Report from the Equal Voice for America's Families Summer Gathering

It has been more than 280 days since we kicked off of the Equal Voice for America's Families Campaign in Atlanta, Georgia.

In that time, we convened 63 town halls across the country, bringing more than 10,000 people together to talk about the issues impacting their communities, and we compiled the issues raised by working families into a "Family Platform," to be unveiled prior to our National Convention on September 6, 2008.

In order for the Family Platform to truly represent real families, it needed to be vetted by real families.

That's why, last weekend, I joined about 50 family delegates in Chicago, Illinois for the Equal Voice for America’s Families Summer Gathering.


(Click here for more pictures from the Summer Gathering and here for a news report on the event.)

The family delegates had come to Chicago from near and far, including Los Angeles, Chicago, New Orleans, Seattle, Atlanta, the Rio Grande Valley, Oakland, Spokane and Santa Fe.

The task at hand was to review, modify (if necessary), and ratify the Family Platform.

The family delegates here demonstrated a real sense of purpose. They were passionate and talkative, determined to create a positive platform on behalf of the communities and families they represented. “We are here to represent our communities,” one woman said to me. Another woman said, “I am here to make a difference." Delegates consistently commented on a shared sense of ‘linked futures’.

As my friend Charles from Chicago said, “We’re all in this together.”

After the Platform was ratified, Luz Vega-Marquis, President and CEO of the Marguerite Casey Foundation, which created the Equal Voice campaign, ended the Gathering with a call to action.

“Take this platform and spread the word and talk about it with your family and friends, your neighbors and community members," she said. "Use this platform to mobilize your communities. This is your platform. Your Voices Have Been Heard!”

Next Stop: the September 6th Conventions in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Birmingham!

The writer, Charles Fields, is a program officer for the Equal Voice for America's Families Campaign.

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