Imani event planned
By Other
Published in News on March 21, 2004 2:01 AM
The first Imani Weekend, sponsored by Rebuilding Broken Places, will include several activities designed to build a stronger community.
"This celebration is intended to re-energize hope in our community, commemorate community struggles and contributions and provide a new hope for our children, and by faith, empower our community," said the Rev. William Barber II, chairman of the board of Rebuilding Broken Places Community Development Corp.
Rebuilding Broken Places Community Development Corp. is a faith-based nonprofit organization with a vision of raising the social, educational and economic opportunities for low-income citizens in Wayne County, its officials say.
"We serve a community that has been hit the hardest relative to unemployment, cutbacks and layoffs," said Archibald Black, Rebuilding Broken Places executive director.
The activities begin on Friday, April 30, when dinners will be sold.
That same day, starting at 10 a.m., there will be a nonprofit management and grant-writing workshop for community and faith-based organizations.
On May 1, activities will include a drum line contest with high school bands, and there will be a large array of vendors and gospel music, beginning at 8 a.m. The drum-line competition starts at noon. There will also be a workshop on "financial literacy" that morning at 8.
The events culminate with a "Wall of First" Photography Installation, which will exhibit local pioneer leaders, such as the first black valedictorians, the first blacks to integrate schools and the first black elected leaders.
The Wall of First will also exhibit statewide pioneers such as lawyer Dan Blue, the first black speaker of the N.C. House of Representative; Beverly Perdue, the first woman to be elected N.C.'s lieutenant governor; and Michael Easley, the first N.C. governor to graduate from a historically black college. The Wall of First will also include Hispanic leaders.
There will also be banquet on May 1, at 5 p.m., which will feature Dr. Johnette Cole, president of Bennett College in Greensboro and the first black to serve as the national chairman of United Way. The banquet will be held in the newly renovated Greenleaf Vision of Faith Community Center at 2105 N. William St.
For more information on the events, call 581-9178.