Mayor Robert L. Bowser Meets with President
Barack Obama - 2/8/11
WASHINGTON- 02/08/11
The Honorable Robert L. Bowser, President of the National Conference of Black Mayors,
joined his counterpart principals of the National Policy Alliance
in meetings today with President Barack Obama, Cabinet members
and Administration officials at the White House.
The purpose of today's meetings is to allow for a focused
engagement between the Administration and NPA on policy
priorities of the collective, and the relationship of these
priorities to the President's goals and initiatives outlined in
his State of the Union address.
Mayor Bowser addressed the critical need to retool cities and
retrain the workforce in order to rebuild our nation's
infrastructure and advance America's pace in the "Green
Revolution." He also discussed how mayors can strategically
position city halls to lead their municipalities in this and
identify methods to ensure that communities of color and
vulnerable communities are not marginalized in the process.
He highlighted the importance of developing long-term plans for
sources of funding through public-private partnerships around
various transportation needs; examining legislation on state and
local levels to undergird these partnerships; and leveraging the
resources of federal programs through these partnerships.
The NPA principals discussed how their respective organizations
currently address these issues. Discussion centered on
fundamental elements and strategies to increase the effectiveness
of policy implementation on state and local levels.
Following these meetings, Mayor Bowser participated in a media
dialogue planned to provide national print and online media
outlets the opportunity to engage the National Policy Alliance in
discussion on the policy priorities addressed during today's
meetings.
© 2011, James
Gerrish and Frederick
Goode