Duncan is working with the philanthropic Emerson Collective to build a small team in Chicago focused on creating job opportunities for young black men. Arne Duncan makes his last speech as U.S. It made headlines last year when it launched XQ, a nationwide movement to reimagine high schools that includes a $50 million grant competition.
Duncan said he was driven to focus on youth unemployment by “the unprecedented level of violence” in the city and a study put out in January by the Great Cities Institute at the University of Illinois at Chicago that found staggering unemployment rates among youth in some communities.
The report found that 47 percent of 20- to 24-year-old black men in Chicago are out of school and out of work, compared with 20 percent of Hispanic men and 10 percent of white men.
The disparities among 20- to 24-year-old women are also great, with 35 percent of black women neither in school nor working, compared with 18 percent of Hispanic women and 3 percent of white women.
The out-of-school, out-of-work rates were worst in highly segregated neighborhoods on the city’s South and West sides that are experiencing high levels of violence. Police have blamed intensifying gang conflicts.
To combat the hopelessness that breeds criminal activity, Duncan said, young people need to be reconnected to the legal economy.
“If we can work in communities and provide real training that leads to real skills that can lead to real jobs, I have confidence that these men and women will make different choices,” he said.
The most crucial, and probably most difficult, challenge will be lining up employers to offer concrete jobs on the back end, Duncan said. But he said it’s the right thing to do from a business standpoint, as companies don’t benefit from the city’s violence and many have talent shortages they struggle to fill.
“These kids are smart, they’re entrepreneurial, they’re hardworking, they’ve just never had a chance,” Duncan said.
Though the details of the initiative are still being worked out, Duncan said he intends to target new economy jobs, such as coding and tech, as well as the traditional economy, such as retail.
He also hopes to create opportunities within disinvested communities where many unemployed young people live, perhaps by creating a pool of funds to invest in local, community-owned businesses.
“I constantly hear there’s no access to capital, there’s no way to grow,” Duncan said.
Though the immediate goal is to get disconnected youth into jobs, Duncan said he intends to eventually work with federal, state and local agencies including Chicago Public Schools and start earlier in kids’ lives.
The work will include partnering with community-based organizations that are already tackling the problem, investing in entrepreneurs who can bring innovation and job growth to neglected neighborhoods, and collaborating with local leadership to expand the best solutions.
