Latest / Earn Your Leisure / EYL #289 Kamala Harris on Student Loan Forgiveness, Access to Capital, Black Business, & Affordable Housing

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EYL #289 Kamala Harris on Student Loan Forgiveness, Access to Capital, Black Business, & Affordable Housing · Earn Your Leisure

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  Speaker 1: An illegal alien from Guatemala charged with raping a child
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: in Massachusetts. An MS thirteen gang member from Al Salvador
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: accused of murdering a Texas man of Venezuelan charged with
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: filming and selling child pornography in Michigan. These are just
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: some of the heinous migrant criminals caught because of President
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Donald J.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: Trump's leadership.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: I'm Christy nom the United States Secretary of Homeland Security.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: Under President Trump, attempted illegal border crossings are at the
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: lowest levels ever recorded, and over one hundred thousand illegal
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: aliens have been arrested. If you are here illegally, your
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: next you will be fined nearly one thousand dollars a day, imprisoned,
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: and deported. You will never return. But if you register
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: using our CBP home app and leave now, you could
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: be allowed to return legally. Do what's right.
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: Leave now.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: Under President Trump, America's laws, border and families will be protected.
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: Sponsored by the United States Department of Homeland Security.
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  Speaker 4: Well, first and foremost, thank you for inviting us to
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  Speaker 4: have this conversation is something that we are definitely looking
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  Speaker 4: forward to.
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  Speaker 2: For sure, me too. Thank you.
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  Speaker 4: So my first question is how are you and the
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  Speaker 4: President building an economy that provides an opportunity.
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  Speaker 2: For So let me start by one thanking Donald Boone
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  Speaker 2: for that introduction and being here. He is one of
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  Speaker 2: the almost fifty entrepreneurs that I invited to my office
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: at the White House last summer to talk about their
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  Speaker 2: work and so I could listen to them and learn
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: what we needed to do to get the word out
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  Speaker 2: about what we are doing. And this Economic Opportunity Tour,
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  Speaker 2: as much as anything, was born out of that and
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  Speaker 2: then a dinner that the three of us had at
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  Speaker 2: my house, and is therefore about being on the road
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  Speaker 2: to let folks know what is available to them the
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  Speaker 2: spirit of understanding. We have so many entrepreneurs. We have
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  Speaker 2: so many people who have incredible ideas. They are innovative, hardworking, ambitious,
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  Speaker 2: have aspirations, have vision. None of that we lack for
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  Speaker 2: in the community. But for most folks, we lack access
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  Speaker 2: to the resources that will feed those ambitions and those aspirations.
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  Speaker 2: I chose Atlanta to be the kickoff for this Economic
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  Speaker 2: Opportunity Tour for many reasons that include one of the
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  Speaker 2: leaders who is among us, and I would ask us
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  Speaker 2: to rise and applaud him, and that is Ambassador Andy Young,
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  Speaker 2: who is here with his wife Caroline, and I will
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  Speaker 2: tell you as a point of personal privileged, Ambassador Young
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  Speaker 2: has been an advisor to me, a mentor to me,
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  Speaker 2: and a friend and has always talked about his vision,
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  Speaker 2: his shared vision with doctor King about the vision for
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  Speaker 2: America that included a vision that was about fighting for
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  Speaker 2: civil rights and understanding that to achieve true equality, we
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  Speaker 2: have to also have an economic agenda, and that agenda
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  Speaker 2: must include speaking to people's ambitions that yes, everybody wants
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  Speaker 2: a job, and President Joe Biden and are very proud
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  Speaker 2: that in our administration we have brought black unemployment down
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  Speaker 2: to historic lows. But that's a baseline. We also are
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  Speaker 2: focused on something Ambassador Young has talked so much about,
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  Speaker 2: which is creating opportunity for people to build wealth and
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  Speaker 2: to thereby not only strengthen their family. Donald bum talked
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  Speaker 2: about that, but strengthen the economy of the community as
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  Speaker 2: a whole, and everybody in society benefits. So that's why
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  Speaker 2: I'm here and to talk about what we have done,
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  Speaker 2: whether it be an extension of the work I did
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  Speaker 2: in the United States Senate to get twelve billion more
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  Speaker 2: dollars into community banks or the work that we have
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  Speaker 2: done and you heard the panel earlier today that is
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  Speaker 2: about uplifting our capacity through the Treasury Department. I want
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  Speaker 2: to thank Secretary Yellen in her absence for what she
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  Speaker 2: has done to be a partner to me around focusing
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  Speaker 2: on a number of issues that are about access to capital,
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  Speaker 2: but with a focus also on minority owned businesses. And
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  Speaker 2: then what we did to create the Economic Opportunity Coalition,
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  Speaker 2: which is Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Bank, Google and
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  Speaker 2: getting private equity to invest in community banks, some of
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  Speaker 2: the local community banks being represented here to increase access
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  Speaker 2: to capital so that our entrepreneurs in the community have
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  Speaker 2: a place to go where it's the people who are
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  Speaker 2: doing the lending, know the community, know the capacity of
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  Speaker 2: the community, know the moraise of the community, and can
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  Speaker 2: provide not only capital, but the knowledge that so many
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  Speaker 2: need to understand how to run a business. You have
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  Speaker 2: a great idea, but you don't necessarily know how to
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  Speaker 2: run a payroll, don't necessarily know what kind of system
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  Speaker 2: there is for business taxes in a way that allows
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: you to maximize your resources. Don't necessarily know how are
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: you going to keep up your inventory and don't necessarily
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  Speaker 2: know what is available in terms of creating access to markets.
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  Speaker 2: So you have a good product, but you need access
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  Speaker 2: to markets. So the work that we have been doing
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  Speaker 2: over the last three years has been focused on all
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  Speaker 2: of these areas and also understanding the context in which
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  Speaker 2: we exist, which is the long standing disparities, and understanding
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  Speaker 2: that in spite of the those who in certain parts
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: of our country want to attack DEI, we understand that
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: you can't truly invest in the strength of our nation
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  Speaker 2: if you don't pay attention to diversity, equity, and inclusion
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: of panic. We are, for example, paying attention to the
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  Speaker 2: fact that in order for any family or individual to
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  Speaker 2: have economic well being, much less the opportunity to create wealth,
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  Speaker 2: we need to take into account the history of, for example,
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  Speaker 2: the ability of black folks in America to own a home.
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  Speaker 2: Let's go far back enough. We can go even further,
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  Speaker 2: but let's go far back enough to remember the GI
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  Speaker 2: Bill that was a promise by our nation to invest
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  Speaker 2: in who we called the Greatest generation who fought in
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: that war. And so there was a policy that said,
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  Speaker 2: let us reward them for fighting for our nation and
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  Speaker 2: all that we hold sacred. And give them access to
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  Speaker 2: loans for home ownership. And the reality, however, of a
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  Speaker 2: well intentioned plan is that it was not well intentioned
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  Speaker 2: in the way it was implemented for a lot of people,
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  Speaker 2: in that black veterans did not receive an equal measure
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  Speaker 2: those loans. And so, where as a whole population people
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  Speaker 2: had public policy that was about federal investment on lifting
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  Speaker 2: people up, certain folks and black folks in particular veterans
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  Speaker 2: did not receive the benefit. So now look at the
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  Speaker 2: disparity that's created even by that. We look at the
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  Speaker 2: history of redlining, We look at the history of segregation.
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  Speaker 2: We remember what happened. I know we're going to talk
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  Speaker 2: about about these urban plans and what that did to
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  Speaker 2: cut freeways across communities and limit their access to commerce.
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  Speaker 2: We look at what we've been dealing with as an
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  Speaker 2: administration around bias and home appraisals even to this day,
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  Speaker 2: where it is well documented that when a black family
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  Speaker 2: in certain places is trying to get an appraisal for
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  Speaker 2: their home, be it to get a second loan or
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  Speaker 2: to sell it, they're praised at a lower value than
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  Speaker 2: a similar situated white family. And so these are some
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  Speaker 2: of the areas that we are focused on through our
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  Speaker 2: economic policies. We've been dealing with student loan debt, understanding
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  Speaker 2: that you know, black students are much more likely to
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  Speaker 2: take out a pell grant. We've seen an increase in
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  Speaker 2: tuition over the years, but the increase in pell grants
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  Speaker 2: has not been commensurate with that. We're working on that
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  Speaker 2: a bit, but student loan debt and the forgiveness of
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  Speaker 2: that as a way to allow people to have more
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  Speaker 2: assets that they can then put into buying a home
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  Speaker 2: or building a business. So these are some of the
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  Speaker 2: examples of what we've been doing. We've been focused on
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  Speaker 2: medical debt. Let me just add that medical debt can
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  Speaker 2: be one of the fastest ways that somebody can go bankrupt,
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  Speaker 2: and often that medical debt is a crew because of
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  Speaker 2: some medical emergency that someone or someone in their family
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  Speaker 2: has experienced that they didn't have the savings or the
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  Speaker 2: anticipation for. And we have now put in place a
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  Speaker 2: rule that is in the process of being implemented where
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  Speaker 2: we have required that medical debt cannot be a part
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  Speaker 2: of your credit score, and medical debt cannot be considered
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  Speaker 2: when your credit is being evaluated for a car loan,
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  Speaker 2: a home loan, things of that nature. So these are
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  Speaker 2: some examples of what we've been doing.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I want to say with that theme of access,
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  Speaker 3: because it's a real issue. When we talked about access,
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  Speaker 3: especially communities of color, we've lacked it. A lot of
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  Speaker 3: it has been done for many reasons, but specific then
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  Speaker 3: you kind of alluded to it urban renewal. So I'm
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  Speaker 3: interested in knowing what work is being done to address
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  Speaker 3: some of these historic inequities.
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  Speaker 2: So during the late fifties and sixties, there was this
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  Speaker 2: whole policy push, national policy push that was called urban renewal.
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  Speaker 2: But what it ended up doing was and it was
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  Speaker 2: supposed to be about making life easier for people that
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: live in the areas where it happened, but essentially it
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  Speaker 2: was about a policy that was directed in making it
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  Speaker 2: many people will say easier for folks who had wealth
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  Speaker 2: and means to move to the suburbs and still have
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: access to the to downtown. I'm oversimplifying it, but that's
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  Speaker 2: essentially it. And you see across the country. I'm going
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  Speaker 2: to be in Detroit on this tour of being Milwaukee.
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  Speaker 2: As y'all know, I'm from California from the Bay area.
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  Speaker 2: We saw it there where these these freeways were built
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  Speaker 2: and basically to cut through communities, which bifurcated the community
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  Speaker 2: so that folks couldn't have easy access to let's say
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  Speaker 2: that the small businesses from where they lived, and it
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  Speaker 2: ended up decimating these communities for years. So what we
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  Speaker 2: have been doing through our Infrastructure Bill is putting resources
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  Speaker 2: into basically reconnecting communities. So here in Atlanta, for example,
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  Speaker 2: a freeway seventy five and eighty five. What we are
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  Speaker 2: doing is dealing with the fact that I guess there
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  Speaker 2: was a division from Sweet Auburn from downtown and what
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  Speaker 2: we need to do to reconnect by creating basically pathways
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  Speaker 2: that include over that pathway, creating parks, but literally the
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  Speaker 2: infrastructure and recreating that infrastructure so we can reconnect communities.
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  Speaker 2: So here in Atlanta, there's going to be one hundred
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  Speaker 2: and fifty eight million dollars out of our Infrastructure Bill
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  Speaker 2: that will do that work, and it's going to create
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  Speaker 2: we estimate about thirteen thousand jobs, and also focused on
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  Speaker 2: affordable housing, which was one of the big issues that
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  Speaker 2: we're facing as a country.
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  Speaker 4: Another major issue for entrepreneurs is access to capital. We
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  Speaker 4: know that I think less than one percent goes to
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  Speaker 4: black businesses. So what are some steps that you guys
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  Speaker 4: are doing to kind of correct that issue which suffocates
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  Speaker 4: a lot of businesses from getting started or from expanding.
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  Speaker 2: So here's where I come to this point. None of
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  Speaker 2: us have achieved success without support, none of us and
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  Speaker 2: without someone or people who understood are our talent and
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  Speaker 2: our dreams and encouraged us to achieve it and showed
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  Speaker 2: us how to achieve it. And as much as anything,
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  Speaker 2: the spirit behind the push for access to capital, and
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  Speaker 2: in particular on this tour focusing on minority small businesses
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  Speaker 2: and black owned small businesses and small businesses and entrepreneurs
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  Speaker 2: who are black men, is to recognize the disparities that
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: have existed around the access to the opportunity to achieve success. Again,
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  Speaker 2: I will say, because success is almost always a function
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: of some investment from a community or others that went
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  Speaker 2: into the individual who then achieved success. So the access
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  Speaker 2: to capital push that we have made has been about, yes,
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: getting more federal dollars into community banks. It has been
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  Speaker 2: about getting the private sector and the big banks to
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  Speaker 2: invest because they will admit and we know they are
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  Speaker 2: not necessarily in the place where they are where we
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  Speaker 2: need them to be situated to know the community access
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  Speaker 2: to capital is encompasses a commitment to also making sure
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  Speaker 2: that we are doing the teaching to then create the
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  Speaker 2: access to markets. So it's about financial literacy. A lot
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  Speaker 2: of what we talked about before around helping people know
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  Speaker 2: how to start a business and keep a business going.
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  Speaker 2: And it's also about understanding that our small you know,
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  Speaker 2: I know, I use I interchange the word entrepreneur in
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: small business. I think basically depending on the generation someone
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: considers those as an entrepreneur in terms of younger small businesses,
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: but it's all entrepreneurship right. What we also know is
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: that our entrepreneurs are small business owners are not only
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  Speaker 2: leaders in business, but community leaders, civic leaders, hiring, locally, mentoring,
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  Speaker 2: creating opportunities for economic development and growth within individuals and communities.
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: So the work we are doing to extend access to
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  Speaker 2: capital is about tapping into the ambition that exists, the
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  Speaker 2: aspirations that exist, and then giving people the resources that
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: are necessary money and other resources to actually achieve success.
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: Can you talk a little bit about how you all
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: achieved your success and how this kind of approach would
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: lend itself to others having a story similar to yours.
• 15:32
  Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, we started with an iPhone and I did.
• 15:35
  Speaker 4: That's what we always say, that we would have any
• 15:37
  Speaker 4: capital when we started, right, And that's the beauty of
• 15:40
  Speaker 4: social media. Technology has really empowered everybody and kind of
• 15:44
  Speaker 4: level with the playing field. But what we're seeing is
• 15:48
  Speaker 4: that when we're interviewing, you know, other entrepreneurs that may
• 15:54
  Speaker 4: not have the same business model as us to have
• 15:57
  Speaker 4: an extremely difficult time. And especially when we look at
• 16:01
  Speaker 4: the next generation of unicorn companies, billion dollar multi billion
• 16:06
  Speaker 4: dollar companies, those are mostly tech companies, and you do
• 16:10
  Speaker 4: need a lot more money to start a tech company.
• 16:13
  Speaker 4: So I feel like the entrepreneur and Morehouse and Spellman,
• 16:17
  Speaker 4: they have just as good ideas as Mark Zuckerberg and
• 16:19
  Speaker 4: Jeff Bezos, but they don't have the capital, so they
• 16:23
  Speaker 4: either abort those ideas or they work for those companies.
• 16:28
  Speaker 4: But even that's an issue because we know that we
• 16:31
  Speaker 4: are not hired at the same rate in Silicon Valley
• 16:33
  Speaker 4: as other people as well. Right, So even talking to
• 16:37
  Speaker 4: Robert Smith and a lot of other people like that,
• 16:39
  Speaker 4: this is a very complex problem. But I think from
• 16:44
  Speaker 4: our perspective. We have a unique perspective because we actually
• 16:47
  Speaker 4: get to talk to entrepreneurs every single day, and we
• 16:51
  Speaker 4: can understand how one hundred thousand dollars could just accelerate
• 16:55
  Speaker 4: their business right, fifty thousand dollars can accelerate their business right.
• 16:59
  Speaker 4: And even looking in the crowd, we have entrepreneurs. I
• 17:02
  Speaker 4: see Pinky Cold, I see east Side Golf, and these
• 17:05
  Speaker 4: are young entrepreneurs that went out on the limb and
• 17:09
  Speaker 4: bet on it.
• 17:11
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• 19:01
  Speaker 1: An illegal alien from Guatemala charged with raping a child
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: in Massachusetts. An MS thirteen gang member from Al Salvador
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: accused of murdering a Texas man of Venezuelan charged with
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: filming and selling child pornography in Michigan. These are just
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: some of the heinous migrant criminals caught because of President
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: Donald J.
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: Trump's leadership.
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: I'm Christy nom the United States Secretary of Homeland Security.
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: Under President Trump, attempted illegal border crossings are at the
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: lowest levels ever recorded, and over one hundred thousand illegal
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: aliens have been arrested. If you are here illegally, your
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: next you will be fined nearly one thousand dollars a day, imprisoned,
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: and deported. You will never return. But if you register
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: using our CBP home app and leave now, you could
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: be allowed to return legally. Do what's right.
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: Leave now.
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: Under President Trump America's laws, border and families will be protected.
• 19:59
  Speaker 4: Sponsored the United States marketing at Homeland Security self right,
• 20:02
  Speaker 4: but a little bit more capital. They can be the
• 20:05
  Speaker 4: next McDonald's. They could be the next Nike. Right, and
• 20:08
  Speaker 4: that's what we need in our community. So they can employ,
• 20:11
  Speaker 4: that's right. So they can employ not just one hundred people,
• 20:16
  Speaker 4: but one hundred thousand people.
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: That's right, and that you'd hit it on the head
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: in terms of how we feel about this. This is
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: you know that, yes, there are going to be those
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: who need twenty thousand dollar loans, but folks need million
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: dollar loans, right. And when we talk about a small business,
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: it will be it could be a dozen employees, but
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: it could also be two hundred employees. And it is
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: that piece of it that is about getting to that
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: next plateau. That is very much how I'm thinking about
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: this tour and the work that we are doing. So yes,
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: it's about startup capital, but also what is required then
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: to grow and to scale and have it be sustainable.
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: One of the pieces I failed to mention before but
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: I'll mention now is the President and I when we
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: first came in made a commitment that we are going
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: to increase by fifty percent the number of federal contracts
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: going to minority own businesses, and we're on track to
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: get that done. So part of the point of this
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: tour has been to give folks information about how you
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: apply for a federal contract. The reason that we made
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: that commitment is because we then put in place more
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: information that is available to more people about how to
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: get a federal contract, because a lot of that historically
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: has been who you know. And when you get a
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: federal contract, it is potentially yours for life, and it's
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: very sustainable and can be the source of great growth
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: for that individual who owns that business and beyond. I'll
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: also say this, and I was saying it a few
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: folks earlier. The work that we have accomplished as an administration,
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: be it the Infrastructure Bill and what we are doing
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: to invest It'll be trillions of dollars in infrastructure, roads, bridges, sidewalks,
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: all of that transportation, public transportation. What we have done
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: with the Chips and Science Act, which is about investment
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: in technology and research and development. What we are doing
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: with the Inflation and Reduction Act, which is about at
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: least a trillion dollars invested in the climate but a
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: clean energy economy. One of the compelling reasons for me
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: to start this tour now and to ask all the
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: leaders here for help and getting the word out about
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: what is available to entrepreneurs and small businesses is because
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: we are in the process of putting a lot of
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: money in the streets of America for this growth, and
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: we want to make sure everyone has access to the
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: opportunity to take advantage of the contracts and the work
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: work that is being generated by this policy push, and
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: so we want to make sure people know about it
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: and then know where they can receive the support to
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: be ready to take on the work and then to
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: grow their capacity. I was very surprised to learn that
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: over seventy percent of construction companies in America, and I'm
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: pretty sure that number is still correct, seventy percent of
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: construction companies in America employ twenty or fewer people. Those
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: are small businesses, right who. When we're building back up
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: America's infrastructure, a lot of that is construction work. Got
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: to make sure people know about what's available to them
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: to actually take those jobs.
• 23:45
  Speaker 3: I think that's why this moment is so important, right.
• 23:47
  Speaker 3: I always believe that first it's the awareness part. We
• 23:50
  Speaker 3: understand what needs to be done. Then it's the education
• 23:52
  Speaker 3: around it, which I think people kind of leave out.
• 23:54
  Speaker 3: But it's the action piece. And it feels like there's
• 23:57
  Speaker 3: some action, especially with this tour, there's the action that's
• 23:59
  Speaker 3: going to take place. I want to talk about something
• 24:01
  Speaker 3: that's important for every entrepreneur, and that's the cost of
• 24:04
  Speaker 3: living affordability, and so we've seen interest rates obviously over
• 24:08
  Speaker 3: the past four years, they've risen. What steps are being
• 24:11
  Speaker 3: taken to lower the burden of housing costs because, like
• 24:14
  Speaker 3: you said, this disparities in it. We can go all
• 24:16
  Speaker 3: the way back to the Gibil When we talk about
• 24:18
  Speaker 3: the creation of generational wealth throughout communities, it's kind of
• 24:22
  Speaker 3: missed us. So what is being done now.
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: From your side? So to your point, we know that
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: home ownership is probably the most effective way to build
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: intergenerational wealth. And it just it's a fact, And just
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: think about it in this context. As a homeowner, then
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: as a parent, if you have a child that wants
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: to go to Okay, that's I'm gonna saying, Howard University's.
• 24:59
  Speaker 3: Such a great choice. I wonder why you got.
• 25:02
  Speaker 4: That one form.
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: Wanta Family or a Spellman or a more House or
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: Clonnery and as at Clark Atlanta. Yes, And as as
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: a parent, then as a homeowner, if you have some
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: equity in your home, you can say to your child,
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: you know, don't take out the loan. I'll take out
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: some of the equity to help you pay for tuition
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: so that you don't graduate with extraordinary student loan debt,
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: and so that when you graduate, you can do your
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: dream job and not worry about those hundreds of thousands
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: of dollars a debt and you can go on and
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: prosper as a homeowner. If your child says to you,
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: I want to are a business, I've got a great idea,
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: and you, as a parent can say, let me take
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: out some equity to give you some startup capital. Intergenerational wealth. However, again,
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: as we've already discussed, there have been biases and explicit
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: laws and practices that have been in place over generations
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: to exclude certain folks and communities from that opportunity to
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: create that wealth, and so we're focused on it. Also,
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: knowing that the net worth of a homeowner is about
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: forty times out of a renter, think about that, and
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: so what we can do to uplift and create opportunities
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: for that are very important. So one of the things
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: we've done is we have proposed that there would be
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: for first generation homeowners, so first time homeowners at a
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: certain income level a twenty five thousand dollars credit to
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: be able to put a downpayment down, which we know
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: would make a huge difference. And then we're looking at
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: it an additional policy that would be about basically for
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: those who qualify four hundred dollars a month in tax
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: credits so people can be able to pay their mortgage
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: on a monthly basis. And we are on track to
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: a commitment to build two million more affordable housing units,
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: including what we're doing here in terms of the freeway.
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: So that's important. But the reality of it is that
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: when we focus on this issue, we got to realize
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: that part of the reason everything is so expensive is
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: we don't have enough supply on the market, and this
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: is a national problem. So our investments are about also
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: what we need to do to build affordable housing. I'm
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: looking at some issues around how we can look at
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: vacant commercial real estate and conversion. There's a lot of
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: this issue that is about also what we need to
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: do to focus on local rules that might make it different,
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: zoning rules that might make it different for these things
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: to happen, and how we can create incentives that are
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: productive for everybody. And then it gets back to, for example,
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: the student loan debt and what we have seen. We
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: have now forgiven over one hundred and fifty billion dollars
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: in student loan debt on average, we're looking at somewhere
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: around seventy thousand dollars per person, and especially if we're
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: talking about people in public service nurses, firefighters, teachers, and
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: doubling the number for them. But one of the other
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: things i'd ask the leaders here in terms of helping
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: me get the word out, let people know they qualify
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: for student loan debt even if they never graduated. That's
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: really important for folks to know, because, you know, think
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: about it in terms of the logic of the policy.
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: Why is it that the case because sadly they didn't
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: graduate some people so they couldn't afford to keep paying tuition,
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: but they still have to pay back that loan. So
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: help us get the word out so that people apply.
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: And I guess that gets to the heart of this
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: tour and everything else we're doing. Folks in a lot
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: of situations just don't know what's available to them, and
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: I need the help of the leaders who are here
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: to get the word out so people know what is
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: available to them.
• 29:24
  Speaker 4: What that leads me to my next question. I'm not
• 29:26
  Speaker 4: sure if you already answered it or not, but I
• 29:27
  Speaker 4: was going to ask about studing loan and what the
• 29:30
  Speaker 4: administration has done for obviously, there's millions of Americans that
• 29:34
  Speaker 4: once again are suffocated with doing long debt and it's
• 29:36
  Speaker 4: really crippled their lives.
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: So, you know, I'll tell you we went bolder with
• 29:44
  Speaker 2: our plan and for student loan debt relief, and then
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: the court cut some of the stuff that we were doing.
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: But we have not stopped. And so we are, through
• 29:56
  Speaker 2: whatever and all of the powers that we have, through
• 29:59
  Speaker 2: the executs, orders and things of that nature, been forgiving
• 30:03
  Speaker 2: again up to one hundred and fifty billion dollars of
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: student loan debt. What I have seen in my travels
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: around what this means for the people who have applied
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: and figured it out, it's extraordinary. I mean, I've met
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: people who have been forgiven, you know, three digit thousands
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: of dollars of debt. I've met teachers who've been teaching
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: for twenty something years carrying that debt and not giving
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: up the profession of teaching is who we don't pay
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: them enough as it is, and you know, and so
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: thinking about that, and let's think about you know, there
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: were those who resisted the policy from the beginning and said, well,
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: why do they need they should pay off their loans.
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: Why do they need it forgiven? Well, let's let's go
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: back to the example of public servants, nurses, firefighters, teachers. Yes,
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: we don't pay them enough, and do we people who
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: have a calling to, for example, teach other people's children,
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: who pay for school supplies out of their own back pocket,
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: and the benefit they give to all of us as
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: a society. Should we not think about that and think
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: about the fact that we want them to stay in
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: that noble profession. I think about the number of young
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: people who have a calling to do that kind of work,
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: similar kind of work, who have to go to some
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: other kind of job because they need to pay off
• 31:31
  Speaker 2: their loans. When we want that people will be able
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: to follow their passion, especially when it benefits all of
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: us in an uplift society. So the reasons behind the
• 31:42
  Speaker 2: policy include just that. And again, let's just let people
• 31:46
  Speaker 2: know that they don't have to have graduated in order
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: to get their debt forgiven, especially if that might mean
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: that if they want to go back to school, they
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: can go back and know that they can afford to
• 31:57
  Speaker 2: go back.
• 31:58
  Speaker 3: Well, this is coming from teacher, I say, educator. Now
• 32:02
  Speaker 3: turn entrepreneur, I couldn't agree with you more.
• 32:04
  Speaker 2: Pay our teachers.
• 32:07
  Speaker 4: First.
• 32:07
  Speaker 3: I just want to thank you for this. This has
• 32:09
  Speaker 3: been an amazing opportunity. But we do have entrepreneurs here
• 32:13
  Speaker 3: in the building. Where our entrepreneurs are there, they are
• 32:17
  Speaker 3: big Dave Cheese steaks, Isaac Hayes in the back South.
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: Isaac.
• 32:22
  Speaker 4: He can't sink as good as his dad though.
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: No, no, we wouldn't want him to either.
• 32:28
  Speaker 3: What piece of advice would you like to leave this audience?
• 32:31
  Speaker 3: Like I said, this is Atlanta is such a hop
• 32:33
  Speaker 3: of innovation for many businesses. But what would you like
• 32:37
  Speaker 3: to leave this audience with in terms of advice for entrepreneurship.
• 32:42
  Speaker 2: That you are worthy of and entitled to receive an
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: investment in your dream and your ambition and to seek
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: out the resources that exist. And we're trying to make
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: it easier for you to find those resources. But seek
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: them out and and know you know, it's interesting. There's
• 33:08
  Speaker 2: some there's some studies that show that black entrepreneurs are
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: often less likely than others to actually apply for a
• 33:18
  Speaker 2: loan for fear they will be rejected. That is pretty
• 33:24
  Speaker 2: significant data that supports that point. So part of my
• 33:28
  Speaker 2: advice is go for it, apply for it, and and
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: and all and and get the word out right. We
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: don't we don't lack for really incredible vision and and
• 33:43
  Speaker 2: and and entrepreneurial creative thought. And so it's just a
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: matter of like, let's not let society or history impede
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: or silence those ambitions. And then I would urge everyone
• 34:00
  Speaker 2: to know, for example, community lenders and to seek them out.
• 34:05
  Speaker 2: I was just earlier at Rice and what's happening there
• 34:09
  Speaker 2: in terms of helping young entrepreneurs get ready and then
• 34:13
  Speaker 2: have access. I'm at this young brother, he's now he's
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: now going he's got a water company and it is
• 34:20
  Speaker 2: now going to be selling at Walmart. Right. And so
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: there are institutions and places that are available to you,
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: groups that are available. Mentors here, I would say to
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: the entrepreneurs are here, make sure you talk to the
• 34:34
  Speaker 2: person sitting next to you, because they may just be
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: that person who is willing to mentor you or willing
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: to give you some advice about how they achieve their success.
• 34:44
  Speaker 2: But don't give up because we need you, our country
• 34:47
  Speaker 2: needs you, and that's how we're going to be strong.
• 34:54
  Speaker 2: And I would I want to just put a fine
• 34:58
  Speaker 2: point on it. Be proud of your ambition. Be proud
• 35:04
  Speaker 2: of your ambition, have ambition, dream with ambition. Do not
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: ever be burdened by other people's limited ability to see
• 35:15
  Speaker 2: what is possible. Don't let that burden you. You know,
• 35:21
  Speaker 2: my mother always used to say to me, don't you
• 35:23
  Speaker 2: ever let anybody tell you who you are. You tell
• 35:26
  Speaker 2: them who you are. Right, I would love to say,
• 35:33
  Speaker 2: I eat no for breakfast. I don't hear no until
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: maybe the tenth time. Don't hear it, No, don't hear
• 35:42
  Speaker 2: it No.
• 35:43
  Speaker 4: Man and Vice President, thank you for your time.
• 35:45
  Speaker 2: Thank you, Thank you. Mind's up. Hold CP FIRS, committv
• 36:05
  Speaker 2: or squat themselves.
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: An illegal alien from Guatemala charged with raping a child
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: in Massachusetts. An MS thirteen gang member from Al Salvador
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: accused of murdering a Texas man of Venezuelan charged with
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: filming and selling child pornography in Michigan. These are just
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: some of the heinous migrant criminals caught because of President
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: Donald J.
• 36:31
  Speaker 2: Trump's leadership.
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: I'm Christy nom the United States Secretary of Homeland Security.
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: Under President Trump, attempted illegal border crossings are at the
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: lowest levels ever recorded, and over one hundred thousand illegal
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: aliens have been arrested. If you are here illegally, your
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: next you will be fine nearly one thousand dollars a day, imprisoned,
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: and deported. You will never return. But if you register
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: using our CBP home app and leave now, you could
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: be allowed to return legally. Do what's right. Leave now.
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: Under President Trump America's laws, border and families.
• 37:08
  Speaker 2: Will be protected.
• 37:09
  Speaker 3: Sponsored by the United States Department of Homeland Security,