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For the past three Thursday evenings, Grand View has been hosting a chapter of the Brown and Black forum. The meetings bring together students from a number of Des Moines area high schools and middle schools, along with college students, to discuss issues related to the state of education for minorities. Their concerns will eventually be put in front of presidential candidates at a pair of forums late this year and early next year.

According to Jennifer Ulie-Wells, an assistant professor in the education department at Grand View University, the Brown and Black Forum was founded in 1976 by Mary Campos and Wayne Ford.

“They decided that there weren’t any platforms for minorities regarding the presidential elections,” Wells said, “So they wanted to make sure that minority issues were out on the table.”

Dr. Aisha White, assistant professor of social work at Grand View, shared a brief history of this significant forum, as well as some of the benefits it has had on participants and the surrounding community.

“(The Brown & Black Forum is) the longest-running continuous presidential candidate forum specifically geared toward addressing the concerns of people of color,” White said.

Many schools, including Drake University and Des Moines Area Community College, participate in the forum, but White said Grand View is the only school she knows of that is working regularly with K-12 students, as well as college students.

The Brown & Black Forum is being held at Grand View each week on Thursday night in preparation for the Democratic Presidential debate forum that is to take place at Drake in November. Issues discussed at the Grand View meetings so far include school funding, educational requirements, undocumented immigrants and racism.

According to White, the main purpose of the Brown and Black Forum is to help students make their voices heard. Here are the predominant topics on their minds: