DAILY SNAPSHOT
Saturday, June 20, 2015

Weekly Address: Creating New Pathways of Opportunity for Americans Like You

In this week's address, the President spoke to his priority of growing the economy and opening new avenues of opportunity for hardworking Americans. While the United States has already made economic progress, with more than 12 million new private-sector jobs created over the past five years, there's still more to be done.

That's why the President has continued to press for strong, high-standard trade agreements that are good for American workers and good for American businesses. And it's why his Administration has partnered with mayors and governors across the country on issues such as minimum wage and paid leave that impact hardworking Americans. The President discussed impactful initiatives like these in his address before the Conference of Mayors on Friday.

Watch the President's Weekly Address here.

President Obama Delivers a Statement on the Shooting in South Carolina

On Wednesday night, a gunman opened fire at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, killing nine people including pastor and state senator Clementa Pinckney. The Department of Justice is opening a hate crime investigation into this tragedy.

The next morning, President Obama delivered a statement from the White House Briefing Room.

"Now is the time for mourning and for healing," the President said. "But let's be clear: At some point, we as a country will have to reckon with the fact that this type of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries. It doesn't happen in other places with this kind of frequency. And it is in our power to do something about it."

WATCH HERE

President Obama to Young Men of Color: "You Matter. You Count."

Tomorrow at 7 p.m. ET, Discovery Channel and OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network will air RISE: The Promise of My Brother's Keeper -- a documentary that explores the lives of the boys and young men of color from four programs across the U.S. that are living the principles of the My Brother's Keeper initiative.

"I want every young man who sees me to know that I'm not that different from them," the President says in the documentary. "I wasn't born into wealth. I wasn't born into fame. I made a lot of mistakes -- but I kept at it."

Join the conversation online and share how you are your brother's keeper -- whether you're tutoring a young person at a local high school, or helping them with their college application. Or share a simple story of how someone helped you get a leg up at an early age, or how someone you looked up to helped you get ahead.

Share your stories or videos on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram using the hashtag #MyBrothersKeeper -- and we'll feature some of your stories on WhiteHouse.gov and on White House social media channels over the coming days.

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Mobilizing $4 Billion in Private-Sector Support for Homegrown Clean Energy Innovation

Investing in homegrown innovation, including the development of new, clean-energy technologies, is a crucial part of the fight against climate change -- and is key to keeping America on the leading edge of the world's transition to a low-carbon economy.

That's why, on Tuesday, we hosted a Clean Energy Investment Summit at the White House, where we announced $4 billion in independent commitments by major foundations, institutional investors, and others to fund innovative solutions to help fight climate change, including technologies with breakthrough potential to reduce carbon pollution.

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To see more from the past week, watch the latest edition of West Wing Week here.