Latest News - Ladders of Opportunity

Welcome to the West Wing Week, your guide to everything that's happening at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Officials from the White House, the Department of Justice, and the Department of Health and Human Services welcome a diverse group of federal officials, non-profit workers, faith leaders, school administrators, researchers, and child welfare advocates to the White House, to announce a series of steps aimed at providing stronger support to help children with incarcerated parents succeed, and overcome the unique obstacles they often face.

I saw San Antonio's Promise Zone create new pathways allowing our citizens the chance to reach higher, dream bigger, and reach goals they never thought imaginable.

President Obama visits the Walker Jones Education Campus in Washington, D.C. to participate in a town hall with youth, and to announce exciting new commitments to the My Brother’s Keeper Initiative, designed to address persistent opportunity gaps faced by boys and young men of color and ensure that all young people can reach their full potential.

One out of every three children in America — more than 24 million in total — live in a home without their biological father present.

My Brother’s Keeper is President Obama's initiative to help ensure that boys and young men of color in America have the opportunity to reach their full potential. Since announcing the initiative in February, the public response has been overwhelming.

First Lady Michelle Obama announces that the construction industry will hire 100,000 veterans at a Department of Labor Veterans’ Employment in Construction Symposium on February 10th, 2014.

President Obama announced the first five “Promise Zone” locations, an initiative that partners with local communities and businesses to create jobs, expand access to educational opportunities and spur economic mobility and security.

In his weekly address, President Obama highlights the bipartisan budget agreement that unwinds some of the cuts that were damaging to the economy and keeps investments in areas that help us grow, and urges both parties to work together to extend emergency unemployment insurance and act on new measures to create jobs and strengthen the middle class.

In addition to helping American families during tough economic times, Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits provide one of the most cost-effective methods for boosting growth and jobs when the economy is weak.

Weekly Wrap Up: Economic Mobility, The passing of Nelson Mandela, White House Youth Summit, Holidays at the White House and World AIDS Day.

Over the last three years, this administration has made unprecedented investments in the community college system through the Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training − or TAACCCT − grant program.

The Labor Department’s Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) grants and other unprecedented investments are helping leverage strong partnerships with local employers to transform community colleges into engines of economic growth across the country.