It's not every day that you get the opportunity to air your concerns as a mother with high level officials in the White House! But that's exactly what took place Feb. 16 when over 150 members of Mocha Moms Inc. from the Bowie area and chapters around the country descended on the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, next door to the West Wing, for a town-hall style session with White House advisers and cabinet members.

Most Americans probably think that it's out of the realm of possibility for ordinary citizens to get face-time with White House officials. But in fact, in 2009 President Obama tasked the Office of Public Engagement or OPE (formerly Office of Public Liaison) with a new mission to open up its doors to regular folk and groups to take part in meetings and conferences.

In the case of Mocha Moms, the organization was introduced to the White House by the Environmental Protection Agency, which entered a partnership with the moms group last year.

“The EPA suggested to the White House that,`Hey, why don’t you invite Mocha Moms to come and visit during Black History Month,’” Mocha Moms National President Kuae Mattox said in a recent television interview with WTTG FOX 5.

And when you have the ear of the White House, you better come prepared with something compelling to say. Well, Mocha Moms leaders eloquently voiced our collective concerns as moms, pointedly asking Obama administration officials to address the very issues that we chat about in our moms groups, on the playground and in the grocery store.

To paraphrase (less eloquently), Mocha Moms sent some strong messages to the White House on the following topics.

• Education: We shouldn't have fifth-graders who can't read, and kids need adequate recess!
• Environment: We want clean streets not just in our own backyard!
• Small business: Moms are sometimes a one-woman show running the household and a business from her home.
• Health care: Families with special needs children and those in the military struggle to keep health care costs down.

After one Mocha Mom’s particularly moving and tearful plea for better education, Michael Strautmanis, White House chief of staff to the assistant to the president for intergovernmental relations and public engagement, confided to us that he himself has cried due to the passion he has for his job.

Seeking to reassure us moms, Strautmanis said, "We see you."

Mocha Moms flew in from as far as California for the three-hour "Mocha Moms White House Summit" that also featured a light-hearted Oprah-style, off-the-record chat with EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. She was a good sport, taking questions about juggling work and motherhood, how she monitors her kids' activity online, etc.

Although we were well aware that the first family and many of the White House staffers are African-American, many of us still were struck by just how "brown" the White House is. Some of the top women in the White House, several of whom updated us on various administration initiatives, looked like the Rainbow Coalition.

A highlight of the day was hearing from first lady Michelle Obama's chief of staff Tina Tchen, who regaled us with a hilarious story about being in a meeting full of men who initially ignored her and directed all their questions at her male colleague. But Tchen said she was patient as they skipped over her because in the end she had the answers that her male counterpart couldn't provide.

Actress Karyn Parsons, who played the role of Hillary Banks on the NBC sitcom Fresh Prince of Bel Air, also was on hand for the Mocha Moms-White House briefing to discuss the work of her nonprofit company Sweet Blackberry, which aims to preserve black history.

As a souvenir, we all received a copy of President Obama's proclamation honoring the contributions of black women, the White House’s theme this year for National African American History Month.

Among the other leading ladies who briefed our group: the Health and Human Services Department’s Dr. Nadine Gracia on health disparities, the Department of Education’s Tyra Mariani on the Race to the Top program, and the Environmental Protection Agency’s Stephanie Owens.

Jocelyn Frye, deputy assistant to the president and director of policy and special projects for the first lady, discussed Michelle Obama’s "Let’s Move" initiative aimed at fighting childhood obesity. Cecilia Munoz, director of the Domestic Policy Council, was upbeat about a battle over extending the payroll tax cut and unemployment insurance, two issues for which the White House claimed victory this past week.

Yes, we were in the presence of powerful women in government, but I was most proud of the women who represented our powerhouse organization so well. I found myself looking around the room several times struck by the beauty of our sisterhood, and OK, I was in love with a lot of the shoes that I saw, too, and knockout sheath dresses and suits in every hue of pink and brown—the signature colors of Mocha Moms.

Mocha Moms co-founder Cheli English-Figaro of Bowie was beaming when she stood to give brief remarks, calling our day at the White House one of the brightest moments for the organization.