[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 17 (Friday, January 27, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E202-E203]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


 CONGRATULATIONS TO THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF NEGRO WOMEN, INC., AND THE 
                      NATIONAL ELDERCARE INSTITUTE

                                 ______


                        HON. BENNIE G. THOMPSON

                             of mississippi

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, January 27, 1995
  Mr. THOMPSON. Mr. Speaker, I stand before you today to congratulate 
the National Council of Negro Women, Inc. and the National Eldercare 
Institute for a historic conference which honored older women. In 
October 1991, the National Council of Negro Women, Inc., entered into a 
cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Health and Human 
Services, Administration on Aging, to establish a National Eldercare 
Institute on Older Women [NEIOW].
  [[Page E203]] The National Eldercare Institute was the brainchild of 
Dr. Dorothy Height, the president of the National Council of Negro 
Women, Inc. Dr. Height's vision was to bring issues concerning older 
women onto a national platform.
  A major goal of the NEIOW, 1 of 13 institutes nationwide, is to 
advocate for the diversity of experience and broad spectrum of needs, 
issues, and concerns of older women. Collaborative and cooperative 
relationships were established and maintained with national aging and 
women organizations, voluntary and professional organization, private 
businesses, churches, and other entities.
  These efforts resulted in the Administration on Aging and the 
National Council of Negro Women, Inc., National Eldercare Institute on 
Older Women, sponsoring the first National Conference on Older Women: 
Challenges in an Aging Society. The conference brought together over 60 
organizations and approximately 400 participants working cooperatively 
to implement the first national conference on older women.
  There were five main objectives of the conference: First, offer 
participants indepth experiential training based on three tracks i.e., 
consumer/senior advocates, service providers and education research; 
second, increase awareness of cultural diversity and needs of women; 
third, expand knowledge of multicultural issues; fourth, improve skills 
in working effectively in multicultural settings; and fifth, encourage 
networking with aging specialists and national aging and women's 
organizations.
  Mr. Speaker, I also want to salute Dr. Dorothy A. Idleburg of Hinds 
County, MS. Dr. Idleburg, currently the director, of the National 
Eldercare Institute on Older Women, is on leave of absence as associate 
professor and chairperson of the sociology department and director of 
gerontology program, Tougaloo College, Tougaloo, MS.
  As director of the National Institute on Older Women, Dr. Idleburg 
took great pride in planning and implementing the national conference 
held in Washington, DC in September 1993. The institute under the 
leadership of Dr. Idleburg, continues to serve as an advocate for 
issues affecting older women.


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