Mr. Kevin Monroe
On Tuesday, July 24, 2012 Strengthening Families and Communities Coalition will launch part one of a two part ‘organizational visioning & innovation’ training workshop. SFCC Atlanta PDC part one will feature facilitator, Managing Partner and Founder of X Factor Consulting, Mr. Kevin Monroe. Mr. Monroe is a recognized leader in helping nonprofits build sustainable organizations and programs. He is a popular keynote speaker and communicator on the principles and practices that promote sustainability. His mission is to unleash the potential of leaders and maximize opportunities for them and their organizations to make the world a better place. He has worked with various non-profits, state and federal agencies such as: ACF, SAMSHA, Future Foundation and Foundation Center where he is a board member to name a few. Mr. Monroe will highlight ‘Appreciative Inquiry’ approach with the following learning objectives:
• Experience a community impact planning process based on the principles and practices of Appreciative Inquiry (AI). AI is a positive approach to community change that strengthens a coalition’s capacity to apprehend, anticipate, and heighten positive potential.
• Describe the desired future SFCC seeks to create for the communities and citizens it serves.
• Assess the current vision and mission statements of SFCC and adjust as necessary.
• Define the values that guide SFCC to fulfilling its vision and accomplishing its mission.
• Identify the unique contribution of each committee to the overall SFCC vision and mission.
• Recognize the value and contribution of each committee to accomplishing the mission and fulfilling the vision of SFCC.
• Recognize the increased potential of collective impact in SFCC communities by uniting the efforts, assets, and resources of coalition members through collaborative community efforts and actions.
SFCC Atlanta Professional Development Conference part two will feature Dr. Kelly Hill of Nexus Research Group. Dr. Hill will take our Partners through a training sequence in ‘evaluation readiness.’
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Mr. Inman allows the world to take a glimpse into the family origins, family dysfunctions, as well as, the family triumphs in his debut book, The Colors of Love. Illustrating that no Black family is exempt from some the common issues pertaining to youth violence, economic development, family health, school dropout and teen pregnancy and its impact on the number of female led households. We are given as comfort words of wisdom that have truly stood the test of time.
The Colors Of Love
Treasured Wisdom On The Family
Alan J. Inman debut book, “The Colors of Love”
Written by Alan J. Inman
Edited by Dr. Frank Kaufmann, Values in Knowledge Foundation
Foreword by Dr. Harold D. Trulear, Howard University Divinity School
The oral traditions of African people create a living matrix, an organic web of interconnections between past and present, allowing an immediacy of experience even of events long past. In “The Colors of Love“, Alan Inman explores golden nuggets of family wisdom passed down from the giants of history and from great men and women of the present day. In contemplating how these inspirations and directions have supported and illuminated his life, Alan remembers how love came into and colored his own life, through powerful family relationships. As Alan examines how the strengths and weaknesses of his own family colored his life and shaped his path, he shows us how the wisdom of the ages, the words and stories passed from generation to generation, can provide a solid foundation for a life well-lived, brilliant with all the colors of love.
Paperback and Kindle edition now available on Amazon
Paperback available at Barnes and Noble
(Note: Barnes and Noble accepts PayPal as a payment method)
PDF eBook available at Outskirts Press Publishing
On December 13, 2011, Asst. Dir. Shelton visits Strengthening Families & Communities Atlanta Coalition Meeting to meet various Partners and hear from its Committees. Accompanied by Director from the Office of Refugee Resettlement, Mr. Eskinder Negash, Mr. Shelton listened eagerly as Senator Jones and Carlis Williams welcomed and opened the Coalition meeting facilitated by Alan J. Inman (SFCC). The meeting began with a report on the Professional Development Conference illustrating the information sharing component of the SFCC Atlanta organizational pillars. Committee report highlights include:
Economic Development/Financial Literacy-
Collaboration between SFCC Atlanta Partner, Al Duncan Enterprises, Monster Worldwide and Bank of America enabled Al Duncan Enterprises to provide financial literacy training for 285 high school students in Atlanta.
Youth Violence Prevention-
SFCC Atlanta Partner initiates campaign to obtain 100,000 signatures on the Metropolitan Atlanta Violence Prevention Partnership (MAVPP) Peace Plan. The MAVPP Peace Plan is an overall plan of violence prevention initiated in six counties in the Metropolitan Atlanta area to provide a road-map for collaboration and service delivery of evidence-based and innovative violence prevention practices.
Asst. Dir. Shelton was impressed with the work of SFCC Atlanta and concluded his message with the following sentiments:
“You don’t know what you have here (SFCC Atlanta Coalition) anytime you have organizations ready to present their resources to work on common initiatives is powerful.”
happen!
focus on something it is destined to happen. This youth social engagement promotion video was designed to encourage boys and girls; children, teenagers, and young adults to get equipped with violence prevention principles, strategies and engagement techniques to create an orange sensation to make peace happen!
video in collaboration with the Metropolitan Atlanta Violence Prevention Partnership.
The Warriors for Life invites schools, churches, and youth groups to watch the video that gives 10 strategies that youth can use to become peacemakers by
planning youth violence prevention awareness promotions.
Dr. Donald Speaks of Morehouse School of Medicine, gives presentation to attendees at the July Strengthening Families and Communities Coalition monthly meeting. The ‘Promise Neighborhood’ he said is “a President Obama initiative designed to duplicate and expound on Harlem New York’s Children’s Zone.” Seven targeted schools within Atlanta include: Elementary-Herndon, Bethune, Dunbar; Agnes-Jones; Middle Schools- Brown, Kennedy and High School- Washington will be the focus of this program. Schools listed above are mapped within a 1.7 square mile radius around the Atlanta University Center which is the designated programs’ piloted territory. Students who attend the above schools and their families will be serviced in 5 critical areas: Education, Health Care,
Nutrition, Adult Housing and Fitness. The initiative is designed to encourage
collaboration among various federal, state and local agencies to bring them
together to service common populations with common grant sourcing.
For more information, please
Google “Promise Neighborhood,” www.HCZ.org
Monday, December 13, 2010
ATLANTA – Like most urban areas in
the U.S. the city of Atlanta is facing a series of interconnected challenges with its young people arising from the progressive disintegration of family structures. The city was shocked last month by the senseless stomping death of teenager Bobby Tillman at a house party. Homicide is the leading cause of death among African-American 10-24 year old males.
Georgia’s 2008 high school graduation rate was a mere 65.4% and eleven middle school students drop out every day. Georgia ranks tenth nationally in teen pregnancy rate, in a country where 30% of 12th grade girls have been pregnant at least once.
The Strengthening Families and Communities Coalition (SFCC) is taking a unique approach to tackling these issues. First, it sees the problems of youth violence, school dropouts, and teen pregnancy as interrelated and arising from growing stress on increasingly fragile family structures. Second, it understands that solutions require an integrated approach that draws together partner organizations from all across the community.
The SCFF Summit held Thursday 9 December at the Loudermilk Center in Atlanta brought together 200 activists from 45 partner organizations that included federal, state and local government, police departments, businesses, churches and faith-based groups, and community organizations.
In preparing for the summit, SCFF established four focus areas: youth violence prevention; school dropout prevention; teen pregnancy prevention and building healthy relationships; and financial literacy and economic development. The point of the fourth area is that young people with serious life goals are less likely to fall victim to problems in the first three areas, and financial literacy is necessary to manage your circumstances in order to reach your goals.
Each focus area has a committee tasked to develop a body of relevant research and then propose “best practices” that can be implemented in the Atlanta area. Each committee is also developing national policy recommendations that will be presented to a national group of state legislators.
The summit was convened by: the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Region 4, of the DHSS; the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus; and the Global Peace Festival Foundation (GPFF). State Senator Emanuel Jones, chair of the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus and of GPFF-Atlanta, welcomed participants, as did Carlis Williams, ACF regional administrator. She stressed ACF’s goal to create partnerships to develop effective programs for families and said how much she had been impressed by GPFF’s work both nationally and internationally.
Ms. Williams then moderated a Town Hall Discussion with a panel fielding questions from the participants. On the panel were: Peter Andresen, Assistant Chief of Police, Atlanta; Sen. Jones; Deborah Lum, Executive Director, Atlanta Workforce Development Agency; Catherine Maddox, Fulton County Board of Education; and Evelyn Wynn-Dixon, Mayor of Riverdale, GA.
GPFF International President Youngjun Kim, stepped back from the practical and policy discussions of the Town Hall session to offer a wider perspective. “Stress on families is leading to behavioral problems everywhere,” he said. He cited a CBS News poll on discipline problems in schools. In 1940 the most serious problems were chewing gum and running in the halls. By 1980 they were drugs, robbery, and sexual assault.
He said that standards of behavior arose from shared values but values were now called into question. Values find their roots in transcendent principles, “the common principles all religions share,” he said, and that are needed to fill a worldwide value-vacuum.
Bishop Joseph Methu, chair of the Federation of Evangelical and Indigenous Christian Churches of Kenya, who played a prominent role in the recent Global Peace Convention 2010 in Nairobi, congratulated SFCC for the character competencies program it had pioneered in the summer and which had now been launched in Kenya schools.
The summit then broke up into four working groups, one on each of the focus areas. After two hours of discussion each group reported back to the full conference on the proposals it had developed.
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