Gov. Charlie Baker creates task force to boost employment among blacks, Latinos, veterans and people with disabilities

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Gov. Charlie Baker signs an executive order creating a task force on economic opportunity for populations facing chronically high rates of unemployment at the Statehouse on March 12, 2015.

(SHIRA SCHOENBERG / THE REPUBLICAN)

BOSTON — Gov. Charlie Baker appointed a task force on Thursday that will focus on boosting employment among groups with chronically high unemployment rates, including blacks, Hispanic and Latino Americans, people with disabilities and some veterans.

"The key issue is to make sure we identify some of the challenges these populations are facing and figure out how workforce development practices can focus on things they need to be successful," Baker, a Republican, said at a press conference.

While the Massachusetts economy has improved since the recession, with unemployment now at 5.1 percent, these groups have unemployment rates between 7 and 12 percent, according to the administration. "There are still far too many people out there who want and need a job to sustain their families and build a life," Baker said.

Baker's task force will be chaired by Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development Ron Walker. Walker, who is black, was previously chairman of the board of BASE, which organized sports to help urban youth.

Other members of the task force will include Massachusetts' secretaries of housing and economic development, education, health and human services and veterans' services. There will be representatives from private organizations, both non-profits and businesses. They come from organizations including Year-Up, which helps low-income young adults get jobs through internships and mentorships; Blackstone Valley Technical High School; Verizon; Dana Farber Cancer Institute; Jewish Vocational Services of Greater Boston; and others.

The task force will study the reasons why these populations are historically unemployed or underemployed and determine whether there are ways the state can better meet their needs. It will report back by Nov. 15.

"We know who they are and where they live," Walker said. "As Governor Baker pointed out, people of color and those in urban communities have persistently higher rates of unemployment."

In Hampden County, for example, the unemployment rate in January was 7.6 percent, compared to 5.1 percent statewide. Hampden County has 10.6 percent black residents and 22.6 percent Hispanic residents, compared to 8.1 percent and 10.5 percent statewide.

Walker and Baker identified language barriers and lack of education as two of the problems that prevent certain populations from finding employment.

Baker said the goal would be to identify strategies that have worked around the state and replicate those on a larger scale. He pointed to work done by Nam Pham, the former executive director of for VietAID and now Baker's assistant secretary for business development, who found that Vietnamese immigrants were able to carve out a niche building businesses in the field of flooring maintenance. He pointed to the work done by Year-Up connecting young people with jobs.

"Fundamentally, what I'm looking for are models that work," Baker said. "I'm hoping one of the things that happens is you get a cross pollination of ideas and models and programs that have been successful, so we can scale these a little bit." Baker said state government will be willing "to invest time and energy and probably some allocation of funding" in replicating programs that work.

Several advocates attended Baker's announcement. Joseph Rodriguez, a Boston-based Hispanic community organizer, said unemployment is particularly high among the Hispanic communities in Springfield, Worcester and Brockton. In some cases, Hispanics are lacking English language skills. In other cases, college educated Hispanics have trouble getting in the door for job interviews, he said.

William Kiernan, dean of the School for Global Inclusion and Social Development at UMass Boston, who works on disability issues and will serve on Baker's task force, said finding employment is a major issue for people with disabilities. It is important for the individual's identity and inclusion in society, and also for employers as the labor market improves and the availability of workers contracts, he said. Kiernan said he hopes the task force will look at options like creating internship, apprenticeship and mentoring programs. "He got the right people at the table," Kiernan said.

Baker has formed several task forces and commissions since taking office, including one to develop strategies to combat opioid addiction and another to look at the problems surrounding the MBTA.

Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated Walker's previous job.

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