SAN FRANCISCO–A debt default or prolonged recession could derail a three year rebound in African American construction employment, reports the publisher of the Journal of Black Innovation.

Raising the Roof: Increasing the 7.1% Black Representation in Construction on May 4 will recommend specific targeting of infrastructure, energy and housing spending to grow the proportion of African American youth entering the field and to reach a critical mass of African Americans at every stage from development to architecture to construction to labor to meet the needs of 75 million African Americans in 2050 and tackle international opportunities.

Black construction employment fell as low as 283,000 in 2014 soon after the last debt standoff, and began growing again up to 578,000 in 2023, while still 45 percent under  the Black representation in the civilian labor force, about 13 percent.

John William Templeton, the leading researcher on African American business, discusses these trends May 4 during the How to Do Equity series.  The founder of the 20th annual Journal of Black Innovation National Black Business Month presents Capitalizing on Our Heritage: State of Black Business, 20th edition on May 15.

“We’re on path to reach one million African Americans in construction over the next three years by implementing current policies,” notes Templeton.

“We can’t eliminate homelessness without anyone to build homes for Black people,” adds the 50-year veteran business journalist and demographer.

Register for How to Do Equity at souloftechology.com

The author of the trilogy on the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments also presents How Cinco de Mayo led to Juneteenth on May 5 at noon Pacific as part of the series.

June 7-10, Templeton presents professional development for four days during the Conference on Architecture, AIA23, in San Francisco on best practices to developing healthy Black neighborhoods. He is also chair of the Central Brooklyn Economic Development Corp. in New York City’s Brownsville neighborhood, represented by Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-NY, which is training adults to participate in offshore wind construction.