Minneapolis Urban League 82nd Annual Dinner April 17, 2008 at the Minneapolis Hilton
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact:
Lisa Bryant
Phone: (612) 302-3143
E-mail: lbryant@mul.org
Donna Brazile to keynote Minneapolis Urban League’s 82nd Annual Dinner
MINNEAPOLIS, April 7, 2008—To celebrate its 82nd year serving the community, the Minneapolis Urban League is pleased to announce that Donna Brazile, one of the most powerful women in modern American political life, will be the keynote speaker at its 82nd Annual Dinner and Scholarship Awards Ceremony April 17 at the Hilton Hotel in downtown Minneapolis. The social hour begins at 5:30 pm; the dinner begins at 7 pm in the ballroom.
A savvy political strategist, Brazile is the first and only African-American woman to lead a major presidential campaign. She is founder and managing director of Brazile and Associates, a political consulting and grassroots advocacy firm based in Washington, DC. She also is Chair of the Democratic National Committee’s Voting Rights Institute (VRI), an organization established in 2001 to help promote the rights of all Americans to participate in the political process.
Brazile is a recognized and frequent contributor and political commentator for CNN, a political consultant for ABC News, a contributor to NPR’s Political Corner, as well as a syndicated columnist. She’s authored two books - Cooking with Grease: Stirring the Pots in American Politics and What We Do Now.
A native of New Orleans who is firmly grounded in her humble Louisiana roots, Brazile is a fierce advocate for the [underserved] and minorities. “She’s the ideal person to address the theme Toward Excellence at our annual dinner,” said Clarence Hightower, president/CEO of the Minneapolis Urban League.
The Minneapolis Urban League marks 2007 as a year of great strides “toward excellence.” Up to 20 graduating seniors from Minneapolis-area high schools will be recognized by the Urban League forachieving excellence and be awarded scholarships ranging from $1000 to $2500 to help them pursue their post-secondary education. The scholarships are sponsored by a number of Minnesota businesses. Additionally, the Urban League’s elementary school was one of only three elementary schools in the Minneapolis Public School System to earn adequate yearly progress (AYP); the Urban League’s high school graduated a record-setting 29 seniors. Significant about the graduating seniors is that approximately half advanced to a post-secondary institution. Also significant is that more than half were young African-American males, a group of students on a whole who typically drop out of high school, never earning a high school diploma.
The honorable Sharon Sayles Belton is the mistress of ceremonies; American Idol finalist Paris Bennett will provide the evening’s entertainment.
Tickets for the gala are $80 per person, or $1000 for a reserved table. To purchase tickets or to reserve a table, please visit the Urban League’s web site at http://www.mul.org/.
For more information, please contact Sylvia Loveless Amos at (612) 302-3102, or sploveless@mul.org.
About Donna Brazile
Donna Brazile is one of the best known, most influential African American women in modern American political life. She is Chair of the Democratic National Committee’s Voting Rights Institute (VRI), an organization established in 2001 to help protect and promote the rights of all Americans to participate in the political process. Brazile is the author of Cooking with Grease:
Stirring the Pots in American Politics, a memoir about her life in the political arena, and co-author of What We Do Now, published by Melville House in 2004.
In addition to working at VRI, Brazile serves as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University. She has served as a senior lecturer at the University of Maryland, resident fellow at Harvard University’s Institute of Politics and as the Senator Wyona Lipman Chair at Rutgers University Center for American Women in Politics.
Brazile is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including Washingtonian Magazine’s 100 Most Powerful Women in Washington, D.C., Essence Magazine’s 50 Most Powerful Women in America and the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s Award for Political Achievement.
Brazile, a native of New Orleans, Louisiana earned her undergraduate degree from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge in 1981 and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Louisiana State University in May 2005.
Firmly grounded in her humble Louisiana roots, Brazile is a fierce advocate for the underserved and minorities. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Louisiana Recovery Authority, the guiding agency charged with addressing the state’s recovery after Hurricane Katrina.
She is currently the Founder and Managing Director of Brazile and Associates, a political consulting and grassroots advocacy firm based in the District of Columbia.
About the Minneapolis Urban League
The Minneapolis Urban League is a community-based, not-for-profit organization that provides human services and advocacy that will enable African Americans and other people of color to cultivate and develop their individual and group potential on a par with all other Minnesotans.
The organization provides a continuum of more than 20 programs and services, which operate from seven facilities throughout Minneapolis, and serves approximately 20,000 people each year so that individuals and families in need can have access to quality employment, housing, health care, education and social services.
For more information about the Minneapolis Urban League, visit www.mul.org or call (612) 302-3100. The Minneapolis Urban League is headquartered at the Glover-Sudduth Center, 2100 Plymouth Avenue North, Minneapolis, MN 55411.
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