Issue Position: Jobs

Issue Position

Bobby Joe Champion is proud of his 96% lifetime voting record with the Minnesota AFL-CIO and is a strong voice for working families in the Minnesota legislature. Creating good jobs in our community is Bobby Joe Champion's top priority. To aide that effort, Bobby has been working with Governor Mark Dayton and on March 30th, 2011, Bobby Joe Champion brought Governor Dayton to North Minneapolis to hear from residents, business owners, and community leaders about what support they need from the state to grow jobs in North Minneapolis.

Bobby Joe Champion and Governor Dayton are now working on a multi-pronged approach to grow the North Minneapolis economy. They are committed to improving state contracting policies to work more with disadvantaged businesses and to increase the diversity in the state workforce. These disadvantaged businesses, minority, women, and veteran owned businesses, have shown a statistical disparity in both construction and non-construction contracts with the State of Minnesota. They will offer assistance to small businesses through low interest loans. And they will expand and create new workforce development and training opportunities including opportunities for youth employment focused on college and career paths.

Bobby Joe Champion is a supporter of state investments in public infrastructure and civic projects to create good jobs now. Past improvements Bobby Joe has spearheaded include

Bottineau Corridor transit project, connecting North Minneapolis to our regions growing transit network
Lowry Avenue bridge replacement
Creation of the Minnesota African American History Museum
HCMC's soon to be completed hyperbaric oxygen chamber
Renovation of Orchestra Hall, Peavey Plaza, and Nicolet Mall
Completion of the Cowles Center for dance
Raising our minimum wage to $9.50 per hour, with indexing for future inflation

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