Lisa Blunt Rochester visits Village Improvement Association

U.S. Rep Lisa Blunt Rochester visited the Village Improvement Association Dec. 2. Those attending were members of the VIA and their invited guests. Blunt Rochester's presentation was coordinated through the leadership committee of the Village Improvement Association. Her topic was Women in Leadership Positions and the Role of a Congressional Representative.

Blunt Rochester, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, represents Delaware's at-large congressional district. As described in her introduction, she is a daughter, a college graduate, a wife, a mother, a divorcee, a remarried widow, an advocate, a problem solver and a leader. In many ways she is very much like many of the other women who attended the presentation. She said these aspects of her life helped to give her the motivation to run for Congress. She was the first woman and the first African-American elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Delaware.

Although she was new to the political field, she was not new to speaking up for those who needed a voice. Blunt Rochester went to work for Tom Carper as an intern in 1989 when he served as Delaware's member of the U.S. House of Representatives and then as governor of Delaware. Later, she served as the state labor secretary, state personnel director and CEO of the Metropolitan Wilmington Urban League.

As a freshman congressional member, she has hit the ground running. She is a member of the Committee on Agriculture and is a voice for Delaware's family farms. As a member of the Committee on Education and the Workforce, she is striving to bring equal pay for equal work.

Her dynamic speech showed attendees that she is devoted to the people she represents. She is dedicated to being an advocate for the needs of Delawareans and is a supporter of congressional decisions that benefit all Americans.

As she always does, she ended her speech by sharing the silk scarf that she carries with her as an inspiration showing a Reconstruction Era voter registration card from her great-great-grandfather who was a slave. Blunt Rochester showed where she has come from and gave an indication of her bright future ahead.