The Maryland Black Caucus Foundation, the nonprofit fundraising arm of the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland, has embarked on a months-long process to put together a policy proposal it’s calling the 2030 Maryland Black Agenda.
The idea, said Del. Darryl Barnes (D-Prince George’s), chairman of the Black Caucus, is to roll out the policy agenda early in the 2019 legislative session. The caucus, he said, considers it a “road map” that will be presented to the governor and result in legislation to try to achieve the members’ policy goals.
In the months ahead, the caucus will be working together and with a variety of policy experts and stakeholders to craft the document.
“We’re looking for consensus, a collective buy-in of what the black agenda means,” Barnes said.
For starters, lawmakers said, the agenda will be built around five pillars: affordable housing; criminal justice reform; education; health care; and economic justice. But Barnes suggested adding the environment to the list.
“That’s one of those things that’s typically left out of the conversation when you talk about African-American communities,” he said.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Josh Kurtz over at Maryland Matters