The White House Blog

Dr. Biden meets Jackie Davis, a new Coyote Logistics employee in the IT Department. Photo courtesy of Coyote Logistics.

On Tuesday, I met a group of remarkable community college graduates and business leaders who are on the cutting edge of workforce training.  As part of my Community College to Career tour, I visited Coyote Logistics, a third-party logistics company. Coyote Logistics is working with City Colleges of Chicago to make sure City Colleges’ logistics training program prepares students with the skills they need to succeed in jobs in the transportation, distribution and logistics industry. The partnership is part of the City Colleges of Chicago’s College to Career program, which works directly with businesses to design curriculum, provide work-based learning, and offer internships, interviews, and top-notch learning facilities to students.  

One graduate named Michelle is currently employed in the health care industry. She told me that her training experience at Harold Washington College was “magical,” and that it gave her not just a job, but a career. I also met Daniel, a veteran whose training in Daley College’s manufacturing program gave him a leg up at work, where he has recently been promoted.  

Last year, Vice President Biden launched the 1is2Many initiative to focus on a troubling fact—women between the ages of 16 and 24 experience the highest rates of relationship violence. Having worked to fight violence against women for almost two decades, the Vice President knew that overall rates of domestic violence have been falling, and he heard the numbers about young women as a call to action. He asked the Administration to focus on how we can engage young women and young men in preventing dating violence and sexual assault at their schools, where they work, where they hang out, and where they live.

As part of that initiative, the Vice President asked young men and women to share their own ideas on how to educate everyone about healthy and respectful relationships. A number of responses contained practical suggestions about improving security and accountability, and giving everyone access to the best information. The Vice President has highlighted the importance of using newer technology by sending the first official text to the recently expanded National Dating Abuse Helpline. Young people can now reach out to the Helpline via text or chat 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The Administration also issued the “Apps Against Abuse” challenge, to spur development of mobile applications to reach young people and keep them safe. The winning apps, Circle of 6 and On Watch, make it quick and easy to check in with friends about where you are and what you need, transmit your location via GPS, and connect you to the right resources to get help.

But the Vice President also heard from young people who said that solving the problem of this violence will require us to reshape cultural views about what it means to “be a man” and who has the responsibility to help stop abuse. For example, Brennan, from Hilo, HI, wrote: “I think it'd be great to come up with profiles of men in our cultural histories who have taken stands to prevent violence and abuse. Respecting women should not be a threat to masculinity, but rather a fulfillment of true manhood.” We couldn’t agree more.

We also know that research shows that men overestimate how accepted this kind of violence is by other men. And so we thought the best way to get the truth out was to make sure young men hear from other men they respect. We thought about male role models we know, like former Yankees manager Joe Torre, who grew up in a home where his dad abused his mom and who talks movingly about how devastating witnessing the abuse as a boy was for him. We talked to professional athletes who epitomize strength and physical achievement who agree that this violence is wrong and that men must help end it by speaking out. A number of them have now joined the President and the Vice President in a public service announcement that will air this summer on the ESPN Networks, the FOX Sports Networks, MLB Network and NFL Network.

Ed. Note: This live session of Office Hours has concluded. View the full question and answer session below or at Storify.com

In a little more than a week, the interest rates on federal student loans are scheduled to double. Unless Congress takes action, around 7.4 million students will rack up an additional $1,000 in debt each year.

Today, at 1:40 PM ET, President Obama will call on Congress to take action. You can watch live at WhiteHouse.gov/live.

Then join us for Office Hours at 2:30 PM ET. Mark Zuckerman, Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of the Domestic Policy Council, will be on Twitter to answer your questions about student loan interest rates and college affordability. 

Here’s how it works:

• Ask your questions now and during the live event on Twitter with the hashtag #WHChat
• Follow the Q&A live through the @WHLive Twitter account
• If you miss the live session, the full session will be posted onWhiteHouse.gov and Storify.com/WhiteHouse

So, stop by for Office Hours at 2:30 PM ET today with Mark Zuckerman and be sure to follow @WhiteHouse for the latest updates and more opportunities to engage.

We caught Jay Carney -- the White House press secretary -- on the flight back from Mexico and asked him to give us a bit more analysis about the G20 Summit.

The number one topic of conversation, Jay said, was the European economic crisis.

Watch the video: 

Today, the Obama administration is offering 39 million acres of the most oil- and gas-rich area of the Gulf of Mexico in order to increase the exploration and production of America’s domestic energy resources. This is a landmark sale – we estimate that up to 1.6 billion barrels of oil and 6.6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas could be produced as a result of the acres leased. Holding this lease sale reinforces our commitment to increasing U.S. production, reducing America’s dependence on foreign oil, and incentivizing prompt development of the leases that industry holds. 

The bottom line: it’s good news for American jobs, good news for the Gulf economy, and it’s good news for the President’s efforts to expand safe and responsible production of America’s abundant domestic resources. 

Despite misleading rhetoric from some, the President has made clear he is committed to expanding oil and natural gas production safely and responsibly, and today’s sale is just the latest example of his administration delivering on that commitment. As part of the President’s all-of-the-above energy strategy, this sale builds on a series of actions taken by the Obama administration, including additional lease sales in both onshore and offshore areas for oil and gas development. 

Ed. Note: This was originally published on Healthcare.gov

As Alycia Steinberg of Towson, MD, tells us, when a child is seriously ill, a parent shouldn’t have to worry that an insurer would deny coverage due to the child’s pre-existing condition.

That is why she’s grateful that the Affordable Care Act protects her daughter Avey’s health insurance coverage because it bars insurance companies from denying coverage to children based on pre-existing conditions.  “To have a child with cancer, there is so much to worry about, but the Affordable Care Act means that I don’t have to worry that Avey will be denied treatment because of her pre-existing condition,” Alycia says.

On this day last year, First Lady Michelle Obama embarked on a week-long official visit to South Africa and Botswana to promote youth leadership, education, health, and wellness, particularly among women and girls.

On her trip, she delivered the keynote address at the Young African Women Leaders Forum, met with former South African President Nelson Mandela, did pushups with Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and participated in two service projects at local community centers, among many other activites.

Ed. Note: This was originally published on Healthcare.gov

Kiersten Firquain founded Bistro Kids in Kansas City, KS, seven years ago to provide locally sourced organic “kid-friendly” food to as many students as possible. While her chefs were cooking up healthy food for youngsters, she wanted to do something for her employees’ health. The health care law tax credit for small businesses, she says, made it possible to offer them health insurance.

“We talked to our chefs and employees and asked, ‘What’s something you would like from Bistro Kids?’ And one of the things that kept coming up was insurance,” Kiersten says.

Bistro Kids qualified for about $1,500 per year in tax credits under the health care law, the Affordable Care Act, which made a huge difference to a small business like hers. For one of her chefs, Kiersten says, health insurance means a $5 co-pay for a prescription instead of a $250 cost, which her chef would not have been able to afford.

This week marks the 40^th anniversary of Title IX, the landmark legislation that changed the playing field for girls across the nation. By banning sex discrimination in schools, Title IX opened up a world of new opportunities ranging from athletic participation to access to education in science, technology, engineering, and math. Since 1972, athletic participation has increased over 1000%, creating more confident, empowered, and inspiring women. The Obama Administration is dedicated to furthering the 40 years of progress that Title IX has paved for us, from the $4.25 billion Race to the Top competition to close the STEM gap for girls, to honoring hardworking student-athletes like the Texas A&M University Women’s Basketball Team at the White House.

This Wednesday, June 20, the Council on Women and Girls will be hosting an event to mark the 40^th Anniversary of Title IX. The event will be livestreamed on www.whitehouse.gov/live starting tomorrow at 2 pm. Tune in to hear from notable advocates and leaders in the field, including Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor to President Obama & Chair of the Council on Women & Girls, Tina Tchen, Chief of Staff to the First Lady and Executive Director of the Council on Women and Girls, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and former Senator Birch Bayh, who co-authored the legislation.