Will.i.am on Jobs Crisis, Revitalizing East L.A.: 'I'm Not Stoppin Until It Is Poppin' (VIDEO)

Arianna hosted a jobs expo at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte on Wednesday, where business and media leaders, as well as celebrities will.i.am. and Rosario Dawson, offered up their ideas to stem unemployment in America.

At the event, sponsored by The Huffington Post, NBC News, and Microsoft, Will.i.am. focused on providing better technical education for the country's youth. (WATCH ABOVE.) "I think it should be mandatory that STEM is in every school across America," he said. (STEM is an acronym for "science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.") Rather than simply focusing on traditional urban training grounds like basketball courts and football fields, the Black-Eyed Peas frontman proposed that schools connect companies with STEM programs, inspiring students to come up with "new, entrepeunerial, innovative technologies."

Speaking about his work to transform his old neighborhood, he said, "I am not stoppin' until it is poppin'."

Questioned about job creation by panel member Tom Brokaw, he also spoke about one of his own forays into the business world: Creating the Beats Headphones brand in 2005.

"Bose and Panasonic didn't think that Beats was gonna come out of the woodwork and come up with a product that changed real estate when you walk through airports — now there's headphone stores in airports. In 2007 there wasn't. So our community needs to be entrepreneurs."

He also stressed the importance of making products in America, and commented that, if the country wanted to return to its post-World War II manufacturing glory, it would have to refine its Visa process, because "if we didn't do that, there would be Nikola Tesla in 1920, and if there was no Nikola Tesla, these lights would be all out."