What: A commUNITY Forum
When: Friday, March 13th, 2015
Where: The Faith Place Church
211 E. Linnerud Dr.
Sun Prairie, Wisconsin 53590
Time: 6:00 PM
The African American Council of Churches is an association of Christian congregations in greater Madison, Wisconsin, that are comprised predominately of African American members. The AACC represents approximately 20 congregations.
If you are like most people, you probably don’t remember where you were between approximately 6:30 PM and 7:30 PM on March 8th, 2015. But a tragedy was unfolding that will forever be etched in the history of Madison. A young African American man lost his life. The young man was Tony Robinson Jr.
Since his tragic death, a surge of questions has been raised about the circumstances that led to yet another young life lost. Madison is already struggling to address a plethora of quandaries in areas including equity issues, unemployment disparities and an unacceptable achievement gap. Relations between Law Enforcement and the African American community are being strained.
The questions that many people are asking today are: “What is being done to save the African American youth of our area?” and, “Where do we go from here?”
The AACC realizes that we must embrace the challenges facing the African Americans in Greater Madison. We also know that no single organization can address the growing issues facing our community, and that we are one of several groups in Dance County that have been working diligently to make a difference in the lives of the African Americans who call Greater Madison “home.”
In light of all these facts, the AACC is sponsoring a commUNITY forum. We are joining forces with many of the groups that are working in the trenches to save lives and to make our cities better.
On Friday night, March 13th, the leaders and representative from many of our churches, along with leaders and representatives from at least twelve organizations will collaborate in Sun Prairie to share what we are doing to help our community. So far, the following groups will be represented:
African American Council of Churches of Greater Madison (AACC)
100 Black Men of Madison
ACLU of Wisconsin
Boys and Girls Club of Madison
Justified Anger
Mentoring Positives
NAACP of Madison
The African American Parent Network of Sun Prairie
The Charles Hamilton Houston Institute
United Way of Dane County
Urban League of Greater Madison
Young, Gifted and Black Movement
We will also hold moments of remembrance for Tony Robinson Jr. led by the Sun Prairie School District and others at 7:00 PM.
In light of the national attention Madison is receiving, we would like to invite the media to attend and to capture this unprecedented show of unity in the African American community.
Our desired outcomes from this forum are the following:
Communities outside Madison will bear witness to the unprecedented level of collaboration going on in Greater Madison.
We who gather for this event will transform our individual efforts into a collective movement with one shared goal of improving the quality of life for the African Americans who call Greater Madison “home.”
Our community will be encouraged about the future because of the formation of coalitions and the commitment they demonstrate.
The AACC will continue to be an active force in the process of transforming our area by being actively engaged in solving the mammoth problems that our community is facing.
Time: 6:00 PM
Contact Person: Bishop Harold E. Rayford
Contact Phone: 608.834.8855
Media request: Any media requesting space in our staging area should call The Faith Place Church and reserve parking for your vans. Parking will be limited!
