Whereas the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies (referred to in this preamble as the Joint Center ) is a national nonprofit institution that conducts research on public policy issues of special concern to Black Americans and promotes informed and effective involvement of Black people in the governmental process; Whereas, founded in 1970, the Joint Center provides independent and nonpartisan analyses through research, publication, and outreach programs; Whereas the Joint Center was the first of its kind when it was founded, serving as America’s primary Black think tank; Whereas, in 1972, Mr. Eddie Williams was recruited to lead the Joint Center, after the organization had been founded just 2 years earlier to support the hundreds of new Black elected officials who came into office in the aftermath of the Voting Rights Act of 1965; Whereas, over the next 3 decades, Mr. Williams built the Joint Center into the epicenter of Black political thought and research and hosted Black elected officials every 4 years to assemble policy priorities to share with Presidential candidates and transition teams; Whereas, under the leadership of Mr. Williams, the Joint Center helped establish several organizations of Black elected officials, built a roster of over 10,000 Black elected officials, and helped establish the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation; Whereas Mr. Williams also created Focus Magazine to tie together Black elected officials, political activists, and scholars nationwide; Whereas the Joint Center became a full-fledged think tank with Mr. Williams at the helm, commissioned and published regular surveys of Black Americans, and produced various studies, reports, books, and events; Whereas top scholars like John Hope Franklin, Mary Frances Berry, Kenneth Clark, Chris Edley, David Garrow, Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Ron Walters, and William Julius Wilson have worked with the Joint Center