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.

Leaders from 8 Delta States, Nationally Watched Congressional Race & Governor's Race at Oct. 31-Nov. 1 Little Rock Event

Posted on August 03, 2018 at 01:43 PM

The Oct. 31-Nov. 1 Greater Delta Region conference in Little Rock will feature forums for the candidates in the nationally watched Second Congressional District campaign and the governor’s race in Arkansas, as well as grassroots leaders from all eight states of the region from southern Illinois and Missouri to New Orleans.

We have confirmed Rep. French Hill and the Democratic nominee, state Rep. Clarke Tucker in the nationally watched Second Congressional District election in Arkansas, as well as Gov. Asa Hutchinson and Democratic nominee Jared Henderson speaking on Nov. 1 at the Clinton Library.

We have invited Congressman Rick Crawford and the Democratic nominee Chintan Desai from the First Congressional District.

The Delta Caucus will not endorse any candidate, but we want to hear from both sides in a bipartisan setting.

Key issues will include job creation and economic development, health care, nutrition and other major safety net programs, education, workforce development, transportation, broadband access, housing and other infrastructure improvements, Delta heritage tourism, and equal economic opportunity for all, including women, minorities, and people in rural areas who have been too often left behind.

We will invite President Bill Clinton to speak about the vital work of the Clinton Foundation in nutrition, health care, energy policy, and other initiatives in the USA and across the globe, by a live call-in.

Please RSVP by replying to this email or calling Lee Powell at (202) 360-6347. You register by paying the registration fees and that info is below in this message.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

A. Basic Schedule

B. Registration information

C. Group Hotel

D. Preliminary list of regional leaders confirmed on the program thus far

A. SCHEDULE

OPENING SESSION: Wednesday evening, Oct. 31, 4:30 p.m. to 6:45 p.m., Arkansas State Capitol Rotunda

(Informal, optional socializing/networking dinner at the group hotel restaurant, after the opening session ends, beginning about 7 p.m., Camp David Restaurant at the Holiday Inn Presidential. This gives an opportunity for people to have a dialogue in a relaxed setting, unlike the time-pressured conference sessions.)

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

B. REGISTRATION

You register by sending in the early registration fees, which are $125 for those who have paid annual dues and $100 for those who have paid annual dues.

For those who can get together a group of five or more people from your network, we will give a further group discount and knock the registration fees down to $60 each.

After Oct. 15, late registration fees go up to $150 to provide an incentive to get the fees in on time.

The easiest way to pay the registration fees is on the website at mdgc.us by going to the PayPal link and clicking on the 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

C. GROUP HOTEL

The Holiday Inn Presidential in the Little Rock River Market district close to the Clinton Library is the group hotel.

To get the low group rate of $89 for Oct. 31, please call the hotel at (501) 375-2100 and say you are with the Delta Caucus group, before the reservation deadline of Oct. 15.

This is a very good rate for a high quality hotel in the Little Rock River Market area. We were negotiating with three hotels and received good offers from all three, and the rate kept going down the longer we haggled. The sales manager was afraid if she kept negotiating with me she might wind up giving us the rooms for free, so she was relieved when the negotiating process finally ended😃!

Most people will only stay one night to cut down on expenses, but we also have a smaller number of rooms for the night of Nov. 1 in case anyone wants to stay an extra night.

D. Preliminary list of regional leaders confirmed thus far

In addition to Gov. Asa Hutchinson, Democratic nominee for governor Jared Henderson, Rep. French Hill, and Democratic nominee for the Second Congressional District, State Rep. Clarke Tucker, we have confirmed the following grassroots leaders from the Greater Delta Region:

· Nathan Pittman, Senior Vice President for Communications, Southern Bancorp Community Partners, Arkansas and Mississippi;

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

· Brad Cole, Executive Director, Illinois Municipal League (originally from Carbondale in southern Illinois)

· Millie Atkins, Economic Equality Caucus Co-Chair and community leader from Monroe, Louisiana;

· Mike Marshall, CEO, Sikeston Missouri Regional Chamber of Commerce and Area Economic Development Corp.’

· Bob Nash, former USDA Under Secretary for Rural Development, President Clinton’s White House Director of Presidential Personnel;

· Tracey Barnett, professor of the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville School of Social Work, leader of a research initiative on the impact of SNAP nutrition program in Arkansas;

· Alan Gumbel, Greater Memphis Alliance for a Competitive Workforce, Memphis, Tennessee;

· State Rep. Chris Richey, Director of Phillips County, Arkansas Chamber of Commerce, Helena-West Helena, Arkansas;

· Kyle Miller, Director, Delta Cultural Center, Helena-West Helena, AR;

· Kevin Smith, long-time Delta regional advocate, Helena-West Helena, AR;

· Harvey Joe Sanner, President, American Agriculture Movement of Arkansas, Des Arc, Arkansas;

· Cornelius Blanding, Executive Director, Federation of Southern Cooperative, East Point, Georgia—this organization is active all across the South;

· Heifer International will have an information table, with Perry Jones of their USA domestic programs;

· Johnny Pettis, Society of St. Andrew in Arkansas, with an information table on their innovative project for increasing fruit and vegetable production In the region;

· Bud Cummins, distinguished lawyer, former US Attorney, one of the two nonpartisan questioners for the gubernatorial and Congressional candidates.