A dialogue on policy issues relevant to communities of color was held at the LBJ School in November. The event, a one-day conference that involved policy professionals and LBJ School students and alumni, also laid the groundwork for creating an association for public policy professionals of color.
Called "Fostering Diversity in Public Policy," the conference was cosponsored by two groups at the LBJ School, the Public Policy and International Affairs (PPIA) Fellows and the Public Affairs Alliance for Communities of Color (PAACC).
PPIA Fellowships, funded by the Ford Foundation and administered by the Academy of Educational Development, are awarded to people of color wishing to enter public policy careers. According to Vanessa Mitra, a PPIA fellow who helped organize the conference, the PPIA program is no longer accepting new fellows, so the Academy of Educational Development awarded grants to fellows in Austin, New York, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., to fund conferences that would highlight minority issues and help develop a PPIA alumni network.
During the conference, participants discussed economic development, education, immigration, health care, environmental racism, community-based change, and advocacy.
Gary Bledsoe, president of the Texas NAACP, and several members of the Texas Legislature participated in the event. Panelists included representatives from such organizations as People Organized in Defense of Earth and her Resources; the Texas Department of Health; the Texas office of the National Council of La Raza; the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service; the Texas Association of Community Development Corporations; the American Indian Resource and Education Coalition; the Texas Immigrant and Refugee Coalition and Political Asylum Project of Austin; the Asian American Alliance; and many others.
In addition to Mitra, there are five other PPIA Fellows at the LBJ School. They are Terrelene Gene, Bryan Hykes, Delia Perez, Richard Rodarte, and Vickie Vertiz.
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Texas NAACP Director Gary Bledsoe (with hat) is greeted by (left to right) Professor Lodis Rhodes; James Hill, UT Austin vice president for community and school relations; and Frank Fernandez, a member of the LBJ School Public Affairs Alliance for Communities of Color. Photo by María de la Luz Martínez |
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May 14, 2001
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