WASHINGTON, D.C. - Representative Joe Baca (D-Rialto) will discuss the critical role that parents and families play in teaching educationally and economically disadvantaged children the importance of higher education this Saturday, March 8, 2003 at the University of California, Riverside (UCR). Baca has been scheduled to deliver the keynote address at the University’s Early Academic Outreach Program (EAOP) 12th Annual Parent Conference entitled “Education: A Family Affair” at 9:20 a.m.

Baca has been a long time supporter of increasing access to education for underrepresented and underserved children in the Inland Empire and across America. He has supported full funding of the No Child Left Behind Act, increased funding for remedial education, improving bilingual education programs, and maintaining vital assistance programs such as the Perkins Loan Program. Most recently, Baca introduced legislation aimed at promoting nursing as a career to segments of the population currently underrepresented in the profession by offering scholarships to minorities and men who chose to attend nursing school.

The goal of the EAOP Annual Conference is to convey to middle and high school students and their parents the importance of early preperation for college, the role that parents can play, and the impacts on children and society when they do not prepare for higher education.

“Parents have the responsibility to push and teach their children to attend college, trade school, or some other form of higher education beyond grade school,” Baca said. “Our economy and our future depend on our children.”

“Education is the key to achieving peace and prosperity in our community, in our nation, and across our troubled globe. Perhaps more than ever, they need to know that their families are there for them to guide them along as they begin to face the challenges that lay ahead for them.”

Who: Congressman Joe Baca, The Early Academic Outreach Program (EAOP) at the University of California, Riverside.

What: 12th Annual Parent Conference: “Education: A Family Affair”

When: Saturday, March 8, 2003 at 9:20 a.m.

Where: University of California, Riverside Gymnasium

Contact: Jesse Valenzuela in Congressman Baca’s office at (909) 885-2222

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