the annual League of municipalities conference in Atlantic City is officially in the books and after8 years of holding the event the convention is still having first hosting a panel with leaders of the State Legislative caucuses of color to talk about how they can work together to put their priorities front and center in Trenton Raven Santana reports so if you want to go fast go alone if you want to go far go together this is what this event was about Kamal sad director of ACL New Jersey hosted the first ever panel discussion with leaders of New Jersey's legislative caucuses of color the legislative Black Caucus the legislative Latino caucus and the Asian-American and Pacific Islander legislative caucus this is the first time that leaders from New Jersey's caucuses of color got together to talk about what our Collective agenda can be going forward uh New Jersey is one of the most diverse states in the country uh by the end of this decade it will be a majority majority minority State the event that Drew more than 100 leaders from a variety of municipalities and Leadership was held at the Hard Rock in Atlantic City as part of the New Jersey League of municipalities annual conference Sinha says the purpose of his panel was to explore how communities of color can partner to build a collective agenda to reflect New Jersey's diverse population we want to make sure that um that our communities are are are seen and that uh uh the people in power that exist that aren't a part of our commun ities see us hear us and recognize that there's strength in numbers for many the fight for Equity wasn't for political reasons but more personal ones it is personal there there is a a fear um there's reports of over enforcement we've done some great work and trying to create and destigmatize how law enforcement engages especially with our young black men there's there's data on it we got a number of African-American and uh Latinos in office we have Asian Pacific Islanders women in office but we're not the speaker we're not the Senate President we're not the governor which is what you heard those positions those executive positions hold the power of setting the agenda we need to ensure that uh we look at uh issues such as Juvenile Justice Reform it hits every one of our community the disparity that exists among that population it's something that I feel very passionate about something that I have focused as a legislator for a very long period of time in addition to the panel the audience also had an opportunity to ask questions Advocates I spoke with say it's crucial that representatives of communities of color come together to prioritize issues of Justice in the interests across the state I think the existing power structures in New Jersey sort of place the needs and the priorities of different communities almost on a checklist well we've done something for for women's groups we've done something for kids we've done something for seniors we've done something from immigrants and what that tends to miss is that so many people live at intersections of all of those communities right we have one of the worst racial wealth gaps in the country black and brown people in New Jersey are facing kitchen table issues that are much worse than what we often think about so those are really fundamental here and we needed to be talking about them we need to be United in that we need to be we need to be here and we need to be really clear about the needs of the communities here in New Jersey and what we need to see from our elected officials at every level of government all of whom are basically here right now in Atlantic City Advocates and officials alike now hope that the conversation support and partnership will help get vital legislation passed for communities of color for NJ Spotlight news I'm Raven Santana