Aziz Abdullah
Urban Media
Kwabena Antione Nixon (Poet & Author, I Will Not Die Young Campaign) Melissa Goins (President Maures Development) Dr. Penny Nixon (Chief Education Officer Universal Family of Schools) Rahim Islam (President/CEO Universal Companies) (Photo by Parkhill Media)
With a dire need for leadership and organization in the African American community, Universal Companies has begun a community conversation in conjunction with several prominent organizations such as Pastors United and Courier Communications Corp., to discuss the state of black Milwaukee.
With hopes that this will be the first of many, the event was coined as a “Town Hall Meeting.” Host Eric Von of Brain, Brawn and Body, along with Rahim Islam of Universal Companies led the conversation as many different topics were placed on the table such as crime, education, financial literacy, and community development.
The community conversation was held at the Universal Academy for the College Bound Middle School (Webster campus) this past Thursday, Oct. 23. Some of the school’s students kicked the event off in a unique fashion.
They came out, as young as 5-years-old, to announce their college of choice and graduating year, offering a vision into Milwaukee’s future and hope to the audience of the strides UACB is making to ensure that its students have goals and are prepared in making strides towards a promising future.
In a connected dialogue, the members of the audience had the opportunity to voice their opinions as well as questions and receive a response from the panelist.
Each person who opted in had a chance to share ideas, concerns, possible solutions, and next steps to what they felt would be an effective way to approach the different topics that were addressed.
Many influential Milwaukee leaders were in attendance, such as Min. Greg Lewis, of Pastors United, Dr Michael Bonds. Wanda Montgomery, Randy Crump, Bishop RJ Burt, Spencer Coggs, Kwabena Antione Nixon, and George Hinton. Along with many elected officials and more panelists, it was definitely a full house and a well-rounded dialogue.
With a goal to begin to map out how, as a community, people can come together to strengthen the state of Black Milwaukee and create a more cooperative people.
This is the beginning of many conversations so stay tuned for those to come.
Also listen to “Universally Speaking” on 860AM WNOV every Friday from 3 p.m. – 5 p.m., hosted by Rahim Islam of Universal Companies, who continues to discuss similar topics as those addressed at the “Town Hall Meeting.”