Set for Thursday, July 18 at the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Southwest Michigan’s Benton Harbor Teen Center is a forum with Michigan House candidates.
The Boys and Girls Club’s Tess Ulrey tells us they’ve invited the candidates for state House in the 38th and 37th Districts to come and talk about youth issues.
“It’s really important that we facilitate a connection between our elected leaders and youth in our community, but also their families,” Ulrey said. “While we don’t take a political position as a 501(c)(3), the voice that we have is very important, and we will always advocate for policies or legislation that support positive youth development.”
Ulrey says the candidates will be asked questions by young people who are part of Boys and Girls Club programs.
“The questions that we’re asking these candidates do center on issues surrounding youth and surrounding families around Southwest Michigan. To get to these questions, we actually surveyed all of our families that are attending Boys and Girls Clubs programming.”
On hand will be Democratic state Representative Joey Andrews and the two Republicans running in a primary to replace him. They are Kevin Whiteford and George Lucas. Also present will be state Representative Brad Paquette and Democratic opponent Angela Jones.
The forum will be open to the public and also streamed live on the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Southwest Michigan’s YouTube channel. It starts at 5:30 p.m. at the teen center on Empire Avenue and will run for about an hour.
Ulrey says the Boys and Girls Club is also planning an ice cream social with candidates for county and city races on July 23 from 4 to 5 at its youth campus. Everyone’s invited.
