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.

Delta Regional Conference Set for April 25-26, 2019, ASU Mid-South in West Memphis

Posted on December 10, 2018 at 01:46 PM

The Delta Caucus spring conference next year will be held at one of the major educational institutions in our region—Arkansas State University Mid-South in West Memphis, Arkansas, April 25-26, 2019. Education is always one of our key issues and ASU Mid-South has a great record of preparing people for well-paying jobs in the heart of our region.

BASIC SCHEDULE:

Opening session is late Thursday afternoon and early evening, April 25, 2019, 4:45 p.m. to 7 p.m.m ASU Mid-South in West Memphis

Friday, April 26, 2019, 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., ASU Mid-South in West Memphis

Chancellor Debra West of ASU Mid-South will be one of our key luncheon speakers on April 26, along with invitations that we are starting to work on to Members of Congress, and other prominent state, federal and private sector leaders. We would like to express our appreciation to Chancellor West for providing ASU Mid-South as the host location.

We considered several communities as the host and were gratified that they all expressed strong interest. ASU Mid-South was chosen due to their great work for education in our region, our longstanding ties to their institution going back to the 1990s, and the advantageous geographical location of West Memphis that makes it easier to reach for our partners, starting of course with the Memphis/West Memphis area, but also being relatively convenient for east Arkansas, northeast Louisiana, much of Mississippi, western Kentucky, southeast Missouri, and southern Illinois.

Bachelors’ degrees in the region improving but still lagging behind national averages: We have just received mixed news about higher education in our region: our states have increased their percentages of people with bachelors’ degrees, but four of the five states in the United States with the lowest are in our region—West Virginia is last, followed by Mississippi, Arkansas, Kentucky and Louisiana. (Data is below in this message.)

REGISTRATION FEES AND ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP DUES

You register by paying the $100 registration fees, which are $25 for the annual membership dues for 2019, and $75 for registration fees.

For those who have paid their annual membership dues the registration fees will be $75. Those who have paid the annual dues will also receive a discount on the fall, 2019 conference, usually held in Little Rock at the State Capitol Rotunda and Clinton Presidential Center.

The easiest way to pay registration and dues is to go to the website at mdgc.us and go to the PayPal link at the top of the site that says “Donate.”

If you prefer to pay by check, please make out the $100 check to “Delta Caucus” and mail to:

Delta Caucus

5030 Purslane Place

Waldorf, MD 20601

We are working on getting a group discount rate at a West Memphis hotel and will pass that information along soon.

This is by invitation and space is limited.

Data from the American Community Survey, 2013-2017 regarding numbers of people with bachelors’ degrees

For 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico—52 jurisdictions (reported in Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and other media)

National average: 30.9%

Bottom Five:

1. West Virginia 19.9%

2. Mississippi 21.3%

3. Arkansas 22%

4. Kentucky 23.2%

5. Louisiana 23.4%

Those with the highest percentage with bachelor’s degrees were the District of Columbia with the highest at 56.6%, Massachusetts at 42.1%, Colorado with 39.4%, and Maryland with 39%

On the positive side, Arkansas’ rate of bachelors’ degrees rose by 2.9%.

Two other states—Tennessee and Missouri–in the Greater Delta Region had among the highest percentage increases in the number of bachelors’ degrees in the nation, with Tennessee’s rate increasing by 3.4% and Missouri only slightly lower in its increase.

On another positive note regarding education, in Arkansas from 2010 to 2017 the number of Arkansans 18 and older who had graduated from high school rose from 81.9% to 85.6%, for a 3.7% increase.

Arkansas’ rate of increase for high school graduates was higher than the national average for that period, which was 2.3% increase in high school graduates, from 85% to 87.3%.