RALEIGH, N.C. -- Dozens of advocacy groups are getting together to urge Gov. Beverly Perdue and other state officials to use a stronger hand in helping more North Carolina citizens - especially minority groups - get back to work.
Perdue also was slated speak Wednesday at a "jobs summit" at a downtown Raleigh church, designed to discuss innovative ways to lower the state's 11 percent unemployment rate and preserve jobs that are created.
The groups say the unemployment rate for black Americans is nearly twice the rate for white residents.
The event is assembled by the state chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the North Carolina Justice Center and others in a coalition that lobbies the Legislature on poverty and racial justice issues.
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