The African American Family Institute (AAFI) presents the AFRICAN AMERICAN FAMILY SUMMIT 2020, “FAMILY STRONG: REIMAGINING AFRICAN AMERICAN COMMUNITIES.” The Summit will be held, November 5 – 6, 2020, in Daytona Beach, FL.
According to AAFI’s Founder and Summit Organizer, Kennedy E. Jacobs Sr., Senior Pastor of Trinity City of Praise, Daytona Beach FL, “the Summit is true grass roots effort.” It grew from discussions with members of our community concerning the state of the African American family, specifically in Daytona. They identified issues that were not unlike the issues experienced by black families in the U.S. generally. The advent of COVID 19 has only exacerbated the already difficult situation for African American families in the U.S. It has resulted in loss of jobs and greater insecurity. It has highlighted the disparity in health care for African Americans, evidenced by the disparate death rate related to COVID in our communities. “There was consensus among those that I spoke with that something has to be done to address our community’s needs. The idea of the Summit was birth from and supported by individuals who saw the need and readily offered their services.”
The Summit is a first step, to begin a dialogue in our community, establish, goals and set priorities that will lead to action. It is not by accident that the Summit’s focus is on families. Stronger families translate into stronger communities. This can be especially true as it relates to communities of color where blight, underinvestment, and hopelessness have ravaged the hopes, dreams, and futures of many young African American Children.
The objective of the African American Family Summit is to trigger changes in family dynamics through education. If we have any hope to change the present conditions of our society, there must be greater efforts to understand African American culture and history. There has always been strength in African American communities. The foundation of that strength was the family unit, which has always been a broadly extended umbrella that welcomed everyone in. Paramount to our progress forward is the rebuilding of the family as foundation for community. We must address the reality of crumbling family structures in low income areas, and the lost focus on family in middle-class and upper middle-class suburbs. Family is the key to our cultural survival. Our community, nation, world will not survive, let alone thrive if we don’t provide families the tools they will need to foster family security and renewal. The African American Summit seeks to open dialogue that will lead to strategies that address the need of family first, and community.
For more information call: (386) 487 - 8763
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