Black mayors event set for BR postponed
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A three-day conference for black mayors scheduled at Southern University this month has been postponed until later in the year due to the recession.
The Gulf Coast Black Mayors Conference was set for July 12-15, with mayors from Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, Alabama and Florida.
Budget cuts at Southern University and in the mayors’ hometowns drove the decision to reschedule the conference, conference organizer James Gilmore said.
“We were hoping to get between 25 and 50 mayors,” Gilmore said. “A lot of mayors said they wanted to come … but for those mayors, it was kind of hard to justify having cuts and not doing well and ‘I’m flying to Louisiana for three days.’ ”
About 12 mayors had registered before the postponement, Gilmore said. The event was to be conducted by the Louisiana Center for Equitable Development at Southern University in conjunction with the National Conference of Black Mayors.
Gilmore said he hopes to attract more corporate sponsors to underwrite the event to defray some of the mayors’ expenses, including travel and lodging.
Organizers said the event was designed to give mayors a chance to learn about strategies for tapping into the federal stimulus program and to enhance their skills in budgeting.
The conference was also to include sessions on strategies in creating economic development opportunities for minority contractors and the benefits of affordable housing.
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