Some 10,000 are expected to attend next week’s National Urban League Conference here in St. Louis.
The event begins Wednesday at America’s Center and runs through Saturday.
National Urban League President and CEO Marc H. Morial will kick off the 2007 annual conference on Wednesday, July 25 with a keynote address at America’s Center in St. Louis, Mo.
The opening ceremony sponsored by Altria Group, Inc., and Sprint Nextel will take place at Cervantes Center in America’s Ballroom, starting at 6:00 p.m. It will also feature a performance by the Friendly Temple Missionary Baptist Church Choir as well as remarks by St. Louis Mayor Francis G. Slay, Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis President and CEO James H. Buford and David Jordan, a member of the National Urban League’s Incentives To Excel and Succeed (NULITES) youth initiative.
Other speakers include: 2007 Conference Chairs August A. Busch of Anheuser-Busch and Richard K. Davis of U.S. Bancorp, NUL Board of Trustees Chairman John D. Hofmeister of Shell Oil Company and Ralph Reid of Sprint Nextel Corporation.
The invocation will be delivered by the Rev. Michael Jones, pastor of Friendly Temple Missionary Baptist Church Choir, and The Girl Scout Council of St. Louis will present the national colors.
The NUL 97th annual conference, which is expected to draw over 10,000 attendees from across the nation, will take place from July 25 through July 28. The four-day event, the theme of which is “You, Your Money, Your Future,” will feature over 80 dynamic speakers and experts in four plenary sessions and 18 workshops to be held over four days. It is the premier networking, recruiting and issues conference for African-American professionals nationwide.
It’s also attracting several presidential hopefuls, primarily Democrats, including Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and John Edwards.
New York City Mayor, Michael Bloomberg is also scheduled to speak.