Delta Grassroots Caucus Events

Credit Michael Hibblen/ KUAR News, Arkansas Public Radio; Former President Bill Clinton speaking to the Delta Grassroots Caucus on May 2, 2013, at the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service, Little Rock

U. S. Senator John Boozman, Arkansas, at a Delta Grassroots Caucus meeting at the US Capitol

Brad Cole, Executive Director of the Municipal League of Illinois; previously a senior aide to former Republican US Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois, earlier Mayor of Carbondale, Illinois, veteran Delta regional advocate, speaking at the Delta regional conference in West Memphis, Arkansas on April 26, 2019.

President Bill Clinton makes a comment to Delta Caucus Director Lee Powell at a meeting in Blytheville, Arkansas (in the northeast Arkansas Delta) on Nov. 2, 2014

The Delta Caucus would like to pay tribute to the late, great U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi, a powerful force in the US Senate for decades and a champion for the Delta. Sen. Cochran passed away on May 30, 2019. He spoke to the Delta Caucus on many occasions over the years (he is pictured above speaking to a Caucus event on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC) and his thoughtful, courteous and bipartisan leadership will be sorely missed.

Marcie Lawson, Executive Director, Sikeston, Missouri Regional Chamber and Area Economic Development Corporation, speaking at the Delta regional conference in West Memphis, Arkansas on April 26, 2019.

Alan Gumbel, Greater Memphis Alliance for a Competitive Workforce, Memphis, Tennessee, speaking at the Delta regional conference in West Memphis, Arkansas on April 26, 2019.

Mayor Shirley Washington of Pine Bluff, AR, speaking to the Delta Caucus at the Arkansas Capitol Rotunda in 2017.

Greater Delta Region Conference Set for Oct. 31-Nov. 1, 2018 in Little Rock

Posted on June 08, 2018 at 01:25 PM

The Greater Delta Region annual conference is set for Wednesday evening, Oct. 31, and Thursday morning and lunch on Nov. 1, 2018 in Little Rock. Please save the dates.

We will hear from grassroots leaders from all eight states in nonpartisan presentations on community and economic development, and we are inviting the candidates for governor and two Congressional races to a bipartisan forum in this vital election year. We will not endorse any candidate but want to hear from them all.

Key issues will include economic progress and equality, job creation at good wages, transportation, broadband and other infrastructure improvements, education, support for health care, SNAP and major nutrition safety net programs, Delta heritage tourism, and equal opportunity for women, minorities, and smaller-town/rural people who have often been left behind in America’s prosperity.

Annual dues and registration fees: Please send in annual membership dues if you have not already done so. For those who have paid the minimum $25 annual dues, registration fees are $100 for the Oct. 31-Nov. 1 conference. They are $125 for those who have not paid the annual dues.

While we place great emphasis on the request that partners stay for the entire two sessions for a conference that we only do once a year and that is relatively brief, for people in Little Rock such as state legislators or others who have inescapable obligations regarding their jobs, we understand that they may not be able to attend all of both sessions and we will pro-rate registration fees accordingly. For everyone else who is traveling to the event we ask that they stay for both of the full sessions.

We have greatly condensed this conference to an evening session, and then the morning and lunch sessions the next day, and have eliminated the afternoon session. That removes any reason for people to leave early.

With such a shortened time span, we ask you to stay for both sessions and NOT leave early for any of them, because this creates the very awkward situation where the last few speakers are addressing a small group of people. We emphasized that request for last year’s conference in Little Rock and the vast majority of our partners stayed until both of the sessions ended.

OPENING SESSION, late Wednesday afternoon and early evening, Oct. 31, 4:30 p.m. to 6:45 p.m., Rotunda of the Arkansas State Capitol

CLINTON LIBRARY SESSION, Thursday, November 1, 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Great Hall of the Clinton Library

Annual dues: If you cannot attend the conference due to travel, budget, and/or time constraints, you can still support our grassroots advocacy activities by sending in the annual membership dues, which are a minimum of $25, or $50 for medium-sized organizations, or $100 for larger institutions or those who wish to make a larger contributions.

Registration fees for Oct. 31-Nov. 1 conference: If you can make the Oct. 31-Nov. 1, again registration fees are $100 for those who have paid their annual membership dues and $125 for those who have not.

EASIEST WAY TO PAY REGISTRATION FEES AND/OR DUES is on the PayPal link of the website at mdgc.us Go to the website at mdgc.us and go to the PayPal Link at the top of the website that says “DONATE.”

The PayPal process creates a written record of the transaction, but we can also send an invoice if you wish.

Again, registration fees are $100 if you have paid annual dues, and $125 if you have not.

If you prefer to pay by check, please make out the check to “Delta Caucus” and mail to:

Delta Caucus

5030 Purslane Place

Waldorf, MD 20601

MAY 23-24 Economic Equality Caucus meetings in Washington, DC area: Thanks to all who took part in the Economic Equality Caucus meetings in the DC area in May, which had a broad geographical scope and included participants from California, the Midwest, the Greater Delta Region, Appalachia, New York, Massachusetts, and the Virginia/Washington, DC/Maryland region.

We have long benefited from the support of many partners in Virginia, and at the May 23 opening session in McLean, Virginia at the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, we heard from major nonprofit organizations based in Virginia as well as candidates from both parties in the nationally watched, hotly contested 10th Congressional District election in northern Virginia.

We were honored to have former Arkansas Congressman Bill Alexander (who represented the First District for many years and was in the national leadership as Chief Deputy Majority Whip), and his wife Debi Alexander, now Director of Development at the major nonprofit Phillips Programs for Children and Families. Rep. Alexander and Debi Alexander now live in McLean.

On May 24 we held policy seminars on Capitol Hill with major policy organizations on hunger and nutrition, rural economic development, Hispanic, African American and Native American leaders, organizations involved in urban job creation programs, Members of Congress and some executive branch officials.

We had a dialogue with Rep. James McGovern (D-MA), Co-Chair of the US House Hunger Caucus and chair of the House agriculture nutrition subcommittee, Sen. John Boozman (R-AR), Co-Chair of the Senate Hunger Caucus, Rep. French Hill and Rep. Rick Crawford (R-AR), about our coalition’s support for SNAP and other major nutrition programs, USDA Rural Development and agriculture programs, infrastructure improvements, and job creation at good wages.

USDA Food and Nutrition Service Deputy Administrator Rich Lucas spoke about the SNAP program from the standpoint of the agency that administers it, and Betty-Ann Bryce, Senior Policy Advisor for USDA Rural Development, spoke about her agency’s efforts to combat the opioids epidemic in rural America.

To see the list of all the speakers, the full agenda is on this website–Go to the “Caucus Articles” link and pull up the article for May 3, 2018 on “Jobs/Economy and other Key Issues for May 23-24 Washington, DC Meetings.”