THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Vice President ________________________________________________________________________ For Immediate Release October 13, 2000
VICE PRESIDENT GORE AND TIPPER GORE
TO MODERATE FAMILY POLICY CONFERENCE
Ninth Annual Family Re-Union Conference
to Focus on Families and Seniors
Vice President Al Gore and Tipper Gore announced today that the ninth annual "Family Re-Union" will be held in Tennessee on November 20th.
The Vice President and Mrs. Gore will moderate "Family Re-Union 9: Families and Seniors: Across the Generations" at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. The yearly conference addresses major policy issues of concern to families and children.
"Every year Tipper and I look forward to talking with families and those who care for family members about issues they confront in their daily lives," said Vice President Gore, who has moderated the conference since he was a US Senator. "This year, our focus is on older Americans, whose numbers are growing rapidly and who are playing a more active role in the daily lives of families and communities than ever before," Vice President Gore continued. "Their energy and wisdom can be a powerful force for positive change in our society. At the same time, many families are struggling to care for frail elders and we must find new ways to meet their special needs."
"We know that there is tremendous power in enabling children and seniors to help each other," added Mrs. Gore. "Al and I are looking forward to learning about the wonderful creative strategies that bring the generations together."
Conference co-sponsors Andy Shookhoff, Associate Director of the Child and Family Policy Center at Vanderbilt, and Dr. Martha Farrell Erickson, Director of the Children, Youth & Family Consortium of the University of Minnesota invited the Vice President and Mrs. Gore to moderate the Family Re-Union.
"Tipper and I are very grateful to the co-sponsors for their devotion to this on-going family policy initiative," said Vice President Al Gore. "We are all committed to empowering families to shape the policies that affect their daily lives."
As it does each year, the conference will give families, community program directors, religious, medical, business, educational and law enforcement leaders and others an opportunity to share their expertise and make recommendations to local, state and national policy makers. The conference will include forum and panel sessions led by the Vice President and Mrs. Gore as well as smaller working groups on a wide array of topics. As in previous years, a film featuring interviews with children on the topic of the conference will be shown.
More than 1,000 attendees are expected at the conference in Nashville. In addition, the conference will be broadcast via satellite so that "community conversations" on the topic can be conducted across the country.
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