Celebration of Women's History Month - Postponed

In light of the current events taking place and to ensure the safety of all involved, we, at The Greater Northside Chamber of Commerce, have made the decision to postpone this event (and all other events scheduled to take place in March) to a date that has yet to be determined. (We will notify all of you as soon as a rescheduled date can be secured.)

We greatly appreciate the support from all of you who have purchased seats or tables for this event. All of you will be receiving full refunds.

Would you like to submit a question for consideration to be included in this discussion?  If you do, PLEASE CLICK HERE.

Also included in our Program are Rosalinda Martinez, Associate State Director - Outreach and Advocacy - AARP-Texas and Rebecca Reyna, Executive Director - Greater Northside Management District!

UPDATE: We are thrilled to announce that Dr. Margaret Ford Fisher, Founding President of HCC Online will be our Discussion Leader for this event!  (Please see below to learn more about Dr. Fisher and just some of what all that she has accomplished.)

About Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee

Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee is an influential and forceful voice in Washington. She is serving her eleventh term as a member of the United States House of Representatives. She represents the 18th Congressional District of Texas, centered in Houston, which is the energy capital of the world. Considered by many as the “Voice of Reason”, she is dedicated to upholding the Constitutional rights of all people.

 

She sits on three Congressional Committees — a senior member of the House Committees on the Judiciary and Homeland Security and newly appointed by the leadership as a Member of the crucial Budget Committee. She is currently the first female Chair of the Judiciary Subcommittee for Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations and in the beginning of the 116th Congress she authored, introduced and saw passage

of the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. Additionally, she introduced several bills including the Juvenile Accountability Block Grant Reauthorization and Bullying Prevention and Intervention Act, H.R. 71, the Federal Prison Bureau Nonviolent Offender Relief Act of 2015, and H.R. 4660, an Amendment to the Commerce, Justice, and Science Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2015 affirming the authority of the Attorney General to reduce prison overcrowding by developing and implementing lawful policies relating to requests for executive clemency from deserving petitioners. She is the past Ranking Member of the Homeland Security Subcommittee for Maritime and Border Security wherein she co-authored HR 1417, a bipartisan bill which has been touted as the best vehicle for accomplishing comprehensive immigration reform in the U.S. House of Representatives. Congresswoman Jackson Lee is also the past Chairwoman of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Transportation Security and Infrastructure Protection which under her leadership she passed the Transportation Security Act of 2007 which increased the funding for America’s transportation security. As Chairwoman, Congresswoman Jackson Lee supported enhanced technology, better intelligence, increased airplane cargo inspections, increased security for railroads, and implementation of the 9/11 Commission report.

 

She is the past Ranking Member of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Maritime and Border Security wherein she co-authored HR 1417, a bipartisan bill which has been touted as the best vehicle for accomplishing comprehensive immigration reform in the U.S. House of Representatives. Congresswoman Jackson Lee is also the past Chairwoman of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Transportation Security and Infrastructure Protection which under her leadership she passed the Transportation Security Act of 2007 which increased the funding for America’s transportation security. As Chairwoman, Congresswoman Jackson Lee supported enhanced technology, better intelligence, increased airplane cargo inspections, increased security for railroads, and implementation of the 9/11 Commission report.

 

She was named by ‘Congressional Quarterly’ as one of the 50 most effective Members of Congress and the ‘U.S. News and World Report’ named her as one of the 10 most influential legislators in the U.S. House of Representatives. She is a founder, member, and co-chair of the Congressional Children's Caucus and authored and introduced H.R. 83, the Bullying Prevention and Intervention Act of 2013. She is also chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Energy Braintrust, co-chair of the Justice Reform Task Force, a leadership appointed member of the International Helsinki Commission. She serves as Chief Deputy Whip for the Democratic Caucus, past Chairperson of the Texas Congressional Democratic Delegation for the 113th Congress, and past Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Board.

 

Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee earned a B.A. in Political Science from Yale University with honors in the first graduating class including females, followed by a J.D. from the University of Virginia Law School. She is married to Dr. Elwyn Lee who is also a Yale Graduate and an Administrator at the University of Houston. She has two children Jason Lee a graduate of Harvard University and Erica Lee a graduate of Duke University who is also a Member of the Harris County School Board in Houston, Texas. She is also the proud grandmother of two grandkids (twins), granddaughter Ellison Bennett Carter and grandson Roy Lee Carter, III.

 

About Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia

 

Sylvia R. Garcia was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in November 2018, becoming the first Latina ever to represent Texas 29th Congressional district.

 

Sylvia is a native of Palito Blanco, a South Texas farming community. The eighth of ten children, Congresswoman Garcia saw her parents struggle to raise her and her siblings. Congresswoman Garcia's parents taught her that with hard work and a good education she could accomplish anything. As a result of these lessons, Congresswoman Garcia dedicated herself to success at school.

 

She earned a scholarship to Texas Woman's University in Denton, where she graduated with a degree in social work and political science. Congresswoman Garcia then received her Doctor of Jurisprudence from Thurgood Marshall School of Law at Texas Southern University in Houston, working several jobs to pay for her tuition. Just as her parents believed in her future, Congresswoman Garcia believes the children of Texas can do anything. Garcia has dedicated her life to her community and to public service. As a social worker and legal aid lawyer early in her professional career, she protected our community's most vulnerable, old and young, and ensured no one was forgotten.

 

Sylvia continued her public service career by serving as Presiding Judge of the Houston Municipal System for an unprecedented five terms under two mayors. In 1998, she was elected City Controller, the second highest elected official in Houston city government and its chief financial officer. She quickly earned a reputation as the taxpayers' watchdog, fighting to protect the pocketbooks of working families and ensuring the City was transparent and accountable.

 

After two terms as Controller, Sylvia was elected to the Harris County Commissioner's Court. The first Hispanic and first woman to be elected in her own right to the office, she continued her advocacy for working families and made certain Harris County took care of its most defenseless, all while making certain Harris County led the way for new jobs and economic development.

 

Sylvia was sworn in to the Texas State Senate on March 11, 2013, representing Senate District 6. She became the seventh woman and the third Hispanic woman to serve in the upper chambers after winning a special runoff election for the seat of the late Senator Mario Gallegos.

 

In 2018, Sylvia decided to take her fight to Washington. She ran to represent her community, country and family in Congress. On Jan 3, 2019 she was inaugurated to represent Texas Congressional District 29. She became the first Hispanic member of the Houston Congressional Delegation and one of the first two Latinas to represent the State of Texas in the U.S. Congress.

 

Sylvia serves on the House Judiciary and House Financial Services Committees. During her first year in Congress, she played a critical role in the impeachment investigation against President Donald Trump. On January 15, 2020, she was selected as one of seven impeachment managers tasked with making the case to the American people and the Senate for the removal of Donald Trump as President of the United States. She is the first Hispanic and one of the first three women to ever serve as impeachment manager for a presidential impeachment trial.

 

About Dr. Margaret Ford Fisher

 

Dr. Margaret Ford Fisher is the founding president of the Houston Community College Online, the 7th HCC College that was established in February 2017. Previously, she was president of the HCC Northeast College for 20 years. She advanced the Northeast College with the acquisition of capital campaigns and annexation that led to high-tech programs and state-of-the art facilities with an enrollment at its height of 14,000 students. As founding president of the Online College, she has led her team to establish over 60 fully online degree programs, thus far, and over 70 hybrid programs with an annual enrollment that exceeds 41,129 unduplicated student enrollments.

 

Dr. Ford Fisher has served in a number of leadership positions leading to the presidency. AT HCC, she was interim Vice Chancellor of Instruction, Associate Vice Chancellor of Academics, Dean of Instruction, Division Chair of Arts & Humanities, Department Chair of English as well as English professor. She has also taught at Texas Southern University, the University of Houston, Wichita High School South, and worked as a community relations specialist for a governmental agency. For nine years, she served as assistant professor of Intercultural Communications and International Relations at Wichita State University in Wichita, Kansas.

 

Dr. Ford Fisher has been an advocate for education locally, nationally, and internationally. Locally, she is a member of the HISD advisory committee and a lifetime member of the NAACP. She is also a past Board member of the Greater Northside Chamber of Commerce, as well as the Greenspoint and Heights chambers of commerce. Nationally, she has served on the International Relations Commission of the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) and is currently a member of the Commission on Technology and Infrastructure Support. She previously served a three-year term as an elected Board member for AACC and represented the organization before the U. S. Congress Subcommittee on Energy and at International meetings of foreign ministers of education. Internationally, she has presented at the “University & College Teaching and Learning” conference in Lausanne, Switzerland and at the Oxford International Roundtable for Community College Presidents in Oxford, England. She was the designated AACC Board member to represent community colleges as keynote speaker in Windsor, Canada to address foreign ministers of education on the role of community colleges.

 

Dr. Ford Fisher has received numerous awards and honors including the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Honorable Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee at the Rice University Forum upon the publication of Ford Fisher’s latest book, Learning for Ownership. She was honored by the Honorable Rodney Ellis, former State Senator, with the designation of Senior Education Advisor along with Education Awards from the Top Ladies of Distinction, the Eldorado Social Club, L & S Academy, the Acres Homes Chamber of Commerce, and the W. E. B. DuBois Education Award from the National Alliance of Black School Educators. She received the District Award of Merit from the Sam Houston Council of Boy Scouts of America – Antares District, and the Visionary Leaders Award for 20 years of Exemplary Service presented by the Northeast College Faculty and Staff in December 2017.

 

Dr. Ford Fisher is a published author that includes over 50 titles and four books, most notably the first book on Dual Credit entitled High School Earning College Credit: A Guide to Creating Dual Credit Programs (published in 1996), and the second book entitled Learning for Ownership (published in 2012).

 

Dr. Margaret Ford Fisher received her Bachelor of Arts degree in English at Wichita State University, Master’s Degree in the Teaching of English at Wichita State University, and the Doctor of Education in Curriculum & Instruction from the University of Houston. While at Wichita State University, Dr. Ford Fisher was nominated by Rhodes Scholar and former President of Wichita State University, Dr. Emory Lindquist, to participate in the Study Abroad Program at Oxford University in the field of International Relations. Dr. Margaret Ford Fisher is married to Attorney Raymond L. Fisher, an attorney in private practice.