Part of Obama effort to boost economy

The Rutgers University Business School’s Center for Urban Entrepreneurship & Economic Development (CUEED) is teaming up with the White House Business Council, Office of Public Engagement and Domestic Policy Council in an effort to place a spotlight on initiatives to boost job growth in urban areas.

A day-long conference on the issue will be held Monday at the Paul Robeson Campus Center on the Rutgers-Newark campus at 350 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.,

President Obama has declared he wants America to out-innovate, out-educate and out-build the rest of the world – a plan he maintains is critical for America’s cities. He believes entrepreneurship plays a central role in creating jobs and economic opportunity and is attempting to create public-private partnerships to support current and future urban entrepreneurs.

The featured conference speakers are Newark Mayor Cory Booker; Marie Johns, deputy administrator, U.S. Small Business Administration; Derek Douglas, White House senior advisor to the resident for urban affairs; Russell Simmons, founder of Rush Communications; John Hope Bryant, CEO of Operation HOPE Inc.; Paul Quintero, CEO of ACCION USA, and Bill de Blasio, New York City public advocate

—TOM HESTER SR., NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM