Washington, DC, March 24, 2004—In over 300 meetings Urban League leadership met with Speaker of the House Rep. J. Dennis Hastert, House Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi and other congressional leadership and dialogued about the urban agenda and other important issues facing the communities we serve across the nation.

The conference was designed to initiate and enhance an ongoing dialogue with members of Congress and Federal officials, and to ensure that the Urban League movement and the issues of our constituents remain, ?in sight, in mind, and in influence.? As advocates for African Americans and other minorities the League remains committed to articulating our movement?s concerns about jobs, education and civil rights to our nation?s top leaders.

Highlights of the Conference included: the release of the State of Black America 2004 report: The Complexity of Black Progress; the Politics and the 2004 Elections Forum moderated by CNN White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux, with panelists columnist and political pundit Armstrong Williams, former Gore campaign manager and founder of the National Political Congress of Black Women, Donna Brazile, author and economist Julianne Malveaux and journalist and senior correspondent for NPR?s Morning Edition, Juan Williams.

Other highlights included the following: the House Leadership Briefings and Constituency Meetings with House Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi, and Speaker of the House, Rep. J. Dennis Hastert; the Civil Rights & Civil Liberties Forum with Rep. Robert C. ?Bobby Scott; Senator Joseph R. Biden, Jr.; Rep. John Conyers; Laura Murphy, director of the A.C.L.U?s Washington, D.C. office; Wade Henderson, executive director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR); and Hilary Shelton, director of the Washington, D.C. office of the NAACP; the Congressional Leadership Awards Reception; the Salute to the Congressional Black Caucus breakfast, moderated by the Honorable Alexis Herman, the former U.S. Secretary of Labor; the Senate Democratic Issues Forum with Senator Tom Daschle and other Democratic leadership; the Senate Republican Forum with Senator Bill Frist and Republican leadership; the NUL Celebration Luncheon with Hon. Rodney E. Slater, former U.S. Secretary of Transportation and the Executive Branching Briefings with the departments of Labor, Education, Health and Human Services, Justice and Housing and Urban Development.

Sponsored by Altria Group, Inc., Verizon, Waste Management and Harrah?s Entertainment, Inc., the NUL?s Legislative Policy Conference will be an annual event.