This is a monumental year. The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF) is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary, and this is the 55th Annual Legislative Conference, the nation’s premier policy convening focusing on issues that are important to Black communities. Our theme for this year’s conference—Rooted, Ready, and Rising—has been the organizing mantra for the Foundation this entire year. It encompasses at once the strength of our past, our resolve in the present, and our charge for the future. As we prepare to be edified and recharged by our gathering this September, we must take a moment to recognize and reflect on the significance of this moment and the sociopolitical background against which everything sits.
Rooted.
The work of the Foundation has deep roots. When the CBCF was established fifty years ago, part of its founding purpose was clear: to serve as a think tank in support of Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) members, providing the intellectual infrastructure to back their legislative efforts with serious, community-centered research. CBCF’s Center for Policy Analysis and Research (CPAR), the division I lead, is the living expression of that original charge — a return to and reinvigoration of the idea that policy change, to be durable and just, must be grounded in both sound evidence and the lived experiences of the people it affects. CPAR sits here at the intersection of rigorous research and real-world impact, and is the policy engine of the Foundation: the body of work that translates the CBCF’s mission into data, analysis, and actionable recommendations on the issues that matter most to Black communities. Standing in the tradition of generations of scholars and policy advocates that have come before us, the evidence-based policy work we produce informs legislators, equips advocates, and gives communities the language and tools to foster positive change.
Ready.
One thing is clear: we face significant challenges in this moment—as a country, but more acutely as Black people. Over the last 18 months, Black communities have been forced to confront political, economic, and institutional upheaval that impacts not only current generations but threatens the future of those to come. Executive actions have drastically reshaped the federal government and overturned longstanding legal and political norms. Civil rights protections and policy mechanisms for ensuring diversity, equity, and inclusion have been severely weakened or outright dismantled, leading to new economic uncertainty for Black families and Black federal workers in particular. Voting rights continue to be under attack, and legal decisions threaten Black political representation in ways that haven’t been seen since Reconstruction. Aggressive immigration enforcement is tearing apart Black immigrant communities, and shifts in U.S. foreign policy have resulted in significant negative impacts for Africa, the Caribbean, and the global African diaspora. Despite such tumultuous times, we—at the Foundation and as a people—remain ready to face these challenges head on, as our ancestors have throughout history: clear-eyed, focused, determined, and resolved. And in this moment, the work of CPAR is more important than ever as CBCF seeks to enact our mission to empower the global Black community.
Rising.
The future of CBCF’s research and policy efforts are rooted in a simple but powerful conviction: that rigorous, community-centered policy work, done in genuine partnership with the people it serves, has the power to change lives. That conviction has always animated our work, and, in the years to come, it will shape an even more deliberate and expansive vision for what CPAR can be.
Central to that vision is the Foundation’s ongoing connection to the members of the Congressional Black Caucus. CBC members are on the front lines of the legislative battles that determine outcomes for Black communities — on healthcare, education, economic security, civil rights, and more — and the CBCF is uniquely positioned to equip them with the research, data, and policy insights they need to fight those battles effectively. We share these insights regularly through work like Forward Together: The Black Policy Playbook for an Equitable America, developed in partnership with the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies and with insights from a host of other organizations similarly committed to the empowerment of Black communities and other marginalized groups.
Equally important is our commitment to being one of the most trusted and accessible sources of information about issues affecting Black communities. In a moment when accurate, community-affirming information is both more necessary and more contested than ever, we recognize that credibility must be actively cultivated and continuously earned. That means producing work that does not simply speak about Black communities, but speaks to and with them — work written in plain language, designed to be genuinely engaging, and shaped by the real experiences and perspectives of Black people across the country. We continue these efforts through projects like our Amplifying Black Perspectives research program, where the insights we gather directly inform the policy research and recommendations we produce. Further, projects like our ongoing Executive Order Tracker, which provides critical insights into executive actions and their impacts on Black communities, and our recently released explainer for the Louisiana v. Callais decision, provide easily digestible and shareable information to help empower our people.
We are also looking beyond the federal level, working to build stronger connections between federal, state, and local policy for Black policymakers across the country. The issues that shape daily life for Black Americans do not begin and end in the nation’s capital city. They play out in state legislatures, city councils, and county commissions, and the policymakers working at those levels often lack access to the same depth of research and support available to their federal counterparts. The CBCF aims to help close that gap — bridging the federal and local in ways that give Black policymakers at every level the tools and knowledge to advocate more effectively for their communities.
None of this work, however, is done in isolation. Perhaps the most defining commitment of the Foundation’s future is a deepened investment in collaboration with peer organizations, advocacy groups, researchers, and community stakeholders who share our values and our sense of urgency. The challenges facing Black communities are too significant, and the political headwinds too strong, for any single organization to address alone. By fostering unity among Black voices and building a more robust ecosystem of coordinated effort, we believe the collective impact of this work can be far greater than the sum of its parts. We will continue to convene, to listen, and to build the kinds of relationships that make ambitious, durable change possible.
As we march towards the 55th Annual Legislative Conference, I am reminded that the CBCF’s strength has always been its willingness to grow — to meet the moment, adapt to new challenges, and recommit to the communities we serve. It is in this strength, not wholly of our own accord, but upon the shoulders of those who came before and hand in hand with those alongside us now, that we stand: rooted, ready, and rising—honoring a proud legacy while pressing forward with ambition, purpose, and an unshakable belief in what equitable policy can achieve.
