Each year, the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF) convenes its Annual Legislative Conference (ALC) to create space for dialogue, solutions, and empowerment around the most pressing issues facing the Black community. As we enter the 54th year of this convening, our theme — Made for This Moment: Power, Policy, & Progress — speaks not only to the urgency of the time we live in, but also to the resilience and brilliance of Black people across generations.
From the moment the founding members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) came together in 1971 to demand recognition and representation, our community has understood what it means to be “made for the moment.” We carry the legacy of leaders who turned pain into policy, struggle into strength, and barriers into bridges.
That legacy is alive today as we navigate a complex political landscape under the current administration. The Black community finds itself on the front lines of multiple policy battles: protecting voting rights in the face of ongoing suppression efforts, ensuring economic opportunity amid rising inequality, defending affirmative action and diversity initiatives that are under attack, and demanding accountability in policing and the criminal justice system. The rollbacks on DEI programs across sectors remind us that progress is never guaranteed, and our voices and advocacy are more essential than ever. At the same time, we are pressing for policies that expand health care access, close the racial wealth gap, and confront the climate crisis — issues that disproportionately impact our communities.
This moment is not unfamiliar. History reminds us that Black progress has often come in times of deep uncertainty. The Civil Rights Movement, Reconstruction, and the Harlem Renaissance — each moment was born out of our sheer will to overcome and build a better world. Today is no different. Whether we are pushing back against threats to democracy, advocating for economic mobility, or reimagining what justice looks like, Black people continue to lead and inspire change in ways that echo our ancestors’ call to keep moving forward.
For me, this year’s theme carries deep personal significance. Named after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s daughter, I am grounded in knowing, inextricably, my life links to the unfinished work of justice and equality. I grew up in Warrensville Heights, Ohio—a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio where Attorney and former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Marcia Fudge once served as mayor—a community that instilled in me the values of service and perseverance. I am a proud alumna of Case Western Reserve University, where trailblazers like the late Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones and Congressman Louis Stokes also matriculated. Today, I attend New Bethel Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., once pastored by Walter E. Fauntroy, a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus.
I also had the blessing of studying under the leadership of Dr. Barbara Williams-Skinner, former executive director of the CBC, through the Master Series for Distinguished Leaders. And in my career journey, I contributed to the YWCA, an organization where Dr. Dorothy I. Height was instrumental in shaping its racial justice work and whose influence still reverberates across movements for equity and liberation.
These legacies are not coincidences — they are reminders that I, too, am made for this moment. As Vice President of Marketing and Communications at CBCF, my work is about more than strategy and storytelling. It is about carrying forward these histories, amplifying the voices of Black leaders, and shaping narratives that affirm our collective power.
As we gather for ALC 54, let us remember that being “made for this moment” is not a slogan — it is a charge. It is a recognition that the collective power of Black people, when rooted in policy and propelled by progress, has always transformed this nation. And it will continue to do so.