Dr. Robert Case is providing introductions for the start of the conference. I just heard the sad news that my good friend Rudy Carrasco won’t be here tonight.

Herbert Lowe will be giving the introduction keynote speech.

Herbert Lowe is director of communications for the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, a nonprofit research and policy organization based in Washington, D.C. Prior to joining the foundation in May 2007, Lowe was a newspaper reporter at Newsday in New York City. He is a past president of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ), the world’s oldest and largest organization for journalists of color.

Lowe was elected on Aug. 8, 2003, to a two-year term as NABJ president, and served as chairman of its 19-member board of directors and chief spokesman during a period of unprecedented growth. The total of full, associate and student members swelled to a record 4,695 in July 2004, a 43 percent increase from a year earlier.