Washington, DC (Akiit.com) - Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority’s International President Barbara A. McKinzie, donated $1 million to Howard University for the purpose of preserving the Sorority’s legacy. The contribution represented the climax and culminating activity of four days of celebration that commemorated the 100th anniversary of the founding of AKA’s first chapter, Alpha chapter. The chapter started Jan. 15, 1908, on the campus of Howard University in Washington, D.C. The culminating activity was held January 15, 2008.

The $1 million gift will be used to preserve the heritage of the Sorority through a Founders’ endowed scholarship in the name of Alpha Kappa Alpha’s first national president, Nellie Quander. It will also be used to maintain the extensive collection of sorority documents already housed at Moorland-Spingarn Research Center on Howard University’s campus.

In an address before thousands of members who turned out for the birthday celebration, McKinzie said the gift would be a first step toward a larger contribution that will be made to the University by the end of the year. In presenting the historic check to the University, McKinzie challenged members to safeguard the history of the sorority.

The sorority also donated a digitized version of the Ivy Leaf, its official magazine, to the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center. The digital archive contains issues published from 1921 through late 2007.

The donation capped an emotional day that included a blessing of the Pilgrimage at Andrew Rankin Memorial Chapel. The ceremony began when International President Barbara A. McKinzie proceeded to the lectern and said:

“Happy Birthday Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority.”

With those words, the final day of celebration, reflection and tributes began.
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(Akiit.com) On February 23, 2008 Afropresencia will host the first conference on “Healthcare in the Black Americas” at the Graduate Center, City University of New York, 365 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York from 10-6:30 p.m. Topics will include, but are not limited to, the impact of health policy; mental health issues; issues of health care on the elderly; and the impact of HIV/AIDS and its affects on Blacks throughout the Americas.

Afropresencia is an organization run by journalist Karen Juanita Carrillo and public health educator Dr. Lisa J. Scott. The primary goal of the organization is to keep the general public up to date on Black community activism throughout the Americas.

Anticipated is an audience of 150 attendees in the areas of medicine, health advocacy, and education. Call for Papers are scheduled from 10-3:30. Keynote addresses are scheduled from 5-6:30 p.m.

More information about the conference can be found at www.afropresencia.com.

Lisa J. Scott, Ph.D.
City University of New York, Queens
65-30 Kissena Boulevard
Flushing, New York 11367
(718) 997-5308 (work)
(718) 488-8882 (home office)

(Akiit.com) PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 16, 2008 — The d’Zert Club and the African Genesis Institute are sponsoring a free, all expense paid trip to Egypt, North Africa for 1,000 students nationwide ages 7-14 and 500 adult group leaders. These travelers will participate in the Annual Teen Summit 1000.

The d’Zert Club is a Philadelphia-based, non-profit travel organization specializing in coordinating national and international educational field trips for African Americans. It was founded in 1997 by the husband and wife team of Ali and Helen Salahuddin.

Families and individuals interested in earning a free trip to the Motherland are invited to attend the following information and enrollment meetings:

9:00 AM, Saturday, Jan. 19 at the Wisomm Cultural Center, 15 James Street, Newark, NJ

1:00 PM, Saturday, Jan. 19 at Windows over Harlem, State Bldg, 125th & Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard, Harlem

1:00 PM, Sunday, Jan. 20 at the Bedford Stuyvesant Center, 1340 Fulton Street, Brooklyn

7:00 pm, Friday, Jan. 25 at the Crowne Plaza, 777 St. Claire, Cleveland

1:00 PM, Saturday, Jan. 26 at the Akwaaba Community Center, 8045 Second Avenue, Detroit

1:00 PM, Sunday, Jan. 27 at the African American Museum in Philadelphia, 7th & Arch Streets

The African Genesis Institute is a proactive, 3 semester, educational and cultural program for African American youth ages 7-14, focused on developing an understanding and awareness of the African experience in America. Over a 27-month period, students are exposed to their rich and extraordinary ancient African history through classes, assignments and field trips. At the end of the program, the students sojourn to Egypt for the Teen Summit 1000 where they examine the land of their ancestors and share their culture with African youth. The program is conducted in 12 cities nationwide. The trip to Egypt is sponsored by the d’Zert Club and is absolutely free to the students as the graduation reward for those who complete the program.

For more information, visit us online at http://www.dzertclub.com, call toll free 1-888-257-5991.

CONTACT: Marilyn Kai Jewett
Tele# 215/379-1163

(Akiit.com) Susan L. Taylor, the longtime editor and driving force behind Essence, the magazine aimed at black women, is leaving the publication after 37 years to devote more time to an organization she founded to help troubled children.

Ms. Taylor, 61, joined Essence in 1970, the year it was first published, as a freelance fashion and beauty editor after founding her own company, Nequai Cosmetics. She became editor in chief in 1981, a post she held until 2000, when she was promoted to publications director.

She has most recently been the magazine’s editorial director and author of its In the Spirit column, which dispenses inspirational words about things like finance and prayer.

Although Essence, which is owned by the Time Inc. division of Time Warner, did not make an official announcement, Ms. Taylor chose to send out word of the change via e-mail.

“I am taking a break in South Africa and will have little access to e-mail,” she wrote in an automated out-of-office message this month. “When I come back to the states in mid-January, I will be leaving Essence to do what at this juncture in my life has become a larger work for me — building the National Cares Mentoring Movement, which I founded as Essence Cares and today is my deepest passion.”

Essence Cares encourages black adults to serve as mentors for at-risk young people. According to the program’s Web site, “Essence Cares is a call to action for every able black adult to take under wing a vulnerable young person, which costs nothing.”

While Ms. Taylor rose to the top of the magazine world — in 1999 she became the first black woman to receive the Henry Johnson Fisher Award from the Magazine Publishers of America, one of the industry’s top honors — she used her position to highlight civic causes. As an advocate for children and improving education, she once calling failing schools “the pipelines to prison.”
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(Akiit.com) Washington DC — Determined to stop the entertainment industry from portraying negative images of black men and women, the “Enough is Enough!” Campaign will hold its first rally and demonstration at the Washington DC residence of Debra L. Lee, Chairman and CEO, Black Entertainment Television Networks.

The demonstration will take place this Saturday, September 15th, at 1:00 p.m.

A press conference will be held at the site of the rally, 2800 McGill Terrace, NW, Washington, DC at 2:00 p.m.

Community leaders are fed up with derogatory media images of black men and women. People of conscience and concern are encouraged to come out in support of this effort.

The global marketing of negative images and stereotypes has created an environment in which portrayals of black men as “pimps, players, gangsters, thugs, drug dealers, etc…,” and black women as “strippers, whores, and objects for sexual exploitation” are becoming mainstream, acceptable images in the American popular imagination.
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