State legislators highlight plight of black Ohioans at event

COLUMBUS (AP) — Business, voting rights and other public policy issues facing black Ohioans are in the spotlight at an annual event celebrating Black History Month.

The third annual Day of Action sponsored by the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus was kicking off today at the Vern Riffe Center in Columbus. This year’s event features an interactive town hall meeting, a voting rights action meeting with clergy and civil rights leaders, an action update on black businesses and the unveiling of an economic prosperity initiative.

State Rep. Alicia Reece, a Cincinnati Democrat who chairs the organization, said the day would begin with a State of African Americans in Ohio presentation and details of the caucus’s 2015 agenda.