Mayor Foxx wants to hear from unemployed, underemployed

Mayor Anthony Foxx will host two town hall meetings as part of his ongoing economic recovery effort. The meetings will be held Tuesday, Feb. 2 from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at The Park, 800 Briar Creek Road and Feb. 10 from 2 to 4 p.m. at Goodwill Industries, 2122 Freedom Drive.

Foxx announced the meetings a day after returning from The U.S. Conference of Mayors in Washington, D.C.

Over the three-day session Foxx met with President Barack Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Cabinet members and congressional representatives to ask for help with job creation.

Unemployment in the greater Charlotte area is 11.8 percent in November, down slightly from 12 percent in October.

“The reality is that we in the Charlotte area are still higher in unemployment than the state. And that’s a trend that’s been there for the last year or so,” Foxx said during a news conference Saturday, Jan. 23.

The City of Charlotte, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Workforce Development Board, Goodwill Industries of the Southern Piedmont, the Urban League of the Central Carolinas and The Park Ministries are organizing the meetings. 

The series will culminate with a Job Creation Summit where Foxx will bring together business leaders and other local, state and federal government representatives to identify barriers and opportunities to improve job growth. The date and location for the summit were not available.

“The government does not create jobs,” Foxx said. “The private sector does, and we have to be mindful that things we do in the government must be calibrated to enable job growth in the private sector, which is why approaches like opening resources to small businesses and creating more vitality in the private sector is exactly the right thing to do.”

To register for one of the town hall meetings, call the Urban League at 704-373-2256 ext #206, or e-mail info@urbanleaguecc.org. When registering pick which meeting you wish to attend.