National President Keynote at Metro Action’s State of Poverty Summit
Local and State Directors Join President to Discuss Issues of Poverty in Nashville and Nation
May 10, 2004 - Derrick Span, national president of the Community Action Partnership will give the keynote address and serve as a panelist at the Metropolitan Action Commission State of Poverty Summit on Thursday, May 13. This event will be held at the downtown Nashville Public Library conference center at 9:30 a.m.
Nashville is a part of Span’s year-long “No Room for Poverty” national anti-poverty tour, which includes more than 37 cities across the country. This tour will culminate with a national rally in Washington, DC in September.
When Span became the national president of the
Community Action Partnership in 2002, he electrified the community
action agencies by urging the nation to end poverty in this decade.
“I believe that it is possible to eradicate the factors
that cause poverty in our lifetime,” Span says.
The Community Action Partnership is the national organization representing the interests of the 1,000 Community Action Agencies working to fight poverty at the local level, such as the Metropolitan Action Commission.
The summit will also include a panel discussion consisting of 8 executive directors and program directors from local and state governments.
“Their discussion will center on local issues of poverty in Nashville and middle Tennessee and what is in place to address the challenges,” said Lisa Gallon, Public Information Representative for the Metropolitan Action Commission.
Education, welfare, housing, employment, health care and the new “faces” of poverty, are among the topics that will be addressed. Findings from the city’s first Homeless Count initiative, completed earlier this spring will also be discussed.
Debbie Miller, director of The Center for Child and Family Policy at the Vanderbilt University Institute for Public Policy Studies, and wife of Nashville Mayor Bill Purcell, will serve as moderator.
The event is free, but requires pre-registration. There are still some seats available. To register call the Metropolitan Action Commission at 615-862-8860, Extension 200 or register online at www.nashville.gov/mac.
Note: A complete listing of all panelists and the agenda can be found at www.nashville.gov/mac