National Urban League Brings The Economic Empowerment Tour to Atlanta December 9th

/PRNewswire/ -- The National Urban League Economic Empowerment Tour heads to Atlanta on Tuesday, December 9th from 4pm - 9pm at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis, 265 Peachtree Center Avenue. Presented by the National Urban League and the Atlanta Urban League, the tour features empowering workshops and a lively town hall meeting entitled The Path to Empowerment.

The tour focuses on job attainment and growth, home ownership, and economic stability, particularly in this time of government transition and economic down-fall. In these troubling economic times, the tour seeks to heighten awareness of economic disparities that exist between minorities and whites and connect people with real tools and resources that will help improve their financial situation on all fronts - from landing a better-paying job to avoiding foreclosure. The event opens at 4pm with a career and resource fair and concludes with a town hall meeting starting at 7:00pm.

The Path to Empowerment town hall meeting will address some of the important issues that face all Americans and features National Urban League President and CEO Marc H. Morial; Hip Hop Summit Action Network CEO and Co-Chairman Dr. Benjamin Chavis; Atlanta's famed V-103 FM radio personality Frank Ski; Atlanta Urban League President Nancy Flake Johnson; CEO of the Douglin Group and foreclosure expert, author, and spokesperson for the American Homeowner's Association, Carla Douglin; President & CEO of the Atlanta Business League Leona Davenport and nationally-syndicated radio personality Warren Ballantine. The panel will be moderated by award winning journalist Ed Gordon.

The Career & Resource Fair will provide actionable information to attendees interested in employment, personal finances, home ownership, entrepreneurship and education/job training. Exhibitors will include banks, homeownership organizations, educational institutions/job training programs, entrepreneurship/small business resources and others who will be available to cover topics ranging from understanding credit to how to manage home mortgage loans to securing employment, upgrading education and job skills and entrepreneurship.

"The need for economic empowerment is not exclusive to the African American community. Americans of all walks of life, colors, religions and economic background are feeling the pinch of the ever-widening gap between the haves and have-nots in this nation," said Marc H. Morial, President and CEO of the National Urban League. "In light of this competitive yet uncertain global economy, we owe it to future generations to stand as role models of economic empowerment, especially during these times, and encourage them to prepare themselves for a more prosperous future."

On the thresh-hold of the inauguration of the country's first African-American president, new leadership preparing to be installed on Capitol Hill, and the current financial crisis causing uncertainty in the financial markets, the Economic Empowerment Tour is also designed to provoke U.S. decision-makers to put the issue of economic inequality on the national agenda.

"There is no doubt that economic empowerment is at the core of the 21st century civil rights movement. In the 1950s and 1960s, African Americans made great strides on numerous fronts. The Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act paved the way for greater political and civic participation. Affirmative Action opened the doors of the nation's educational institutions and corporations," said Marc H. Morial.

"The final challenge our community faces in achieving equality in the United States is improving our bottom line. We need to equip ourselves with the tools and skills needed to raise our standard of living and close the economic divide existing between us and mainstream America," he added.

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Illegal Immigration Costs Georgia $1.6 Billion Annually, Finds New Report by FAIR

PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A new report by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) demonstrates why Georgia has taken a lead in adopting state-based policies to control the costs of illegal immigration. According to the new study, The Costs of Illegal Immigration to Georgians, the state currently spends about $1.6 billion a year to provide three basic services to illegal aliens and their dependents -- K-12 education, public health care, and incarceration of criminals. These costs associated with the estimated 495,000 illegal aliens residing in the state amount to a $523 a year burden for every Georgia household headed by a native-born American.

K-12 education for the children of illegal aliens constitutes the largest share of the Georgia's cost burden, finds the report. The annual price tag for schooling an estimated 64,100 children who are themselves illegal aliens, and an estimated 89,700 U.S.-born children of illegal aliens, runs to about $1.38 billion. Unreimbursed health care costs add an additional $210 million to the taxpayers' tab, while another $22.6 million is spent incarcerating illegal aliens who have committed other crimes in Georgia. All of these costs compound an already difficult fiscal situation, as state officials estimate a current budget shortfall of about $2 billion.

"At a time when governments at every level are struggling with huge deficits, slashing vital programs and services, and US-workers are losing their jobs, we see repeated examples of how illegal immigration is adding to already significant fiscal worries," said Dan Stein, president of FAIR. "As Georgia businesses have padded their profit margins in recent years by using illegal aliens to undercut American workers, the true costs for this low wage labor force have been passed along to the taxpayers."

In response to the spiraling costs associated with illegal immigration, Georgia adopted workable state-based enforcement policies in 2007, which have begun to have a positive impact. "Georgia provides a case study in how a state can respond effectively to crushing cost burdens associated with illegal immigration, and provides a model for other state governments," said Stein.

The Costs of Illegal Immigration to Georgians is the latest in a series of studies FAIR has produced examining the impact of illegal immigration on state governments and local taxpayers. "Until fairly recently, regions like the South had been largely unaffected by the phenomenon of mass illegal immigration. The findings of this report, that illegal immigration now costs Georgia $1.6 billion a year, is evidence that mass illegal immigration is truly a national problem that demands real enforcement solutions at the federal, state and local level," concluded Stein.

The Costs of Illegal Immigration to Georgians is available on FAIR's website, www.fairus.org.

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'Learn And Earn' Students Paid For Studying Show Improvements in Math And Science

PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Fulton County students who completed Learn and Earn, a pilot program that paid participants to attend after-school tutoring, showed improved performances in math and science following the completion of the 14-week program. The participating students, eighth and eleventh graders from Bear Creek Middle School and Creekside High School in Fairburn, Ga., were chosen on the basis of low math and science achievement, as well as good attendance and behavior.

Learn and Earn began as an idea of former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich; was championed by Robb Pitts, Fulton County Commissioner; funded by Charlie Loudermilk, chairman and CEO of Aaron Rents; trialed by the Fulton County School System and the Learning Makes a Difference Foundation.

While many opponents believed that compensating students for attending tutoring sessions sent the wrong signal, the final report noted, "All of the students were excited about getting paid. One student stated, 'I treat it like I'm getting paid from my parents for good grades.' Another stated, 'It is fun to get paid for learning.' Another stated, 'It feels good. It motivates me to learn.' One high school student stated, 'It is like a job, you drag yourself in whether or not you feel like going.'"

As to their academic performance in math and science, Learn & Earn students outperformed similar students in a comparison group who did not receive pay or tutoring. Half of the Learn & Earn students improved in both math and science while only 20-30 percent of the comparison group improved in those subjects.

"At first I didn't like school, but now that I am bringing up my grades, I like school more and want to go to high school and college," said one eighth-grade program participant.

Charles Loudermilk funded the Learn & Earn program and its $60,000 budget through the Learning Makes a Difference Foundation. "If we could just take one kid and change their life, it's worth more than I'm paying," said Loudermilk.

During student/teacher focus groups conducted following the program's completion, students reported a more positive attitude about their academic experience and were optimistic about their abilities to improve further in the future. Students also reported elevated levels of self-confidence.

"The measurable improvement shown by the participating students is proof enough that the Learn and Earn model can and does work," said Fulton County Commissioner Robb Pitts, one of the developers of the program. "We have stimulated the students' interest in math, as well as their overall academic performance. We have met our objectives and look forward to opportunities to expand this program."

"It is exciting to see students improve their performance in math and science and become engaged in learning," said Newt Gingrich. "And as a father, I take special pride in noting that without the leadership, persistence and hard work of my daughter Jackie Cushman, this project would never have been completed, and these students would not have been helped."

"We're absolutely thrilled with the results of the Learn & Earn pilot program," said Jackie Cushman, president of Learning Makes a Difference Foundation. "It's great to see students responding, initially to the incentive of pay, and then to the hands-on tutoring. We noticed improvements not only academically but in their attitude towards learning, many of them saving the money from the program for their college education. This program would not have been possible without the support of the Fulton County School System, the principals of the schools involved and the master teachers who inspired the students to move forward and embrace learning."

The mission of the LMD Foundation is to accelerate and enhance knowledge through innovative learning programs:

  -- By acting as an incubator of ideas.
 -- By creating, implementing and testing new initiatives.

-- By providing funding and support to non-profit organizations and partners.

"Based on these initial results, we hope to bring the Learn & Earn program to a larger student population in the future to positively affect more lives," said Cushman. "The Learning Makes a Difference Foundation strives to find new ways to help students learn."

The results of the Learn and Earn program were evaluated by an independent research group, Emstar Research, Inc., more information regarding the study is available on www.lmdfoundation.org.