Welcome back students, politicians and all that have a sincere interest in anything that affects young, Black constituents in the greater New York City region: The political year has returned.

And, as we return to our desks from our long summer stints in traveling and conversing with like minds across the country, one important event has arrived for our Black, elected officials to attend.

It’s the Annual Legislative Conference sponsored by the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation in Washington D.C. And, this year’s meeting is critical in that we are living in the United States in the age of President Obama – our first Black commander in chief.

However, this year’s confab should be an opportune time for Black elected officials here to begin pushing their agendas. And, with that said, having experienced the political year we’ve had, New York officials should stand out amongst the other states with a list of problems and solutions as long as the Hudson.

Let’s take a quick look at the top three items on that list we think should be discussed from our leaders in D.C.

First is fixing transit.

Earlier this year, MTA officials hit the road for Albany pleading and hoping the state Legislature would agree to a bailout, including putting tolls on the city's now-free bridges.

The impasse over MTA left thousands wondering if toll fares would increase. Without the agreed MTA deal that was reached, double-digit fare hikes and deep service cuts were almost certain this summer. Luckily that didn’t happen.

In the case of transit we need better leadership and planning coming from Albany in allocating the proper funds for MTA to run and operate smoothly. Stabilizing MTA’s budget while offering quality service to commuters should be top priority. Without legitimate plans for the future of transit, New Yorkers are almost certain to pay higher fares in the future.

Next on the priority list should be the upcoming census count.

Congresswoman Yvette Clarke representing Brooklyn introduced the Caribbean Count Bill or in political terms H.R. 2071 earlier this year that would be a historic bill calling for Caribbean nationals to have their own origins check box on the census form.

Blacks here have long been undercounted in the census for two reasons: lack of participation from the group and a poor identification process from the Census.

Clarke’s bill calls for all questionnaires used in the taking of any decennial census of the U.S. population, to include a checkbox or other similar option be included so that respondents may indicate Caribbean extraction or descent.

Now, compared to other ethnicities and nationalities in the United States, the identification of “Black” is not entirely broken down. For instance, there are Cuban Americans, who consider themselves to be Afro-Cuban – an undeniable branch of being Black. The problem here is this formulation counts Black Hispanics as being Hispanic. Also, these persons are swayed to fill multiracial classifications rather than the one that’s more succinct to their true identity.

African immigrants, who hail from many countries on their home continent, are also a branch of Black, but unlike their Hispanic peers, which have their nationalities listed i.e. Mexican, Honduran, Chilean – the nationalities of our African brothers and sisters are not listed and or represented as well leaving many unwilling to fill out reports.

Aside from the census being better detailed and descriptive from this movement, Clarke’s bill is also important, because it draws attention to the significance of the 2010 U.S. Census to the Caribbean community. Census Day is less than a year away, and it’s important every household participate in order to ensure an accurate count.

Numbers and data accumulated by the report are later used not only to determine voter representation, but also to help equitably distribute federal funding from a wide range of government programs.

The third concern our officials should take on in D.C. is the need to improve the New York police department’s relationship with Black men.

The case of Omar Edwards – the young, Black police officer, who was chasing a theft suspect in East Harlem later to be fatally shot by another officer after he failed to drop his weapon when ordered – raised yet again the growing concern of racial profiling and police abuse by the local force.

The tragic death of Edwards is only the latest in high-profile cases involving Black men being targets for NYPD

Amadou Diallo in 1999. Diallo was a street trader from Guinea and was unmercifully shot 19 times when white NYPD officers mistook his wallet for a gun and fired 41 bullets.

And, Patrick Dorismond in 2000. Dorismond was an unarmed 26-year-old Haitian security guard, who was killed by NYPD officer Anthony Vasquez in a bungled drugs sting. Dorismond reacted angrily when undercover detective asked him for crack cocaine and was shot in struggle.

Aggressive communication with senior police officers along with continued race-sensitivity training needs to be pushed until instances such as Edwards, Diallo and Dorismond come to an end.

Now, aside from the expected partying and reunions of sorts, the Black Caucus is and must continue to be the venue to come up with solutions for these issues that are hurting our community.

Mass transit, the census count and improving relations with the local police force are only a handful of items that are in need of answers for the Black community here. But, if our officials waste time in not talking about these points then the time spent in D.C. will be a waste.

Here’s to hopes of them crafting ideas and solutions in the nation’s capital to bring back home to ease what’s ailing their constituents.