For its 45th year, the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation is hoping to spark a conversation among Black Americans.
From Sept. 16 to 20 at the Washington D.C. Convention Center, the CBC Foundation will host more than 100 panels, special events, and activities aimed at educating the Black community during its Congressional Black Caucus Annual Legislative Conference. Over the course of the conference, an expected 10,000 Black thought leaders and policymakers will come together to examine the issues that are plaguing African-Americans and brainstorm solutions to those problems, which are divided into four pillars: education, environment, public health, and economic empowerment.
“This year’s conference theme is posed as a question: ‘With Liberty and Justice for All?’ During ALC, we are posing questions around the most pressing issues that have confronted African-Americans in recent years and through much of our history,” said Shrita Sterlin-Hernandez, the vice-president of communications and marketing for the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation.
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In addition to events such as public health screenings and wellness demonstrations, organizers will host two townhall meetings—one to discuss the Black Lives Matter movement, and another specifically catering to young thought leaders.
“We’re going to be bringing together young people to help them navigate policies to help them excel in politics,” Sterlin-Hernandez said.
For the first time, event officials have launched a new program that will encourage attendees to take the information that they learned and apply it to their home environments.
“One of the things that we are launching this year is #AfterALC,” Sterlin-Hernandez said. “You come for the conversation, you come for the network, but how do you take that and pay it forward? How do you take what you’ve learned and go back to your jobs, your schools, your network and apply it?”
ESSENCE is also co-presenting and sponsoring the Sojourner Truth Legacy Reception and Forum on Thursday, celebrating the women of the CBC.
Tickets for the events are still available. Visit cbcfinc.org for more information.