269 SEIU members of African descent attended Leadership Development Conferences on March 18^th & 25^th.  The National African American Caucus (NAAC) Executive Board requested that each region  host a Leadership Conference in lieu of our Annual National Conference.  Regional Conferences were held in Detroit, Los Angeles, Newark and Savannah.

Each region presented workshops on Leadership Development, Member Organizing, and the SEIU Political Agenda.  Regions also presented workshops of particular interest to their regions.

Our Central Region held the first conference on March 18^th in Detroit. Local 79 (Willie Hampton, President) was the host local. The Western region conference in Los Angeles was hosted by Local 434B (Tyrone Freeman, Executive Director).  Our historic Southern conference in Savannah was hosted by Local 1985 (Katie Foster, Executive Director).  SEIU Executive Vice President Patricia A. Ford and NAAC President Marchel Smiley attended.  Sister Katie Foster was elected new Regional President. The Eastern conference in Newark was hosted by Local 617 (John "JJ" Johnson, President) 106 members attended the Newark conference which was by far the largest of the four regions.

When asked if the regional conferences were successful, NACC President Marchel Smiley said, "The national leaders of  AFRAM are pleased with the regional participation.  Many unnamed members worked very hard to make each conference successful.  I want to thank each regional committee for their outstanding contributions and hard work.  I also want to thank Roy Bannis for his invaluable contributions. Next year we will resume our National Conference, which will be hosted in the Eastern Region.  I invite all of you to join us.