Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., is co-chairman of the 2015 legislative conference of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation.(Photo: J. Scott Applewhite, AP)

WASHINGTON — Criminal justice reform, restoring a key provision of the Voting Rights Act and improving policing in communities of color will top the agenda when black congressional lawmakers and others meet for an annual legislative conference next week.

“There’s a renewed assault on voting rights in America and the very troubling problems that the Black Lives Matter movement has really captured with respect to boys and men of color,’’ said Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Ala., honorary co-chairwoman of the 45th annual Congressional Black Caucus Foundation conference. “(There’s) a serious threat to those liberties.’’

The theme of the conference, to be held from Wednesday to Sunday, is “With Liberty and Justice for all.’’

The theme “really pays homage to America’s Pledge of Allegiance, our national promise of equal rights and privilege and freedom for all Americans,’’ Sewell said. The event's other honorary co-chairman is Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.

About 9,000 people are expected to attend the conference, which will include more than 70 issue forums and town halls, an awards dinner, a prayer breakfast and other events. President Obama will deliver the keynote address at Saturday’s awards dinner, which will honor veterans of the civil rights movement.

A Wednesday panel will feature mothers of unarmed black men killed by police, including Eric Garner, who died during a struggle with officers in New York. A town hall Thursday will focus on police-related concerns in communities of color.

Other issues include high rates of poverty and unemployment among African Americans. Lawmakers also will discuss the rise of hate crimes, particularly against black churches. In June, nine parishioners were shot and killed in a historic black church in Charleston, S.C., in what police say was a racially motivated attack.

“Those are wounds that have not healed, so clearly we will be addressing those as well,’’ said Sewell.

The Congressional Black Caucus is made up of 46 lawmakers, nearly all Democrats. The lawmakers, who host many of the panels, use the annual conference to focus on concerns in members’ districts.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., is pushing for action on a resolution he proposed earlier this year to remove items featuring the Confederate battle flag emblem — including the flag of his home state — from the House side of the U.S. Capitol. He launched a social media campaign Thursday to promote that effort.

Sewell is trying to drum up Republican support for her bill to restore a key provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act thrown out by the Supreme Court in 2013. On Wednesday, Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski became the first Republican to sign onto a companion bill proposed by Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont.

Democratic Rep. Cedric Richmond of Louisiana, co-chairman of the bipartisan Criminal Justice and Public Safety Caucus, is working on criminal justice reform with Republicans, including House GOP Whip Steve Scalise, also from Louisiana.

“The time has long since come to fix our badly broken criminal justice system,’’ Richmond said.

The five-day conference attracts community activists, educators, religious leaders and local lawmakers. Organizers have particularly targeted young people, turning to social media to gin up interest.

“My hope is that people will come away from this conference, not only energized about the topics that we talk about, but more importantly motivated to go back into their communities and really act upon those issues,’’ Sewell said.

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