President Obama Set to Speak a Congressional Black Caucus Annual Legislative Conference Phoenix Dinner

               **File



Caryn Freeman
The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation will hold its forty-first annual legislative conference next week September 21st-24th at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. This year’s conference's theme, iLead|iServe will highlight the mission of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, to develop leaders, inform policy, educate the public and address the acute challenges facing African-American’s. The conference will kick off Tuesday night at 7:00pm with a screening of Robert Townsends film "In the Hive" at the United States Navy Memorial, Naval Heritage Center. The annual legislative conference will present over one-hundred-ninety sessions scheduled on different “tracks” tailored to specific matters of interest like Health and Wellness, Business, Emerging Leaders, Civil Rights, Energy and the Environment, and Foreign Affairs.

Nadia Richardson, a junior  broadcast journalism major at Howard University, plans to attend Wednesday’s session on Cultural Competence to Build Early Reading Proficiency among Black Students on the education track. “Everyone should be able to read regardless of race, age, gender, generation. Whatever it may be, there is no excuse why so many people are uneducated. The earlier you’re educated, the easier it will be to get through life,” she said.

President Barack Obama will speak at Saturday night’s closing ceremony and Phoenix dinner. With the black community suffering the current economic crisis with 14.1% unemployment and another staggering 27% of African-Americans now living at or below the poverty rate, the largest disparity in poverty for African American’s since the great depression, the president will have to push his jobs plan and foster support with an audience that has been hit hardest by the past two administrations economic policies.

Students have seen the economic crises first hand and had strong words for the president and other elected officials. "We are living in tough economic times, every politicians priority should be to do what they can to help alleviate the situation for Americans, said Matthew Reaves also a Howard student. “Loyalty to a political party should come after loyalty to the American people. I know a lot of people who have been negatively impacted financially in both education and unemployment. We need more of these people involved in the political process.”

Tickets are required to attend conference sessions and events. The Emerging Leaders—Student Package is fifty dollars and gives you accesses to all conference sessions. Tickets can be purchased on site at the convention center. A separate ticket purchase is required for special events. 


Sessions worth highlighting by major or area of interest:

Wednesday
Journalism-9:00 AM - 3:00 PM Avoice Student Workshop

Political Science-2:00 PM - 4:00 PM

Black Power and the 2010 Census: Changing Faces and Changing Places in

Sociology-Urban Communities

12:00 PM - 2:00 PM CBCF ALUMNI SERIES

Haiti: She's My Sister

Thursday
Political Science-10:00 AM - 12:00 PM Voting Trends in the South in the Age of Obama: Where Do We Go from Here?

Business & Economics-2:00 PM - 4:00 PM The Rise and Fall and Rise Again of the Black Middle Class

Education-1:30 PM - 4:30 PM EDUCATION BRAINTRUST

Ensuring African-American Students Get the Education They Deserve: A

Frank Discussion of Major Issues

Friday
Business-10:30 AM - 12:00 PM

The ABC's of African-American Hotel Ownerships and Cashing In on the Fifty

Billion Dollar Multicultural Tourism Market

Criminal Justice & Political Science 10:30 AM - 3:30 PM EX-OFFENDERS FORUM

Collateral Consequences: Economic Cost of Incarceration on African-

American Families and Communities

Public Policy-12:00 PM - 2:00 PM Roundtable with Young Elected Officials and Policy Professionals



You can find the full session schedule online @ http://www.cbcfinc.org/images/stories/R_-_Session_Listing_By_Day_9.13.11_update.pdf





 [NJ1]What is her major?