President Trump is Lifting Up Disadvantaged Communities

After years of neglect by the Obama-Biden administration, President Trump is taking action and passing policies that lift up disadvantaged communities across our great country.

Before the coronavirus, President Trump built up a historic American economy with pro-growth, pro-jobs, and pro-America policies, Americans across the country were able to reap the benefits of our nation’s booming economy and a massive number of jobs being created. President Trump had built the “best African American job market on record.” Black wages were finally growing after years of stagnation on Biden’s watch, and Black poverty and unemployment hit record lows while Black business owners were “feeling the boom.”

Americans should be wary; Joe Biden is not the man who will bring our economy roaring back. Biden’s opposition to reopening the economy is hurting black-owned businesses. There has been a 41% decline among Black-owned businesses since the lockdowns began, yet some Democrat-run states are taking directions from Biden and keeping their lockdowns in place. For those residents, the recovery will be “especially painful.”

President has remained a champion for educational freedom throughout his presidency and has worked to ensure that all children have access to a quality education:

• President Trump called on Congress to pass the Education Freedom Scholarships and Opportunity Act and give 1 million children the freedom to attend a school of their choice.
• The Administration’s school choice plan, which has more than 120 Congressional co-sponsors, would bolster existing State scholarship programs and encourage more States to pursue education freedom policies.
• This historic investment in America’s children creates a $5 billion annual tax credit for donations to state-based, locally-controlled scholarships.
  • These scholarships will help families pay for expenses such as tuition, dual enrollment, out-of-district transportation, tutoring, and apprenticeships.

• The President has directed a minimum of $200 million in annual funding since 2017 to prioritize STEM and Computer Science education.
  • This critical funding has helped more women and minorities access high-demand skills.
• The Administration has invested nearly $1.5 billion in the development of public charter schools, helping these schools grow to serve more than 3 million students.
• The President secured permanent funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
• The President simplified the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form, helping 20 million families who apply every year to qualify for Federal student aid.
• President Trump signed legislation reauthorizing the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program and reversed an Obama-era policy that denied scholarships to low-income students. 

President Trump is advocating for schools to safely reopen this fall to ensure our Nation’s children receive optimal education and care. When schools remain closed, children and families in disadvantaged communities are impacted the most:

• While Democrats claim to be all about science, they are ignoring the experts. President Trump’s support for the re-opening of schools is based on science, data, and common sense.
• The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has called for the safe reopening of schools this fall and for in-person classes to resume, citing how schools reduce a child’s risk of abuse, drug addiction, and suicide.
  • The AAP has also found that school closures have a “substantial impact on food security and physical activity for children and families.”
• The unintended consequences of keeping schools closed could damage our children’s education for years to come and hinder our Nation’s economic comeback.
• Canceling in-person classes and allowing only virtual learning disproportionally harms the education of lower-income children.
  • During school closures in the spring, students’ math progress in low-income zip codes decreased by roughly 50% and students in middle-income zip codes fell by a third.
  • A recent analysis found that if in-person classes don’t resume until January 2021, Hispanic, Black, and low-income students will lose 9.2, 10.3, and 12.4 months of learning, respectively.
• Over 90% of children aged 6-17 have at least one employed parent – many of whom will have to stay home and care for their child if schools fail to reopen.
• Peer countries have sufficiently reopened schools to better educate their children, while the United States has fallen behind with continued closures – potentially leaving our country and our children with a competitive disadvantage.
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has provided comprehensive guidelines to schools on how to protect and identify high-risk individuals, prevent the spread of the virus, and conduct safe in-person teaching.
• The President has called for Congress to pass $105 billion – $70 billion of which is for K-12 schools – to provide financial assistance and incentives to help schools implement safety measures in their resumption of in-person classes.
• President Trump is also calling on Congress to pass the School Choice Now Act, which includes his groundbreaking Education Freedom Scholarships proposal, to give students and families the resources and power to select the right education setting for them.
• President Trump delivered $13 billion in funding to states to support K-12 education, which can be used to help schools safely reopen.

President Trump has worked tirelessly to promote opportunities and prosperity for disadvantaged and minority communities.

• President Trump established Opportunity Zones to incentivize long-term investments in low-income communities across the country.
  • There are nearly 9,000 designated Opportunity Zones, home to nearly 35 million Americans in all 50 States, the District of Columbia, and 5 Territories.
  • The majority of opportunity zones residents are minorities.
• The nearly 9,000 Opportunity Zones created since being enacted by President Trump, will lift approximately 1 million Americans from poverty, decreasing poverty in opportunity zones by 11 percent.
• As of the end of 2019, Opportunity Zones have attracted over $75B in investments for underserved communities, and the CEA estimates it will create at least 500K new jobs.

President Trump has worked to resolve and amend the consequences of horrendous criminal justice legislation backed by Biden.

• President Trump signed the historic First Step Act to create a fairer justice system and safer communities.
• The First Step Act enacted programs to promote successful re-entry into society, which reduces recidivism, makes our communities safer, and provides Americans a second chance.
• The President reformed outdated sentencing policies that failed Americans for decades.
  •  Since the First Step Act was signed into law, 90 percent of those who have had their sentences reduced are African American.
• President Trump has promoted second chance hiring to make sure all Americans have the opportunity to succeed and seize the American dream.
  • The Administration is working to expand Pell Grants to provide education and training to inmates and launched an initiative to connect employers with former prisoners.
• President Trump started the Federal Interagency Crime Prevention and Improving Reentry Council to create more opportunities for former inmates.

President Trump has made supporting HBCUs a priority of his administration.

• President Trump signed legislation to provide permanent funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
  • This legislation will provide more than $250 million in funding each year to HBCUs.
• Shortly after taking office, President Trump moved the Federal HBCU initiative back to the White House to ensure it is a key priority of his administration.
• President Trump signed legislation adding more than $100 million for scholarships, research, and centers of excellence at HBCU land grant institutions.
• The Trump Administration relaunched the HBCU Capital Finance Board to make millions more in funding available to support HBCUs’ long-term growth and improvement.

Biden’s history of praising segregationists and pushing laws that mass incarcerated Black Americans, his record with African Americans is abysmal. Biden worked with segregationist Strom Thurmond to pass laws incarcerating Black Americans for crack cocaine possession; he voted to protect the tax-exempt status of segregated schools; he praised the civility of segregationists (then refused to apologize for it when confronted by Black Democrats like Cory Booker); and he authored the 1994 crime bill that made him the “architect of mass incarceration. ”

President Trump is undoing the damage Biden caused and delivering results on criminal justice reform, safe policing, and real economic opportunities for Black Americans, while Biden is struggling to explain four decades of betrayal, calamity, and failure.