JOINT CENTER News Room
Joint Center Celebrates 30th Anniversary at Annual Dinner
May 1, 2000
EDITOR'S NOTE: Please contact Liselle Yorke at 202-789-6366 to schedule interviews with Eddie N. Williams, president of the Joint Center.
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) - The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies is celebrating 30 years as one of the nation's leading think tanks on public policy issues affecting African Americans and other minorities tonight at 7:00 p.m. at the Hilton Washington Hotel (International Ballroom), 1919 Connecticut Avenue, NW. The keynote speaker is H. Carl McCall, state comptroller of New York, who is touted in many circles as a likely candidate in the next New York gubernatorial race.
Among those who will make remarks are National Dinner Chairman Jacques A. Nasser, president and CEO, Ford Motor Company; General Dinner Committee Chairman James H. DeGraffenreidt, Jr., chairman and CEO, Washington Gas; Eleanor Holmes Norton, delegate, District of Columbia; Andrew Brimmer, chair, Joint Center Board of Governors, and president, Brimmer and Company, Inc.; and Eddie N. Williams, president of the Joint Center. Gwen Ifill, host, PBS' Washington Week in Review will be mistress of ceremonies.
"When the Joint Center was founded 30 years ago, its greatest challenge was to ensure that the black elected officials who came to office following the 1965 Voting Rights Act had the necessary skills to help them govern," said Eddie N. Williams. "Our challenge today is to provide research and other information needed to make sound policy decisions and to help build coalitions across ethnic and racial lines."
"After 30 years, the Joint Center boasts a long and proud history of ensuring that minorities are active and well-informed participants in the political debates affecting our nation," said Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Rep. James E. Clyburn. "I am confident that this tradition will continue for generations to come in the new millennium."
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The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies informs and illuminates the nation's major public policy debates through research, analysis, and information dissemination in order to: improve the socioeconomic status of black Americans and other minorities; expand their effective participation in the political and public policy arenas; and promote communications and relationships across racial and ethnic lines to strengthen the nation's pluralistic society.
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Phone: 202-789-3500 Fax: 202-789-6390 http://www.jointcenter.org
In congratulating the Joint Center, Richard Hatcher, who was elected the first black mayor of Gary, IN, in 1967, said: "At a time when all the black mayors in America could have held their annual meeting in a telephone booth and still had room to spare, the Joint Center was there, providing technical support, researching our issues, and helping us to serve our constituents."
Known for its reliable, relevant, and independent research and analysis, the Joint Center has become a critical source for journalists, public officials, and scholars both in the United States and abroad. Current major programs include the Minority Business RoundTable, the first membership organization for CEOs of minority-owned businesses; the Black Leadership Information Exchange, the first interactive membership network for black leaders; and DataBank, an online centralized repository of data on African Americans and other minorities.
Since 1993, the Joint Center has also maintained an office in Johannesburg, South Africa. It initially provided nonpartisan technical assistance to newly formed political parties in preparation for that nation's historic 1994 democratic elections and now works with organizations, universities, and local citizens to strengthen participatory democracy.
To learn more about the Center's work over the past three decades, visit its virtual exhibit and take its history quiz at www.jointcenter.org.