The Delta Grassroots Caucus (DGC) is a broad coalition of grassroots leaders in the eight-state Delta region. DGC is also a founding partner of the Economic Equality Caucus,
which advocates for economic equality across the USA.

Sen. Pryor, Rep. Cotton, Asa Hutchinson, Mike Ross, Mayor Wharton--Oct. 17-18 Event

Posted on September 12, 2013 at 01:39 PM

Sen. Mark Pryor, Rep. Tom Cotton, Asa Hutchinson, Mike Ross, Mayor A. C. Wharton of Memphis, & Leaders from all Eight Delta states are set for the Oct. 17-18 Delta Grassroots Caucus Conference at the Memphis Agri-Center International.

We already have over 120 RSVPs and growing daily so Please RSVP now by email at leepowell@delta.comcastbiz.net and sending in your registration fees to be assured of space.

Key confirmed speakers for the Oct. 17-18 Delta conference in Memphis are US Senator Mark Pryor (D-AR) and US Rep. Tom Cotton (R-AR), who are the top two candidates from each party in the regionally and nationally vital Senate race in Arkansas; the two leading candidates from each party of the hotly contested governor’s race in Arkansas–former Congressman Asa Hutchinson (R-AR) and former Congressman Mike Ross (D-AR), Mayor A. C. Wharton of Memphis, and other leaders from the eight-state region.

Congressman Steve Cohen of Memphis did a great job of speaking last year in West Memphis and is invited this year, as is Rep. Rick Crawford. We are in the process of putting the exact speaking times together and will update that soon. Some of the key speakers have confirmed that they will speak but are deciding when they can speak.

Space is limited for the Oct. 17-18 Delta Grassroots Caucus Conference at the Memphis Agri-Center International and we already have over 120 RSVPs and increasing each day.

We want to hear from leaders of both parties about what they would do to promote the Delta’s regional economic development if elected US Senator or Governor of Arkansas. We look forward as well to hearing from Mayor Wharton and other Memphis leaders from our host state for this conference of Tennessee. We will have speakers from all eight states on the agenda.

OPENING SESSION:

Thursday, Oct. 17, 2013, 4:30 p.m. to 7:45 p.m., Memphis Agri-Center International (This is a key substantive session and is NOT a reception.)

FRIDAY SESSION:

Friday, Oct. 18, 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

In this post we will cover:

1) Brief Summary of Key Issues

2) Registration Information

3) Speakers over the course of the two-day conference

4) Group hotel information

5) Directions to the Memphis Agri-Center Internation from four different directions

You can RSVP by replying by email to leepowell@delta.comcastbiz.net or by registering-you register by mailing in the registration fees and that information is below. Group hotel and speakers listing are below in this email.

KEY ISSUES:

We will have experts on SNAP and other nutrition issues, agriculture, rural development and other sections of the farm bill; federal health care reform and its impact on underserved areas; a broad range of job creation, retention and workforce development issues; Delta heritage tourism, transportation, broadband expansion and other infrastructure, renewable energy, energy efficiency and green jobs, the connection between education and economic development, and other key regional issues.

REGISTRATION:

We have to ask for registration fees from everybody except Members of Congress, gubernatorial candidates, and those at the highest levels, because registration fees are an essential part of our budget.

You register by sending in the early registration fees on or before the deadline of Sept. 30. After Sept. 30, late registration fees go up to $150.

Registration fee levels are $100 for those who have paid their annual membership dues.

Registration is $125 for those who have not paid their annual membership dues.

If you can join us at this conference, please make out the check to “Delta Caucus” and mail to our office in the Washington, DC area:

Delta Caucus

5030 Purslane Place

Waldorf, MD 20601

GROUP DISCOUNT: If you can organize a group of at least five people from your local area, we can give a group discount from the usual level down to $75 each as an incentive to bring in some new partners and help a little on the costs.

NOTE: You register by mailing in the registration fee check as described above, and there is no link here so you cannot register on this website.

We also plan to announce an innovative fundraising project for the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis in conjunction with Marlon Henderson (originally from Jonesboro, AR) of Sharemeister, Inc., a new company that develops innovative ways of raising funds for good causes by the use of Internet technology.

Speakers over the course of the two-day conference:

We have a jam-packed agenda and emphasize a series of concise, relatively brief presentations and no lengthy speeches. In addition to the main speakers listed above, we will have a series of presentations over the two days of the conference. Among our speakers will be included:

• President Glen Fenter of Mid-South Community College, West Memphis;

• President Beverly Robertson of the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis;

• Randy Henderson, Nucor Yamato Steel and Nucor Steel of Arkansas, Blytheville, Arkansas;

• Shelley Ritter, Executive Director, Delta Blues Museum, Clarksdale, Mississippi;

• Lane Kidd of the Arkansas Trucking Association on transportation issues;

• Kim Sanders, Director, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Center for Rural Health and Social Service Development-she will be speaking about the practical, factual issues involved in implementation of the federal health care law;

• Melissa Rice-McGowan, Feeding America Southeast Missouri Food Bank in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, speaking on SNAP, TEFAP and other USDA nutrition programs;

–Jane Nuckolls, Mid-South Food Bank, Memphis board member and chairman of the food bank’s Education and Advocacy Committee, and Director of Clinical Nutrition for Methodist LeBonheur Healthcare, the largest hospital system in the Greater Memphis area; registered dietician and nutritionist.

• J. William McFarland, the University of West Alabama, Livingston, Alabama, Special Assistant to the President;

• Jeff Wood, Tyson Foods, Arkansas, Manager for Community Relations, speaking about the SNAP nutrition program;

• Albert Nylander, Ole Miss, director of the McLean Institute for Partnerships and Community Engagement, Oxford, Mississippi;

• Mayor Bill Luckett, Clarksdale, Mississippi;

• Mayor Robert Myer, New Roads, Louisiana;

• Cornel Martin, leader of the effort to get the Delta Queen back to traveling along the Mississippi River, president of DQSC in New Orleans, Louisiana;

• Steve Jones, Senior Vice President and Director of Programs, Southern Bancorp Community Partners, Helena-West Helena, Arkansas; he also serves as DRA Alternate for Arkansas for Gov. Mike Beebe;

• Kevin Smith, veteran Delta regional advocate, former aide to US Sen. Dale Bumpers and then Gov. Bill Clinton, now a businessman in Helena-West Helena; will introduce Mike Ross;

• Jeff Jones, Century Link broadband expansion activities for Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi;

• Minnie Bommer, veteran Delta regional advocate and the first African American woman elected to the Covington, Tennessee City Council; Steven Bares of the Memphis BioWorks Foundation;

• Bob Nash, president of Bob J. Nash & Associates, Little Rock, Arkansas; formerly USDA Under Secretary for Rural Development and White House Director of Presidential Personnel for President Bill Clinton;

• Srikant Gir, Co-Director for the Center for Biofuells, Energy and Sustainable Technologies at the University of Memphis;

• Daphene McFerren of the Benjamin Hooks Institute for Social Change at the University of Memphis;

• Sonia Outlaw-Clark of the West Tennessee Delta Heritage Center in Brownsville, Tennessee;

• Senchel Matthews of Heifer International in Memphis, of the “Seeds of Change” project in the east Arkansas Delta;

• Loretta Daniel, Director of the Regional Business and Innovation Center at Murray State University in western Kentucky;

• Betty Dobson, Director, Upper Town Heritage Foundation and the Hotel Metropolitan in Paducah, Kentucky;

• Alan Gumbel of the Memphis Inter-Faith Association (MIFA);

• Pamela Marshall of the Memphis Area Association of Governments;

• John Charles Wilson of the Memphis Agri-Center International;

• Greg Maxted of the Harahan Bridge Project between Memphis and West Memphis, Arkansas.

Rep. Mark McElroy’s informal get-together at group hotel bar, Courtyard by Marriott at Germantown, Thursday, Oct. 17, 3:45 p.m. to 4:15 p.m., for those who would like a beverage before heading over to the start of the conference at 4:30 p.m. at the Agri-Center.

Rep. McElroy may do his famous Elvis Presley impersonation, unless he gets enough bribes not to do so.

GROUP HOTEL:

We have a group discount rate at the Courtyard by Marriott at Memphis-Germantown that you can get by calling the Courtyard at (901) 751-0230 and saying you are with the Delta Caucus. There are Kings for $104 and doubles for $109. Most people just stay for the night of Oct. 17, but we also have the group rate for Oct. 18.

We have food and drinks at the opening session on Thursday, Oct. 17, but many people like to have a big dinner on their own after the opening session ends at 7:45 p.m. There is a good restaurant and bar at the Courtyard by Marriott, which is very close to the Agri-Center. There is also a fine restaurant in the Agri-Center complex called The Butcher Shop. Many people eat right after the opening session either there or at the group hotel for additional socializing and networking opportunities.

The number of attendees will be anywhere from 125 to 150 or so. We will have lunch on Friday, Oct. 18 and some food and drinks for the opening session on Thursday evening, Oct. 17 from 4:30 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. The opening session is an important, substantive session with important speakers and is NOT a reception.

Jim and Nick’s Barbecue provides catering for Thursday evening and Friday luncheon: For the Thursday session from 4:30 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. there will be some barbecue at the opening session, although most people eat lightly at the opening session and then go out for a large dinner afterward on their own for further socializing and networking opportunities.

Jim and Nick’s has a great reputation for their barbecue. So we’re all looking forward to the barbecue and the many fine restaurants that are very near the Agri-Center and the group hotel for the post-opening session dinner. Everybody does this on their own.

Fine restaurant on the Agri-Center premises, and the group hotel Courtyard by Marriott has a good restaurant for those planning to have a big dinner right after the opening session: On a practical and recreational note, the Agri-Center has a fine restaurant in its complex called The Butcher Shop, and many of our partners may want to have dinner there after we wrap up the opening session at 7:45 p.m.

The Courtyard by Marriott has a good restaurant for those who would like to go back to the group hotel for dinner at 7:45 p.m., and there are other good restaurants in the area near the group hotel and the Agri-Center.

There will be a luncheon in the meeting hall on Friday, Oct. 18 catered by JIm ‘N Nick’s Barbecue.

We plan to end by 3:30 p.m. to give plenty of time for people who would like to spend Friday evening, Oct. 18, seeing some of the sights Memphis has to offer.

Directions to Memphis Agri-Center International from four different directions:

From Nashville, Tennessee:

Travel I-40 west, exit Germantown Road (exit 16A). Go south on Germantown Road approximately 5 miles. You will go under the overpass at Walnut Grove Road, turn right at the stop light at Timbercreek. This is the entrance…Agricenter Expo Center is the large grayish white building, Show Place Arena is the large yellowish building on your left immediately past the Butcher Shop Restaurant.

From Little Rock, Arkansas:

Travel I-40 east across the bridge into downtown Memphis, follow I-40 to I-240 east. Take Walnut Grove (exit 13) heading east. Go east on Walnut Grove approximately 2 ½ miles. Turn right into the Agricenter entrance… Agricenter Expo Center is the large grayish white building on the right past the Ducks Unlimited entrance, Show Place Arena is the large yellowish building on your left past the Farmer’s Market (Red Barn).

From Jackson, Mississippi:

Travel I-55 north towards Memphis. Follow signs to I-240 east (exit 6A). Follow I-240 east until you reach Walnut Grove (exit 13) heading east. Go east on Walnut Grove approximately 2 ½ miles. Turn right into the Agricenter entrance… Agricenter Expo Center is the large grayish white building on the right past the Ducks Unlimited entrance, Show Place Arena is the large yellowish building on your left past the Farmer’s Market (Red Barn).

From St. Louis, Missouri:

Travel I-55 south towards Arkansas. When freeway forks, keep left to Memphis. Follow to I-40 to I-240 east. Take Walnut Grove (exit 13) heading east. Go east on Walnut Grove approximately 2 ½ miles. Turn right into the Agricenter entrance… Agricenter Expo Center is the large grayish white building on the right past the Ducks Unlimited entrance, Show Place Arena is the large yellowish building on your left past the Farmer’s Market (Red Barn).

We hope you can be involved in this conference. Keep up your great work in the region. Thanks so much-Lee Powell, executive director, Delta Grassroots Caucus (202) 360-6347