"Generations" - A Conference & Gathering for Black Bostonians in Roxbury, MA

"Generations" Save the Dates - January 2023 - Join Greatest MINDS for "Generations" - A Conference & Gathering for Black Bostonians of All Ages. We have invited 50 Black high school students, 50 college students, 50 young professionals, 50 parents, and 50 Black elders for a discussion on their educational experiences collectively from kindergarten to college in Boston for Black Bostonians and ways we can help the next generation receive outstanding educational opportunities and achieve economic success and wealth.  While other organizations are well-meaning, our work is centered on the Black Boston-born and raised experience. We will get at the root causes of the indigenous Black Bostonian's experiences who have experienced racism and intergenerational poverty.  Save the Dates - Thursday, January 19th - Saturday, January 21st, 2023 at Various Sites in Nubian Square, Roxbury, MA (Hibernian Hall, Reevx Labs, Soleil Restaurant, Bolling Building, Boston Public Library - Roxbury, etc.) - RSVP here and Free Admission: https://lnkd.in/ewqsWVdE

Our conference will have three tracks:

EDUCATION ECONOMICS & ENTREPRENEURSHIP  EXPERIENCES in health, education, workforce, and economics

While other organizations are well-meaning, our work is centered on the Black Boston-born and raised experience. We will get at the root causes of the indigenous Black Bostonian's experiences who have experienced racism and intergenerational poverty.

This will be a conference/convening over three days exploring the unique educational experiences of Black Bostonians through the years. We will explore the history of busing and educational opportunities with middle and high school students as well as share the experiences of older Black Bostonians as well to pass down the history and the importance of public education in this city. We learned the lessons from our city's historical activists and leaders: Bruce Bolling, Mel King, Joe Warren, Kenneth Guscott, Charles Ogletree, Doris Bunte, Jean McGuire, Mimi Jones, Ellen Jackson, Melnea Cass, Barry Gaither, Shirley Carrington, Ralph Cooper, Askia Toure, Byron Rushing, Sarah Ann Shaw, Julio Henriques, Muriel Snowden, Chuck Turner, Hubie Jones, Anna Faith Jones, Juanita Wade, and Sadiki Kambon and many others as they hit retirement age. Our agenda is to develop a new generation and cadre of leadership to emerge to take their place.

It is especially important for our Black and Brown communities to get together now as we face new challenges in Greater Boston. It requires that Black parents, alumni, middle school and high school students, teachers, and residents work together to bring about change in the Greater Boston area. We plan to host these convenings over three days with a majority of the events based in Nubian Square - Roxbury, MA - the hub of the black community. Our community convenings and programs have been very successful, and we bring about more civic change in communities. Many of our convenings have community leaders, residents, politicians, youth, and parents in the forefront discussing civic issues on education, voting, health, urban transportation, etc., and how to make it in Boston as a BIPOC person in Boston with limited resources (ie. $8 net worth). Our convenings have been well received by all parties.  All of our staff and mentors are born and raised Black Bostonians with a sincere interest in making the city respond swiftly and holistically to the needs of their families and the communities they grew up in.  RSVP here on Eventbrite for the Generations Conference: https://lnkd.in/ewqsWVdE

In June 2008, Greatest MINDS Conference and Inter-Generational Dialogues were held in Hibernian Hall in Dudley Square - Roxbury, MA. Charlotte Golar Ritchie presented me with a citation from Governor of Massachusetts Deval Patrick at the conference for my years of community work, youth work, and convening.  Let's continue the discussion on Race, Racism, and Economic Mobility in Boston. Uplift.

https://www.facebook.com/chip.greenidge/videos/10104990427604871

------------------------------------

Greatest MINDS is a BIPOC-led networking organization of educators, activists, entrepreneurs, young professionals, artists, and community members. Our mission is to provide mentorship and guidance to citizens and first-generation college students seeking to become active and successful contributors to civil society by giving them access to college, career, and community networks. We achieve this by promoting intergenerational dialogue through developing programs, forums, initiatives, campaigns, and conferences that highlight the issues of race, socio-economic class, and gender identity in urban cities and on college campuses. Through our collaborative process, we work towards solving these social justice issues by developing a more democratic and inclusive economy. Over the years, our organization has worked tirelessly in promoting the voice of Black Bostonians and has held youth, civic, and educational programming for residents of Roxbury, Dorchester, and Mattapan. We want our impact to be felt all across the city of Boston through our convenings and organizing efforts.

Greatest MINDS has a vision for the 21st century where skilled, educated Black Bostonian professionals will take leadership in their communities and careers by supporting high school students on their road to college and beyond.  Our vision is based on the rich African American traditions of giving, creating community, and striving for an education. Our goal is the very health of our urban communities. We want to provide role models as mentors for Black youth: educated, energetic African-Americans who are working to make their communities better places to live. We must create and build an image of a hopeful future for our youth by instilling a strong sense of community and self, encouraging enrollment in college, supporting students to graduate from college, offering ways for college alumni to engage in their communities, and building bridges between Black communities and community institutions.

Boston needs our vision: where every Black youth can be all he or she wants to be; where our growing group of Black professionals will reach back to their urban communities and support a new generation; where self-help and entrepreneurial initiatives created and run by the very people who live in urban communities become the rule, not the exception.

Greatest MINDS is a non-profit organization that works with high school students, college students, and young professionals to become the next generation of civic leaders through mentoring, volunteering, and participating. All of our programs are led by Black Bostonians with experience in community building and relationship building directly with the community. We are all "proximate" leaders.  "Being a proximate leader is about much more than being exposed to or studying a group of people and its struggles to overcome adversity. It’s about actually being a part of that group or being meaningfully guided by that group’s input, ideas, agendas, and assets."

FOR MORE INFORMATION, Please Contact:

George (Chip) Greenidge, Jr.

Founder & Director, Greatest MINDS Boston

857.312.6340 -  Cell Phone

george.greenidge@gmail.com - Email

www.gminds.org - Website