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We’re back! And we still have a little bit of chill time before Congress returns. Breathe deep and enjoy it. While we were away, the WH announced that Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are set to meet Friday, July 7th, on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hamburg. We’ll be watching. With Trump tweeting a GIF of him body slamming CNN and his continued tirade against the media, it’s no wonder that top national news organizations are increasing security for employees. Some supporters of the president called NPR’s tweeting out of the Declaration of Independence on July 4th “propaganda” and “the dumbest idea." Maybe the plan to make us great again should include a crash course on our founding documents? Also, apparently Essence was lit. We’ve got pics below. Malia Obama turned 19 on July 4th. Oh to be young again. And in other news, part of the weekend was spent spreading the word on the importance of financial literacy, personal responsibility, supporting minority-owned businesses, and more. And no, it wasn’t a group of politicians wagging fingers at the country; it was JAY-Z and his latest album, 4:44. Hence, we the collective forgive JAY-Z for whatever indiscretion that gave the world Lemonade. And although we figured out Blue Ivy on our own, we will need someone to explain Rumi and Sir to us at some point. In due time. Here’s what we’ve got for the mid-week kickoff:
- Senate Dem staff diversity improving but still a work in progress.
- Barack Obama is helping to save the soul of the Dem party … and our diplomatic ties as he takes a trip to Seoul.
- Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) won't rule our 2020 presidential run.
- The DOJ names a head of the Civil Rights Division. Wait ‘til you meet him!
- Cheyenne Tribe challenges admin on grizzly bears.
- 44 States resist.
- Omarosa looks into Pentagon race issues.
- The March on Washington Film Festival brings Ta-Nehisi Coates and Ninth Wonder to town. Want to go? We’ve got tickets.
- ¿No hablas español? Neither does the White House.
- House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) shows the latest CHC member Jimmy Gómez how partisan things can get.
- The fight over the DC NFL team name comes to an end.
- Stand your ground law in FL is ruled unconstitutional.
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NBC White House Correspondent Kristen Welker got a b-day gift from her husband's family. It's a chair with her Harvard alma mater coat of arms. | |  |
Snoop and Roland Martin catch the blues at Essence Fest in New Orleans over the weekend. | |
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New Report Shows Senate Dem Staff Diversity Improving But Still a Work in Progress
According to a report released by Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) on Friday, only 32% of staffers in Democratic Senate offices are "non-Caucasian" and 54% are women. Only 13% of Dem staffers are African American while only 10% are Latino -- significantly less than the 17% that make up the country's population. Eight percent are Asian American or Pacific Islander, 4% are Native American, and 3% are North African or Middle Eastern. Senate Dems have long faced criticism for a lack of diversity among those who work for them, and have faced increased pressure in recent months to take up minority hiring efforts. Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI) has the most diverse staff, with 66% identifying as "non-Caucasian." Senators Kamala Harris (D-CA) and Mazie Hirono (D-HI) are tied for second at 61%. Among the Dems with the least diverse staffs are Senators Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) at 10%, Joe Manchin (D-WV) at 9%, and Jon Tester (D-MT) at 7%. More here.
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Obama’s Advice Sought from South Korean President
Former President Barack Obama met with South Korean President Moon Jae-in for 40 minutes on Monday. The meeting came after Obama spoke at the Asian Leadership Conference and the Fourth Congress of Indonesian Diaspora in Jakarta, where he addressed Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris climate change accord. “In Paris, we came together around the most ambitious agreement in history about climate change, an agreement that even with the temporary absence of American leadership can still give our children a fighting chance,” Obama said. The Korea Herald reports that Moon spoke about his recent meetings with Trump in DC and asked Obama for his advice on how to improve that relationship. Obama reportedly stressed bipartisan U.S. support for the alliance and wished Moon success in his presidency. Moon’s press secretary said, “Obama said that as many South Koreans hope for his success, Moon would no doubt meet the people’s expectations, quoting former President Abraham Lincoln whom he said he respects the most, that with the people’s support you can do anything.” Obama arrived in Seoul on Sunday along with his wife Michelle and daughters Sasha and Malia, marking his first visit since his term came to an end in January. More here.
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Barack Still Working to Save the Dems
The Hill reports that former President Obama is involved in discussions about the future of the Democratic Party. Since leaving office, he has spoken on the phone -- on a by-request basis -- with a handful of House and Senate lawmakers from his DC office. In recent months, it's reported that he sat down with freshman Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD). He has also reportedly met with -- and has had phone conversations with --DNC Chairman Tom Pérez throughout the spring. According to a source, the former president said, “Hey man, it's only the future of the world in your hands,” Obama joked with Pérez in one conversation. File that under things that aren't actually jokes. Sigh. More here.
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March on Washington Film Festival
What do 9th Wonder, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Karen Clark Sheard, Diahann Carroll, and Henry Louis Gates have in common? They're all part of The March on Washington Film Festival, July 13th through July 22nd. With 21 events over 10 days all around DC, there's something for everyone! Click here for tickets.
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Booker Won't Rule Out 2020 Prez Run
Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) said Monday that he hasn't ruled out a presidential bid in 2020. In a CNN interview, Booker said that he has no plans yet to challenge Trump in the next election, but that he still hasn't decided against it. "I don't know what the future's going to bring," Booker told CNN host and former Obama aide David Axelrod. "I'm not making predictions, but I want to unleash the fullness of who I am right now, and I want to call out injustice where I see it." Booker says his loyalty remains with New Jersey and the job that he was elected to carry out. At least one NJ politician doesn't have his head, or toes, in the sand. More here.
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Haley Complains About Working On July 4th
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley faced backlash Tuesday for a tweet saying she spent the Fourth of July in meetings about North Korea. “Spending my 4th in meetings all day. #ThanksNorthKorea,” Haley tweeted. The Twitterverse immediately shared stories and photos of others -- military servicemen and women, medical professionals, and more -- who also have to work through the holidays. This isn't the first time Haley has been critiqued for her social media presence: A tweet she posted last month about cutting funds for United Nations peacekeeping was met with confused reactions. Haley quickly received criticism for complaining about the meetings. See some of the responses here.
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Dolores Huerta receiving a standing ovation at a Friends of the National Museum of the American Latino screening of her film at LULAC's annual conference in San Antonio. | |  |
WaPo's Jonathan Capehart celebrates another year of life in Provincetown on Saturday. | |
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Seguimos Esperando: WH Says Spanish-Language Website Still Coming
The White House says that the Trump administration still has plans to launch a Spanish-language version of the White House website later this year, after months of not having one. WH Director of Media Affairs Helen Aguirre Ferré (pictured) told The Associated Press that “the priority remains to improve the English language website.” Aguirre Ferré said she expects a Spanish-language site to launch later this year. Engaging in the “but Obama” finger pointing we have become accustomed to from this administration, she also said that the Obama White House took nine months to launch their version of the website. The AP noted that the Trump administration's Spanish-language Twitter account, @LaCasaBlanca, is riddled with typos and incorrect translations. More here.
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Omarosa Looking Into Racial Issue at the Pentagon
A few weeks ago, The Beat highlighted a report that found Black troops are far more likely than their white comrades to face punishment, according to government officials. Everyone can relax now because the Honorable Omarosa Manigault is looking into the matter. She visited the Pentagon last week and sought out information on the report by the advocacy group Protect our Defenders. Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, confirmed that Manigault met with Dana White, the Pentagon's chief spokeswoman, and "discussed a variety of issues in her capacity as a liaison for the White House." Don Christensen, the report’s author and president of Protect Our Defenders, said he welcomed Manigault’s interest. “I hope the administration saw how important these numbers are and how troubling they are,” said Christensen, a retired Air Force colonel and the branch's former chief prosecutor. “My biggest concern is that they don’t let the Pentagon off the hook. They need to be very critical of what they’re told and demand action.” We’ll keep you posted if something actually happens or if Black soldiers will receive the same treatment HBCUs did when Omarosa “looked” into that issue. More here.
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DOJ Corporate Watchdog Resigns and Calls Out Hypocrisy
One of the Justice Department’s top corporate crime watchdogs, Hui Chen, has resigned, declaring that she cannot enforce ethics laws against companies while her own bosses in the Trump administration have been engaging in conduct that she says she would never tolerate in corporations. Chen -- a former Pfizer and Microsoft lawyer who was also a federal prosecutor -- had been the department’s compliance counsel. She left the DOJ in June and broke her silence about her move in a recent LinkedIn post that sounded an alarm about the Trump administration’s behavior. “To sit across the table from companies and question how committed they were to ethics and compliance felt not only hypocritical, but very much like shuffling the deck chair (sic) on the Titanic. Even as I engaged in those questioning and evaluations, on my mind were the numerous lawsuits pending against the President of the United States for everything from violations of the Constitution to conflict of interest, the ongoing investigations of potentially treasonous conducts, and the investigators and prosecutors fired for their pursuits of principles and facts.” Read the scathing LinkedIn post here.
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Kirby Bumpus, Deray McKesson, and Deesha Dyer at the season two premier of HBO's Insecure at Essence Fest on Friday. No word from this trio on who's #TeamLawrence v. #TeamIssa. | |  |
AT&T's Tanya Lombard, Rev. Al Shaprton, and Angela Rye at NAN's annual Essence Fest dinner in New Orleans on Saturday. | |
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44 States Refuse to Provide All Info Requested By Trump Commission
Forty-four states have refused to provide certain types of voter information to the Trump administration's election integrity commission. State leaders and voting boards across the country have responded to the letter with varying degrees of cooperation -- from altogether rejecting the request to expressing eagerness to supply information that is public. But the commission, which is chaired by VP Mike Pence, seemed to misunderstand voter privacy laws nationwide. Every state that responded to the commission's letter said it could not provide Social Security numbers, for example. Others said they consider information such as birth dates and party affiliations to be private. As of Tuesday afternoon, two states -- Florida and Nebraska -- are still reviewing the commission's request. Another two states -- Hawaii and New Jersey -- have not returned CNN's request for comment. And while six states are still awaiting a letter from the commission, four of them -- New Mexico, Michigan, South Carolina and West Virginia -- have already pledged not to provide voters' private information. The other two of those six states, Arkansas and Illinois, have not released statements ahead of receiving the letter. More here.
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Hispanic Member of Presidential Election Commission Resigns Amid Voter Data Uproar
And the hits just keep on coming. Maryland's deputy Secretary of State has resigned from the controversial Trump administration panel probing alleged voter fraud in last year's presidential election. Deputy Secretary of State Luis E. Borunda, a former Baltimore County school board member, informed the Hogan administration Monday that he resigned from Trump's Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, according to Gov. Hogan spokesman Doug Mayer. More here.
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Congressman André Carson (D-IN) with Molly Leraris, the winner of the Congressional Art Competition from Carson's district, and her father. | |  |
Congressman Ami Bera (D-CA) congratulated Lindsay Olson, who was the winner of the Congressional Art Competition from his district. | |
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You Won't Believe Who the DOJ Named to Lead the Civil Rights Division
The DOJ has finally named someone to lead the department’s Civil Rights Division. Consistent with this administration, his record appears to run contrary to the work he will be leading. Eric Dreiband, a former George W. Bush administration official, represented the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company in an age discrimination case and Bloomberg in a pregnancy discrimination case as a partner at the law firm Jones Day. On Thursday, Trump tapped him to lead the division that handles voting rights, policing, and discrimination cases. Vanita Gupta, head of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and a former leader of the Civil Rights Division under President Barack Obama, said Dreiband's past work showed he was not up for the job. “Whoever leads the ‘crown jewel’ of the Justice Department...must respect the laws that touch everyone, rights that people have literally died for. They must respect the role of what has been called the conscience of the federal government. In all those regards, Eric Dreiband is woefully unqualified to lead the Civil Rights Division,” Gupta said. More here.
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McCarthy Hits Gómez Again -- This Time in a WSJ Op-Ed
In a piece titled, “Rep.-Elect Jimmy Gomez, Your Seat Is Getting Cold,” House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) criticizes the latest CHC member for delaying his swearing in to stay in California, waiting to vote to expand the state’s cap-and-trade program. Gómez is scheduled to take office on July 11th. McCarthy uses the opportunity to not only blast Gómez but the Democratic-run California state legislature as well. “These sad and wanton abuses of power shine a light on the problem of one-party power in Sacramento. Democrats must make the case for their agenda on its merits -- not political deal-making that leaves our fellow Californians without a voice in Washington.” Pot, kettle, Mr. McCarthy. The GOP-led Congress is right in the middle of some political deal-making themselves over everything from the ACA repeal vote to how to handle Twitter fingers in the Oval Office. Read the full op-ed here.
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Congresswoman Judy Chu (D-CA) repping a pro-immigrant shirt in honor of Immigrant Heritage Month in June. | |  |
Will Jawando with Lynn Whitfield at the Essence Festival in Louisiana last week. | |
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Rye and Waters Name Names in Blunt Remarks at Essence
Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) was lit at the Essence Music Festival in New Orleans. She took the stage and did not hold back about her feelings for the current administration namely, HUD Secretary Dr. Ben Carson. “(Carson) knows nothing about the mission of HUD,” Waters said in a speech at the festival. “He doesn’t care about people in public housing. He believes that if you are poor, it is your own fault. And he doesn’t know the difference between an immigrant and a slave.” Waters also warned Carson that she would be tough on him when he testifies before the House Committee on Financial Services, on which she is the ranking member. “(If he) thinks that I am going to give him a pass, I am going to take his ass apart,” Waters said. And the congresswoman was not alone. CNN commentator Angela Rye called out Omarosa when she took the stage at Essence. She told the audience that not all Black people are allies in the struggles against White supremacy. “This will be empowering because it is the truth,” she started her point before adding, “But all of our kinfolk ain’t our kinfolk -- Omarosa!” The crowd responded with resounding applause in agreement. More here here.
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Google Takes Steps to Increase Diversity
Google acknowledges that while they’ve made progress in recent years for both women and people of color, there are areas for improvement across the board. In the past three years, the Black non-tech population has grown from 2% to 5% (from 4% to 5% over the last year). And in the past year, Hispanic Googlers have grown from 3% to 4%. They recently hired Danielle Brown, who will be joining Google as their new Vice President of Diversity. She was previously with Intel, where she was VP and Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer for the past several years and, most recently, Group Chief Human Resources Officer. At Google, Brown will be responsible for managing the diversity and inclusion strategy and partnering with senior executives. More here.
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Michelle Bernard on the set of MSNBC’s “AM Joy” on Sunday morning. | |  |
Congressman Ro Khanna (D-CA) with his brother-in-law at a U2 concert in Cleveland last week. | |
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ICE Cracking Down on Families Who Paid to Have Their Children Brought to the U.S.
Border Patrol agents have reportedly begun sharing information with immigration officials about the U.S.-based relatives of unaccompanied children. In a statement to McClatchy newspapers, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spokeswoman Jennifer Elzea confirmed that the agency is targeting parents as part of their efforts against human smuggling. “ICE aims to disrupt and dismantle end-to-end the illicit pathways used by transnational criminal organizations and human smuggling facilitators,” Elzea said. “This is not intended to produce mass roundups, mass deportations." According to McClatchy's report, at least a dozen cases of ICE agents targeting parents who paid to have children smuggled into the country were reported across the United States over the weekend. “The kids are basically being used as bait at this point,” one U.S. official with the Office of Refugee Resettlement said. More here.
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Northern Cheyenne Tribe to Sue Trump Administration
The Northern Cheyenne tribe is planning to sue the Trump administration for removing protections for grizzly bears in and around Yellowstone National Park. The tribe joined environmental groups in submitting a 60-day notice to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke on Friday. The coalition says the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ignored evidence submitted by tribe Chairman Jace Killsback regarding the need to keep the bears listed under the Endangered Species Act. Although discussions regarding the status of the grizzlies began during the Obama administration, it was Zinke who announced the de-listing June 22nd. He did so only hours after promising to consult tribes about decisions that affect their interests. In the announcement, they acknowledge the importance of the bear in tribal cultures. But it said the Endangered Species Act requires a decision to be based on "science." Hmm. Does this administration feel the same way about climate change? More here.
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Congresswoman Michelle Luján Grisham (D-NM) last week with students from the Atrisco Heritage Academy who are a part of the Close Up Foundation program. | |  |
Ambassador Ron Kirk with CNCF's Tasha Cole at a multicultural leaders event last week in NYC. | |
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Meet Jasmin Moghbeli: America’s Badass Immigrant Astronaut
A bit back, The Beat highlighted the four POC who comprised NASA’s new astronaut class -- out of seven men and five women -- picked from a record-breaking 18,000 applicants. The New Yorker has done a piece highlighting one of them: Jasmin Moghbeli. Nicknamed “Jaws,” Moghbeli played basketball at M.I.T., is a Marine Corps Major, and was decorated for flying Cobra gunships on 150 combat missions in Afghanistan. The astronaut candidate is also an immigrant -- an Iranian American, the only one with roots in the Middle East since the first class of astronauts was selected in 1959. Moghbeli’s family fled Iran after the 1979 revolution and stayed for four years in Germany, where she was born, before coming to the United States. So the next time a certain Fox commentator asks what immigrants contribute to the U.S., let's make sure to remind him of Jaws. More here.
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Washington Football Team Wins Trademark Fight Over its Name
Last Thursday, the five Native Americans fighting the Washington “Redskins” NFL team over its trademark registrations called it quits in federal appeals court. On June 19th, The Beat highlighted a case involving an Asian American rock band that SCOTUS used in deciding that a key section of federal law banning trademarks that “may disparage” people was a violation of the First Amendment. But once the Supreme Court ruled that the disparagement clause was not constitutional, the DOJ and the Native Americans, led by Amanda Blackhorse (pictured), a Navajo from Arizona, had little legal standing to move forward. “There’s no more challenge to make,” said Jesse A. Witten, an attorney representing the Native Americans who view the team's name as a deeply offensive slur. “It was a galvanizing force that caused people to pay attention to the cause.” More here.
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Trump appointee Jennifer Korn with Joy Villa at a talk last week for the Latino Coalition. | |  |
NUL's Marc Morial with soon-to-be Harvard undergrad actress Yara Shahidi at the Essence Festival in New Orleans on Sunday. | |
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Cruzifying the Healthcare Bill
Senate Republicans are asking the Congressional Budget Office to analyze a healthcare bill that includes changes proposed by Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), Axios reported Saturday. They are also asking the independent scorekeeper to come out with an estimate on a healthcare bill without the proposed changes, in an effort to better understand the potential effects of Cruz's plan. Cruz, who has said that he cannot vote for the Senate Republicans' healthcare bill in its current form, proposed an amendment to the measure this week that would allow health insurers to sell plans that do not meet the standards required by the Affordable Care Act. More here.
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Federal Housing Programs Found to Perpetuate Segregation
A NYT review of federal data found that in the largest metropolitan areas in the country, low-income housing projects that use federal tax credits -- the nation’s biggest source of funding for affordable housing -- are disproportionately built in majority non-white communities. What this means, fair-housing advocates say, is that the government is essentially helping to maintain entrenched racial divides, even though federal law requires government agencies to promote integration. The program offers developers larger credits for building in poorer communities, which tend to need affordable housing the most but also have large minority populations. That has meant that even in a place like Houston, one of the country’s most diverse cities, racial divides can run deep. “It’s been clear for a long time that the tax-credit program is perpetuating racial segregation,” said Michael Daniel, a fair housing lawyer. Good thing the administration just brought on a Trump family wedding planner to help address this. More here.
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Kamala Harris Minces No Words on Trump and GOP
Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) is not holding back when it comes to the president and his GOP allies. At a naturalization ceremony on Monday in Los Angeles, Harris slammed Trump’s characterization of immigrants and said the Fourth of July means a lot more than fireworks and picnics. “A reminder that immigrants don’t just believe in America; immigrants have built America,” said Harris, who herself is the daughter of immigrants from India and Jamaica. “When I see you, I see our future. I see patriots who will make our future more inclusive and more innovative.” At another event that day, Harris criticized her Republican colleagues who want to get rid of the Affordable Care Act, saying they were hung up on the name Obamacare and that the legislators crafting the GOP bill are out of touch. “This group that looks exactly like each other and not like most of us here.” More here from the LA Times.
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Congresswoman Doris Matsui (D-CA) last week thanking the Army's Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and Legislation Let Mon Lee for more than three decades of public service as he retires. | |  |
Mary Ann Gomez Orta with her husband Carlos at a Leadership Florida event on Sunday. | |
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Pramila Jayapal Shares Her Testimony from an Immigrant’s Perspective
Some people in this country feel our vetting process for allowing immigrants into the country are not tough enough. These folks should talk to people who have actually gone through the process. Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) is one such person. She details her journey from India to the United States in an Independence Day op-ed for the NYT. She details the tough choices she had to make when her son was born prematurely in India and in order to remain at his bedside she lost her green card status and for a while was not able to return to the U.S. “I became determined to get my citizenship as soon as I was eligible so that I would never again face the prospect of being separated from my son,” Jayapal writes. “That process took three years.” Criticizing the Trump administration over the travel ban, the congresswoman goes on to write, “Immigration is about more than just who comes here and who is allowed to stay. It is about who we are as a country and what we are willing to stand up for.” Read the entire piece here.
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Vicente Fox: Trump's ‘Hot-Headed’ Personality Could Lead to War
Former Mexican President Vicente Fox released a video this week criticizing Donald Trump and warning that his "hot-headed" personality could lead to war. "If a war you want to start today isn't so f---ing righteous that a young Donald Trump would have willingly served in it, then don't send other young people to die in it," Fox said in the video. He said Trump may have a legitimate reason to go to war: "There are bad people out there, doing bad things. In Iran, North Korea, even your BFF in Russia ... So sometimes there are going to be perfectly valid reasons to unleash your dragon on the world ... But before you do, ask yourself – are you doing this to make the world a better, safer place?" Fox said. "Or are you doing it to make yourself feel bigger, or finally nudge your approval ratings over 40." Watch the video.
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Congressman Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) made his summertime favorite watermelon and mint with his mom on Sunday. | |  |
CBC Chair Congressman Cedric Richmond (D-LA) with his district's Congressional Art Competition winner Cooper Monzon and his family last week. | |
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Foreign Service Program Moves Forward After Uproar
A prestigious program designed to increase the number of women and minorities in the ranks of the U.S. diplomatic corps is going forward after all, with the State Department saying it is allowing recipients of Rangel & Pickering fellowships to join the Foreign Service as full-fledged diplomats. As The Beat previously reported, under the program, the federal government picks up the tab for a portion of their schooling in return for their commitment to service in the Foreign Service, but Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had recently decided to delay their hiring indefinitely as part of a cost-cutting measure. Several of the fellows hired a lawyer and 31 members of Congress signed a letter asking Tillerson to reverse that decision. In emails sent to the fellows late last week, the State Department said their training to become Foreign Service officers would begin soon. More here.
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NY reporter Jummy Olabanji with husband Buzzfeed's Darren Sands enjoying their honeymoon in Hong Kong. | |  |
Conservative commentator Paris Dennard with Trump appointee Leah LaVelle at the White House on July 4th. | |
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Miami Judge Rules Florida’s New Stand-Your-Ground Law is Unconstitutional
Florida’s updated “Stand Your Ground” self-defense law is unconstitutional, a Miami judge ruled on Monday. Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Milton Hirsch ruled that lawmakers overstepped their authority in creating the law this year that forces prosecutors to disprove a defendant’s self-defense claim at a pre-trial hearing. The judge ruled that under Florida’s Constitution, that change should have been crafted by the Florida Supreme Court, not the legislature. The law, an update to the already controversial “Stand Your Ground” statute passed over a decade ago, was pushed by the politically powerful National Rifle Association and became a national issue after the shooting of Trayvon Martin. Gov. Rick Scott signed the new law into effect last month. Learn more here.
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| FOMO Thursday, July 6th, 6:30P: Join the Congressional Hispanic Staff Association, the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers in DC, and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute -- DC Alumni Chapter for a STEM policy panel on the Hill. Speakers will discuss current legislative efforts aimed at STEM Education, STEM Careers, STEM diversity and inclusiveness, and STEM innovation. Click here to RSVP.
Friday, July 7th, 12:30P: The Congressional Hispanic Staff Association holds its monthly lunch meeting at the Longworth Cafeteria.
Wednesday, July 12th - 16th: The Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. will host their 94th convention in Baltimore, MD. The convention theme is "The Urgency of Now." Click here for more information.
Thursday, July 13th, 5:30P: The Congressional Hispanic Staff Association co-hosts the Hispanic Employee Council for Foreign Affairs Agencies' (HECFAA) State Department and USAID Chapters Happy Hour. Mackey's Pub, 1306 G Street, N.W.
Tuesday, July 18th, 9A: The launch of the National Association of Diverse Consultants,
NADC is the largest association of diverse political and public affairs professionals. National Press Club, 529 14th Street, N.W. 13th floor.
Wednesday, July 19th, 6P: The Washington Government Relations Group and the Embassy of Canada host the 8th Annual Tin Cup Awards. 501 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Click here for more information.
Wednesday, July 26th - Friday, July 28th: ColorComm, Women of Color in Communications, holds its 2017 conference in Miami, FL, featuring keynote speaker Whoopi Goldberg. Click here to register.
Saturday, August 5th, 3P: The Congressional Hispanic Staff Association hosts a tailgate before the DC United v. Toronto FC game. For more info, email James Hauser at: iph86@georgetown.edu
Friday, August 18th: The deadline to apply for the Poynter Institute and the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) 2017 Leadership Academy for Diversity in Digital Media, to be held Dec. 3rd - 8th in St. Petersburg, FL. The tuition-free program trains journalists of color to work in digital media. Click here for more information and to apply.
Monday, August 28th, 9A: The 2017 Black Political Power Summit, to illustrate the possibilities, challenges and plans to capitalize on both the historic political opportunities and dire economic and civil rights challenges the Black community faces during the 2018 and 2020 political cycles. Hosted by The Collective. For more information, contact Quentin James: quentin@collectivepac.org
Thursday, September 7th - 9th: The National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ), the Native American Journalists Association, and the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) sponsor the Excellence in Journalism 2017 conference in Anaheim, CA. Click here for more details and to register.
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