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.

Please RSVP & Register by May 1 Early Registration Deadline for May 30-31, 2024 Delta Caucus Zoom Meeting

Posted on April 24, 2024 at 01:48 PM

Please Register for the May 30-31, 2024 Delta Caucus Meeting by Zoom; Early Registration Deadline is May 1, 2024.

You register and RSVP by paying the registration fees–that information is below in this message. Early registration fees are $75 but after May 1 they go up to $100.

The Zoom meeting is just as important as an in-person meeting. We have about 30 RSVPs now and are adding more each day.

The Zoom format will reduce expense, time and other challenges of larger, in-person conferences, and enable more participation from people who live a long way from Little Rock, AR. There is a broad trend toward Zoom meetings and we need to acknowledge that fact.

We will provide information on how to tune in to the Zoom meeting when it gets closer to the time.

The key issues will be job creation, infrastructure, health care, hunger and nutrition, Delta Heritage tourism, the Delta Regional Authority budget and impact, education/workforce development, transportation and related regional development subjects.

SCHEDULE

The opening session will be the evening of May 30, 2024, Thursday, about 5:30 p.m. to 7:15 p.m.

The Friday session May 31, 2024 will be from 9 a.m. to about 12:30 p.m.

REGISTRATION

You register by paying the registration fees.

The early registration fee of $75 is good until May 1, 2024 to provide an incentive to get the registration fees in before the time of the conference. Registration fees go up to $100 starting May 1.

The fastest and easiest way to register is to go on the website at mdgc.us and go to the PayPal link that says “Donate.”

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

After May 1 and up to May 31 the registration fees go up to $100.

We would request that people NOT wait until the time of the conference to pay registration fees because it takes up time to collect them while we are trying to get the program started.

We would greatly prefer to not have to collect registration fees after the conference is over, so the fees go up to $125 each if we have to collect them at that late time.

Group discount: We will offer a group discount of $50 each for a group of three or more, and a discount down to $30 each for a group of five or more.

Preliminary information on key issues and speakers:

The key subjects will include job creation, infrastructure, health care, hunger and nutrition, Delta Heritage tourism, the Delta Regional Authority, education/workforce development, transportation and related regional development subjects.

Panel on The Delta regional initiative from the late 1980s to the present:

–Lee Powell, Caucus Director, former Presidential appointee in the Clinton administration, one of managers of the New Markets Initiative and the Delta Regional Initiative (originally from Arkansas);

–Wilson Golden, former Presidential appointee in the Clinton administration, manager of the New Markets Initiative and the Delta Regional Initiative along with Lee Powell and the late Al Eisenberg), native of Mississippi;

–Mike Marshall, former Alternate Federal Co-Chairman of the Delta Regional Authority, veteran Delta regional leader from Sikeston, Missouri;

We are working on many other invitations. Below are some confirmed speakers on a range of other issues:

–Michelle Monse, King Foundation;

–Ralph Brown, Southern Bancorp Community Partners;

–Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families;

–Cody Behles, University of Memphis, Executive Director for Innovation and Research Support;

–President Chris Heigle, Arkansas Northeastern College;

–Herb Simmons, Professor Emeritus at Grambling State University, author, civil rights leader;

–Munnie Jordan, Executive Director of the King Biscuit Blues Festival, Helena, Arkansas;

Thanks again for all your great support of the Delta regional advocacy initiative over the years. Lee Powell, Director, Delta Grassroots Caucus (202) 360-6347