2012 Plenary Sessions
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plenary sessions
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SUNDAY, OCTOBER 28 Featured Speaker: Susan L. Taylor
Editor Emerita of Essence Magazine & Founder, National Cares Mentoring Movement
Susan L. Taylor is synonymous with Essence magazine, the brand she built—as its fashion and beauty editor, as editor-in-chief and editorial director. For nearly three decades, as the driving force behind one of the most celebrated Black-owned businesses of our time, Taylor has become a legend in the magazine publishing world. And, for 27 years, she authored one of the magazine’s most popular columns, “In the Spirit.”
A much sought-after speaker, Taylor inspires hope and encourages us to reclaim our lives and create sustainable communities. She is an avid supporter of a host of organizations dedicated to moving the Black community forward, but her passion and focus today is the National Cares Mentoring Movement, a call to action, which she founded in 2006 as Essence Cares. The Cares Mentoring Movement is a massive campaign to recruit one million able adults to help secure our children who are in peril and losing ground. “Not on our watch!” Taylor says. “Our children are the mothers and fathers of our tomorrows, and their future is in our hands.” The goals of the Cares Movement are to increase high school graduation rates among African American students, end the violence in Black communities and the over-incarceration of our young. “Creating safe, top-tier schools in every underserved community in this nation is the mandate—and it’s doable,” notes Taylor. Read more ...
MONDAY, OCTOBER 29 Featured Presentation: The Many Voices of Public Housing
Since its inception in 2009, “The Many Voices of Public Housing” has been used to inform audiences about the stories behind the people who call/have called public housing home. Hear inspiring personal accounts about how they are enriching their communities and contributing to the common good, and walk away reaffirmed regarding the need for, and importance of, decent, safe and affordable housing as a national priority.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30 Featured Speaker: Ronnie Milsap
Grammy-Winning Country Legend
Ronnie Milsap ranks as the pre-eminent country soul singer of his generation. He also represents much more than any two-word definition can convey: a humble, overtly friendly fellow with a talent as vast and multi-dimensional as the American South. Milsap provided country music with one of its most important voices as the genre was moving beyond its rural roots into the mainstream of modern entertainment.
Born into dire poverty in the Appalachian town of Robbinsville, North Carolina, Milsap's mother viewed her newborn's blindness as punishment from God. Shortly after his first birthday, he was cast off and given to his grandmother to raise. At age six, he was sent to the Governor Moorehead State School for the Blind in Raleigh, and the young boy faced barbaric disciplinary treatment all through his grade school and high school years. Read more ...
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