Going Home: Tackling Chronic Unemployment in Oakland, Calif.

ABC's Ron Claiborne finds an organization solving big problems in his hometown.

ByABC News
September 29, 2010, 7:18 AM

Sept. 29, 2010— -- For Oakland, Calif., residents the recession has only deepened a problem they've struggled with for years -- chronic unemployment.

ABC's Ron Claiborne recalls an idyllic childhood in Oakland, but when he visited recently for the "Going Home" series on "World News," he saw firsthand the dark problems that his hometown is confronting.

In East Oakland, the mostly African American neighborhood has an unemployment rate that is anecdotally said to be over 50 percent, feeding an epidemic of violent crime that gives the area the nickname, "Killer Corridor."

Claiborne met one community service organization, the East Oakland Youth Development Center, that is confronting the city's problems head-on.

"What's the economic situation, right here in Oakland in 2010?" Claiborne asked Regina Jackson, the executive director of the center.

"It's devastating, and in East Oakland, it's magnified," Jackson said. "It's historically been bad, but when you have bad for a long time, it's disastrous."

The center provides job training, counseling, educational help, and recreational facilities to anyone who wants or needs them.

"We do application sessions, we bring employers on site. We take them on field trips. We do mock interviews," said Jackson, all in an effort to give residents a chance.

We hope you'll watch today's Conversation for more on how one organization is tackling serious problems in Oakland.

Click here for more from the "Going Home" series.

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