Background on the VP’s Summer Engagements Below:
Today, Vice President Kamala Harris is continuing her Summer of Engagements by returning to Indianapolis, IN for a keynote speech at Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.’s Grand Boulé. The 12:45 p.m. ET speech will be livestreamed at https://www.whitehouse.gov/live/.
During her remarks, the Vice President – a fellow Divine Nine member – will highlight how the Biden-Harris Administration has delivered historic investments that are supporting communities, advancing economic opportunity, and helping people thrive. The Vice President will also urge attendees to join her in fighting to protect fundamental freedoms – including the freedom for women to make decisions about their own bodies, the freedom to live safe from gun violence, the freedom to vote, the freedom to drink clean water and breathe clean air, and the freedom to learn America’s full history.
This summer series of engagements with key constituencies is a continuation of Vice President Harris’ consistent work to build diverse coalitions while ensuring that no community is overlooked or taken for granted. This includes nearly a dozen engagements with Divine Nine sororities and fraternities since taking office. Today’s event in Indiana – the 24th state that the Vice President has visited this year – follows her keynote speech at Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.’s 71st Boulé in Dallas, TX, and comes on the heels of her more than 70 trips since the start of 2024. The 12:45 p.m. ET speech will be livestreamed at WhiteHouse.gov/Live
Additional background on the Vice President’s Summer of Engagements:
The Vice President’s Summer of Engagements includes a series of high-profile events where she is engaging with thousands of Americans from across the country. These events are a continuation of her intentional efforts to build coalitions while speaking directly with Black Americans, women, young leaders, and community leaders from throughout the nation.
The Vice President began 2024 with a speech in Myrtle Beach at the annual retreat of the Women’s Missionary Society of the 7th Episcopal District of the AME Church, a voting rights roundtable with civil rights leaders in Atlanta, a speech in Columbia at the NAACP South Carolina State Conference’s MLK Day event, a clean water announcement in Pittsburgh, an economic opportunity announcement at Black Wall Street in Durham, a speech in Selma about the fight for fundamental freedoms, and a moderated conversation during the 30th ESSENCE Festival of Culture in New Orleans earlier this month.
While in Dallas for Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.’s 71st Boulé, Vice President Harris also announced the creation of national health and safety standards for maternal care, which builds on her work to address the maternal health crisis in the two years since she introduced a whole-of-government approach to combating maternal mortality and morbidity.
Additional background on the Vice President’s leadership in the fight for fundamental freedoms:
Vice President Harris has consistently led the Administration’s efforts to mobilize tens of thousands of people in the fight for fundamental freedoms.
- Earlier this year, she launched a nationwide Fight for Reproductive Freedoms tour that took her to WI, GA, MI, AZ, MN, and CA. Most recently, she was in Tucson, Jacksonville,Philadelphia, College Park, Phoenix, and Kalamazoo for reproductive freedom events.
- Additionally, the Vice President recently held amoderated conversation in Atlanta with Quavo that was focused on the freedom to live safe from gun violence after events on gun violence prevention in Parkland, Las Vegas, andCharlotte.
- Last year, she also launched a Fight for Our Freedoms college tour where she mobilized more than 15,000 students while making nine stops at HBCUs, Hispanic-Serving Institutions, community college, apprenticeship programs, and state schools.
Additional background on the Vice President’s Economic Opportunity Tour:
In April, the Vice President launched a nationwide Economic Opportunity Tour that has taken her to Atlanta, Detroit, Milwaukee, and Charlotte for convenings that highlight how the Biden-Harris Administration has delivered historic investments that have supported communities, put money in people’s pockets, and built wealth. She recently carried this message to thousands at the SEIU Quadrennial Convention and the Constitutional Convention of UNITE HERE, the largest hospitality union. The investments include:
- Making unprecedented investments in small businesses and achieving the fastest creation of Black-owned small businesses in more than 30 years with the share of Black business owners more than doubling
- Creating a record number of jobs including more than 2.6 million jobs for Black workers while achieving the lowest Black unemployment rate on record and the lowest gap between Black and white unemployment
- Increasing the wealth of American families with Black wealth up by 60% relative to before the COVID-19 pandemic, representing the largest increase on record
- Increasing access to capital for underserved communities while working to achieve a goal of increasing the share of federal contracting dollars to small disadvantaged businesses by 50% by 2025, translating to an additional $100 billion to minority-owned businesses
- Forgiving more student loan debt than any administration in history and boosting investments in education, including a record $16 billion investment in HBCUs
- Erasing over $500 million in medical debt to date with support from the American Rescue Plan, capping the cost of insulin for seniors, and expanding access to health care with tax credits that led to a 49% increase in Black Americans who are enrolled in the Affordable Care Act
- The Vice President also announced a new proposal to prohibit medical bills from being included on credit reports. This would remove medical debt from the credit reports of more than 15 million Americans
- Making housing more affordable and lowering child care costs by securing a 30% increase in funding for the Child Care Development Block Grant
- This includes announcing $40 million in awards to more than 165 housing counseling agencies to help expand housing counseling services across the country, and announcing $85 million in housing funds to lower housing costs by reducing barriers to building more homes
- Announcing the grantees for $20B from the EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to support community banks and access to capital for clean energy projects particularly in low-income and disadvantaged communities.
- Investing in infrastructure – roads, bridges, public transit, waterways, and more – including $4 billion to reconnect underserved communities that were previously cut off from economic opportunities
- Announcing a final SBA rule that will make Americans with a criminal record who have served their time eligible for SBA loan programs that help individuals start and run small businesses.
