This one-day conference scheduled for May 4, 2007 is a follow-up to last year’s well-received summit, The State of the African American Male in Michigan. There will be nine strands of presentations and discussions per Deborah Harmon, Director, Office of Urban Education and Educational Equity:
- Revisiting last year’s findings – African American Males
- P-12 Education
- Higher Education
- Leadership
- Community Based Programs
- Health
- Families/Parenting
- Social/Emotional Issues
- Spirituality
The primary purpose of the conference is to focus on African American females in school and society. Improving the achievement of African American females in school is a primary focus. We need to address “why are we not achieving now and identify other barriers to success,” said Harmon.
This conference is going to be more of a “response,” with similar topics presented in sessions with discussions immediate following in small groups offering dialogue between attendees and the presenters. “This forces you to look at others’ perspectives,” she said. Ideally, “people will leave with more ideas of what to do” to resolve the issues.
She discovered at last year’s summit that there were powerful activities and programs throughout communities where people were already helping youth, and when attendendees brought these successes to the table they also brought a sense of hope. Networking was another benefit to the roundtable sessions.
Events like this are necessary to give political and social attention to the problems that face African American females each day. It gives a “voice to a community that typically does not have a very loud voice.”