Speaking at the National Convention of the Urban League earlier this year, Bush acknowledged Morial by saying, "Marc, I appreciate your leadership. I've had the opportunity to work with Marc. He's a good man. He cares deeply about the country, the people in our country." I strongly concur and plan to be of assistance to the Urban League, the NAACP and other civil rights organizations who see access to capital and ownership as another step in the struggle for civil, human and equal rights in America.
The president also praised Marc for his leadership on this and the board's leadership in understanding the need to work with the federal government to set up one-stop centers where minority enterprise can receive business training. It's one thing to say, "Let's go be an entrepreneur," but people need help - they need the tools to bring their ideas to fruition. You may have a great idea, but you need to know how to keep the books and manage a business.
Entrepreneurial Centers are practical application of federal assets to help people understand how to own and run their own business. You can develop contacts there. You get advice on financing. The centers will provide practical ways to help people realize their dreams; that is what we're talking about.
Admittedly, America has a long way to go to provide a full measure of justice and equality for all - in reality and not just as a dream. Toward this end, the president has also been a strong advocate for homeownership.
It is good to see the CEOs of corporate America backing this agenda, including the Kauffman Foundation. In this collaboration, this partnership, between the federal government and the Urban League, citizens from around the country are coming together to set up these centers to help people help themselves.
In the 2000 presidential election, Bush spoke of the soft bigotry of low expectations and vowed to change the attitude in Washington. This task has proven more difficult than he may have first imagined, but the president is reaching out to minority leaders both in word and deed on issues of urban renewal, homeownership and minority entrepreneurialism.
Now it's time to extend this cooperation and dialogue to ownership of personal retirement accounts. And there is no better place than our civil rights organizations to help undertake a national conversation on personal retirement accounts and extending ownership to every worker and family in America. That's what I intend to do, and with the help of leaders like Marc Morial and other leaders in the minority community, such as Henry Cisneros, I know we can succeed and create the spirit of bipartisanship that everyone talks about but that seems so difficult to achieve.