The Congressional Black Caucus on Women and Girls held a town hall meeting on Wednesday what they believe is a national epidemic of missing Black children.
The caucus, made up of 20 lawmakers, plans to present a report on the subject and possible solutions by the end of the year.
The caucus was founded by Reps. Yvette Clarke, Bonnie Watson Coleman, and Robin Kelly in 2016.
“We don’t want to just talk about the problems, we want to think about the solutions,” said Kelly.
According to the Black and Missing Foundation, 64,000 Black women and girls were missing in 2014. The group wants to discredit the notion that many of these cases were runaways.
“We miss so many young ladies that are being exploited because we don’t see African American girls as victims, we see them as misbehaving,” said Kisha Roberts, a juvenile probation officer for Cook County.
Members of caucus pledged to advocate for more funding, housing, and training for those doing grassroots work to solve the problem, stating that “Congress needs to provide resources so that multiple agencies– police departments, health care institutions, courts and social services– can better collaborate to find missing girls,” according to KITV.
“I tell you, we are ready, willing and able,” said Coleman. “We will be whatever kind of motivation or impetus that is needed.”
