-tech for the solution. And the new high technology industries are supposed to provide the millions of jobs destined to be lost in the smoke-stack industries. So this is the time to begin to formulate policies that deal with the implications of the high-tech future we're moving into."

CONDITIONS FOR SUCCESS
In providing historical analysis, Jacob reminded his audience of the social dislocations and human upheavals that resulted because of the "Industrial Revolution and the declines of farming which offers enough such lessons to warn us of the dangers of swift change that destroys millions of jobs." Jacob warned that unless planned adjustment to the future economy is begun now, "then we may be on the path to terrible suffering," and he added, "Part of the planning has to be concerned with preserving production jobs." Neither a blind rush into a new high-tech era nor an equally blind clinging to an outmoded past answer the need to develop a balanced economy with opportunities for all."

Jacob says that what is needed is a commitment to equal opportunity and affirmative action. "And with that commitment must come a massive program that assures everyone the opportunity to work. Equal opportunity is meaningless if it doesn't take that into account. Everyone deserves a chance to make it on their own!" Jacob said, quoting the National Urban League's advertising slogan. He went on to say, "Making it on your own means the operation of laws and customs to level the track to give everyone an equal chance. It means economic policies that provide jobs of all kinds in a growing economy. It means affirmative action that overcomes the barriers of poverty and discrimination. It means that the groups shoved to the margin of our society are finally brought into the mainstream through conscious, deliberate policies to overcome their disadvantage."

ESTABLISHMENT OF A TRAINING SYSTEM
Jacob views the National Urban League's call for the establishment of a Universal Employment and Training System as a way of getting Americans back to where they can work and earn, save and spend again. "I'd like to see the business community get behind the system too. You can't sell scotch or autos to people who have cash in their pockets or credit at the bank. I suggest to you that as Americans, as Black people, and as business people, you should be behind the Plan. We need your help. We need the Black business community to speak out loud and clear. We've got a responsibility to work - and work hard - to help our communities make it through these dim days."

Jacob says that unless such a plan is enacted, he doesn't see any Black economic success in the 1980's.

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(Left to right) NAMD President LeBaron Taylor, former All-Pro Willie Davis, musician Roy Ayers and NAMMD former Chairman-of-the-Board Eugene McCullers sharing the joy of a very successful performance by Mr. Ayers at the convention.

Jacob concluded his keynote presentation by saying, "So let us work together to help build an America that lives up to its ideals; an America that practices what it preaches; an America that truly is the land of opportunity. Let us fight for an America in which all of us - Black, Brown, Yellow and White - share America's bounties and her burdens, her joys and her sorrows, equally. Together, let us work to make American be America again."

CONVENTION NOTES 1983
Echoing the sentiments expressed by many attending the 30th national NAMD conference, President LeBaron Taylor said he also felt it was one of the most successful. "If you consider the quality of the workshops presented, the enthusiastic and positive reception given the presenters, the overall attendance, and the information-exchange between the members, you could not have been more pleased," Mr. Taylor said.

In assessing the conference's value to the membership, he added that it was impossible not to see that NAMD "is growing stronger each year." This year the reception accorded us by both the host chapter and the City of Louisville (KY) is unsurpassed. Mr. Taylor added that a lot of the "credit due was to Michael Bateman and his chapter membership."

Also included in his praise for the convention was the support and encouragement given NAMD by Brown

The 31st National Convention will be held at the Sheraton Grade Hotel,
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