Hillary Clinton will meet with a group of civil rights leaders in New York City on February 16, her campaign aides said on Friday.
Clinton, aides said, will meet with “some of the top leaders and civil rights organizations … to discuss the unfinished business that our country faces, including voting rights, poverty, unemployment, mass incarceration, and racial inequities.”
The news comes on the day Democratic presidential rival Bernie Sanders is expected to be endorsed by Ben Jealous, the former head of the NAACP,
Clinton’s meeting will include representatives from the National Urban League, NAACP, National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, including Marc H. Morial, president of the National Urban League; Rev. Al Sharpton, president of the National Action Network; Melanie Campbell, president of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation and Benjamin Crump, president of the National Bar Association.
The meeting is a way for Clinton to shore up support with civil rights groups ahead of contests in Nevada and South Carolina, two states with sizable black populations.
Clinton has courted civil rights organizations since her campaign launched last year, including speaking at a number of events organized by the groups.
Clinton has maintained a substantial lead over Sanders with African-American voters for months, but with contests in South Carolina and other more diverse states on the horizon, Sanders’ campaign has been trying to boost the senator’s standing with black voters.
The most recent poll in South Carolina found Clinton up by 37 percentage points.