Plans Are Underway To Launch The First State Of The Black Parent Conference!

PHILADELPHIA - Nov. 18, 2013 - PRLog -- Many experts cite that the family is the community's smallest school and the parent is the first teacher. In reality, sometimes these community "schools" are "understaffed" and some must rely most heavily upon "substitute teachers" in order to reach and teach the children. Yet regardless of the perceived or actual resources available, society expects results. This expectation poses a challenge to many parents who feel their needs and concerns are not being addressed by politicians nor heard by the media.

"Remove the Barriers" is the call to action and mission of the first STATE OF THE BLACK PARENT CONFERENCE to be held in the "city of brotherly love", Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Sunday, July 20, 2014.

Shortly after the historic Trayvon Martin verdict and before the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, a single mother of a toddler, "Ms. Shaunes" organized a grassroots team using her Facebook account. She felt that there was an urgent need to unite more parents in order to face the crises that she was personally facing along with the several challenges she observed within her local black community.

As a struggling single parent, she felt that there was not a reliable "village" in which she could productively rear her son. "There is a huge gap and estrangement between recently arrived Africans and African descendants" says founder, "Ms. Shaunes". Her personal encounter with various cultural barriers and her strong desire to unite people drove her to try to improve the cultural exposure opportunities available for her 3 year old son. "It is time to remove these barriers!", she declared.

"It doesn't matter if people are in the city or country, up North or down South, raising a child of color in some communities requires more pull and in some others more push! There are a few important things we seem to share in common that really came out when we heard the Zimmerman verdict!"

As a result, the diverse team she assembled online and by telephone consists of volunteer parents and community leaders from all across the United States.

The goal of the first STATE OF THE BLACK PARENT conference is to help improve the current situation by providing actions and tools to inspire positive success stories. Shaunes feels that many children are growing up in communities that are filled with crime and negative statistics.

"Regardless of where they live, our children not only need to see successful peers and role models but they need to be able to meet and greet them in person. This is key so as they grow up they know that there are true success stories. These high potential children are not typically seen nor heard in today's media".

Therefore, an important feature of this unique one day conference is that it is comprised of three (3) events: Parade, Young Innovator Showcase and Panel Discussion. The morning Parade will feature children dressed in their future career or college gear. This will help the community visualize success and inspire hope in the youth as well as highlight various supporting groups, organizations and cultural schools. An afternoon Young Developer Showcase will provide more advocacy for young innovators, entrepreneurs and talents by giving them the opportunity to shine. These two activities will help expose youth to positive peers. In the evening, parents will have a forum to have relevant information shared and to have their voices and new ideas heard for future follow up activities and follow through communication.

In addition to hosting various social networking parties on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram and BBNomics, the conference panel members have been actively researching and making marketing calls to identify black owned businesses that would benefit from having increased support and new clientele. This research and promotional activity is making the conference website visitors and registrants more aware of their existence. These businesses will have the opportunity to vend at the conference and interact with the conference attendees.

The conference founder believes that having vendor support is a very important component of the day because "it is hard for hardworking people who are often working more than 40 hours a week or who may be juggling two to three jobs or even have limited transportation options, to stop, to quickly locate and to support black owned businesses. These business owners typically have smaller marketing and advertising resources than many mainstream enterprises." She goes on to add, "It is exciting to identify and showcase new businesses as we locate them!"

She reflects, "Ultimately my vision is that Alkebulan families and community organizations, inside as well as outside of Philadelphia can come together. I hope to see a caravan of chartered buses filled with children and concerned adults who are ready to learn, unite through education and economics and who desire to have a great time!"

Space is limited. All interested Alkebulan parents, families, business owners, organizations and/or vendors are invited to register early on the website www.StateoftheBlackParent.com before the low registration fees increase on Thanksgiving Day.

For more information, please visit www.StateoftheBlackParent.com.