Karen Weaver, who was elected mayor of Flint in 2015 during the height of the city’s international lead water scandal, will serve as one of the keynote speakers at this year’s conference on economic freedom organized and hosted by The PuLSE Institute, Detroit’s national and independent non-partisan anti-poverty think tank.
The poverty-themed national conference will be held virtually this year on Wednesday, September 25, from 8:30 a.m.-12:00 pm and will feature solution-oriented keynote presentations and cutting-edge about how to address the salient issues of poverty and inequality in urban America including Detroit, one of the nation’s largest Black cities, and one of the most impoverished in the country.
Registration for the conference is now open at eventbrite (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/gary-torgow-chairman-of-huntington-bank-to-keynote-pulse-conference-sep-25-tickets-1007646296197?aff=oddtdtcreator).
The September gathering is the institute’s annual racial and economic justice conference for policy makers, scholars, industry captains and community advocates working towards creating an ethical economy that guarantees equality for all.
The theme for the 2024 conference “Economic Security and Justice for All: An Inclusive Mandate for Closing America’s Racial Wealth Gap,” will examine the state of the economy including the nation’s housing crisis, the state of small business as well as discuss how corporate America must respond to the needs of underserved communities and the need to push for meaningful racial diversity and inclusion in business.
Weaver, an African American who was the city’s first female mayor will discuss the recovery of Flint which is still lagging behind and the need to urgently address the challenges of inequality in a city that has been ravaged by the water crisis.
“About 10 years ago, Flint became the poster child for the importance of access to clean and affordable water. Not only that, we were the face of the consequences of the negative impact that an unlawful government takeover produces, and what environmental injustice looks like,” Weaver said in a statement. “ In 2015, I said people should pay attention to Flint because we needed to stay in the national spotlight to put pressure on the demand for swift recovery for the victims of the lead water crisis. Because if this is done to us in the light, more Flints will happen. That is why The PuLSE Institute conference is important to highlight the difficult road ahead for Flint but also what needs to happen to achieve economic security for one of the most impoverished cities in the nation.”
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