Akron City Councilman Russ Neal is the new President-Elect of the National Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials.
Neal, who represents Ward 4 on the west side of Akron, sees this as an opportunity for cities to come together and share their ‘best practices’ with each other.
He hopes his new position will help share the concerns of Akron with a wider audience and work collaboratively to find solutions to those issues.
“On the national level it gives us a voice,” Neal said. “To be able to speak on behalf of those issues that are important to residents of Akron and the state of Ohio, with our colleagues across the country as we advocate for policies on the federal level.”
The National Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials is the largest constituency group in the National League of Cities.
The metrics and information submitted by the caucus to the league is used to better understand all aspects of issues facing cities and the full impact of proposed solutions.
Neal will serve an interim term as vice-president before taking his position as president.
In addition to Neal, Akron Ward 5 councilwoman Tara Mosley Samples has been elected to serve a two-year term on the National League of Cities Board of Directors.
