Georgia attendees network, advocate at annual Congressional Black Caucus conference

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – The 52nd annual legislative conference for the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) drew thousands from around the country to Washington D.C. for the nation’s largest Black public policy conference, including many from Atlanta.

The yearly event focuses on solutions to the biggest challenges facing the Black community and offers an opportunity to network and discuss. It’s also an energetic atmosphere complete with vendors and company booths.

“It’s a lot of fun,” said Terrence Caldwell, who works with HBCU Alum, LLC. and flew in from Atlanta for the event. “Here at CBC, there’s a number of legislators who went to HBCUs. So we want to spotlight some of the issues and the topics that are affecting our historically Black colleges.”

Caldwell came to network, meet some legislators and advocate for more funding for historically Black colleges and universities. He said it’s something they’ve been pushing for a long time.

“I think the number is about $12 billion over the past three decades that HBCUs, especially land grant HBCUs, have not received in comparison to their peers,” he said.

Others were attending the conference for the first time.

“I’m actually interested in running for public office when I get older, so this is a very good opportunity for networking,” said Alysse Guerrier of Atlanta.

Guerrier recently graduated from Columbus State University and wanted to be in the same room with people working towards the same goals.

“With the Black community, it’s very important that we’re disseminating information about how we can uplift our community through voting and through social action,” she said.

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