Local leaders ask Dallas residents to join federal budget meeting

Attendees will watch from a satellite location in Dallas.

DALLAS — Local leaders are actively inviting Dallas citizens to participate in a non-partisan, national town meeting called AmericaSpeaks: Our Budget, Our Economy, to discuss the nation’s deficit. Registration for the Saturday, June 26 event is now open at USABudgetDiscussion.org.

Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson on AmericaSpeaks

Congresswoman Johnson supports the June 26 event. Find more information here.

A diverse group of local leaders have come together to endorse the effort, including Central Dallas Ministries, Community Council of Greater Dallas, Dallas Black Chamber of Commerce, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. (Southwest Dallas County Alumnae Chapter), DFW International, League of United Latin American Citizens, League of Women Voters, LULAC-SMU, Oak Cliff Chamber of Commerce, South East Dallas Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Urban League of Greater Dallas, and West Dallas Community Centers.

“Ordinary citizens will get a chance to engage one another around our country’s persistent, threatening fiscal conundrum,” said Gerald Britt, vice president of Public Policy & Community Program Development for Central Dallas Ministries. “If you participate in the June 26th national discussion, you get a seat at the table.”

AmericaSpeaks: Our Budget, Our Economy is funded by three foundations aiming to shed light on the country’s fiscal realities, including the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

Dallas is one of 19 communities across the country chosen to host a national town meeting, each of which will be linked together by satellite and the Internet for the national discussion. Participants will use keypad polling and groupware technology to register their opinions. The public discussion will produce a set of national priorities that AmericaSpeaks will present to the President and Congress, as well as the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform.

The Dallas AmericaSpeaks event will take place in Ballroom C at the Dallas Convention Center from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on June 26. Refreshments, transportation, and daycare will be made available to participants.

More information can be found at USABudgetDiscussion.org, including videos, reports on the budget and economy, blog posts, site registration, and more. The site also provides a platform to share ideas at the national and local levels through links to Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and LinkedIn.

Source: AmericaSpeaks