Taking a cue from a Tavis Smiley best-seller, black Montgomery County community organizations plan to gather candidates for local office Saturday to see what they can expect from their service.
The forum “Critical Issues Facing African Americans” will feature 11 candidates, five of whom are black, said Anita Neal Powell, founder of the Lincoln Park Historical Foundation and Leroy E. Neal African American Research Center.
Both organizations and the Montgomery County chapter of the NAACP are sponsoring Saturday’s forum.
The Smiley book, “The Covenant with Black America,” features a series of essays on a variety of issues facing blacks.
“I think it’s an awesome book. It’s a tool kit,” Powell said Thursday. “If you look locally, some of the issues are here in Montgomery County.”
Issues that will be highlighted during Saturday’s forum include education, homelessness, health care, affordable housing and the racial-digital divide.
The forum is scheduled from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Montgomery College’s Tacoma Park Campus, Health Sciences Center, Room 122. For information, call 301-251-2747 or visit www.aapc-md.org.
