|
ATLANTA CARES COMMENCES
QUEST FOR MENTORS
On Saturday, December 2,
a Coalition of 60+ Organizations
Will Launch a Full-Scale
Call to Action to Secure the Future of Atlanta’s Youth
ATLANTA, November 28,
2006 – Leaders
from the Metro Atlanta community have joined forces with more than
60 youth service organizations to develop a mentor recruitment drive
and training program designed to bolster adult support for the
city’s underserved youth. The program aims to identify, encourage
and train every qualified adult in the City of Atlanta to provide
meaningful contributions to the lives of Atlanta’s children in need
of support and guidance.
The ATLANTA CARES effort
will serve as the pilot for ESSENCE CARES, a national mentoring
initiative organized by Susan L. Taylor, Editorial Director
of ESSENCE Magazine. The ESSENCE CARES mentoring initiative is
co-chaired by Dr. Gladys Gary Vaughn, Immediate Past
President of The Links, Incorporated, and Thomas W. Dortch,
Chairman Emeritus of 100 Black Men of America, Inc. ATLANTA CARES
will become the model replicated in every community throughout the
nation where children are in need of support and guidance.
The program will kick off
with an inaugural rally and mentor drive on Saturday, December 2,
at Morehouse College’s Sale Hall from 2 p.m. until 5 p.m.,
hosted by BET’s Jeff Johnson and Emmanuel Lewis Actor.
Susan L. Taylor and Thomas W. Dortch will address
participants at the rally; and Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin;
Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, Author; Bishop Eddie Long; 100
Black Men of America Chairman Albert E. Dotson, Jr., Esq.; Janet
Baker Walker, Esq., Executive Director of The Links,
Incorporated; and Reverend Gerald Durley are also expected to
provide encouragement. Television Judge Glenda Hatchett will
offer the keynote address. Every able bodied African-American adult
in the city of Atlanta is encouraged to attend this historic event
to stand with these committed leaders as they rededicate themselves
and their organizations to securing the futures of Atlanta’s youth.
“We are painfully aware
of the crisis in African-American communities nationwide, and we
must serve as a committee of one to help generate hope in place of
the despair that is destroying our future generations,” said ESSENCE
CARES Co-Chairman Thomas W. Dortch Jr. ”The situation is dire and
any effective resolution will require a genuine commitment and
decisive action by our communities.”
ESSENCE CARES partners
include 100 Black Men of America, Inc., The Links, Incorporated, Big
Brothers Big Sisters of America, Girl Scouts of the USA, the NAACP,
National Urban League, Children's Defense Fund, and Legal Defense
Fund, Operation Hope, MAD DADS, along with churches, politicians,
and other concerned organizations.
Each participant in Saturday’s event
will be asked to recite, embrace and internalize the ESSENCE CARES
pledge to the nation’s underserved youth, written by poet, author
and playwright, Dr. Maya Angelou, “We pledge ourselves and our
resources to seek for you clean and well furnished schools safe and
non-threatening streets, employment that makes use of your talents,
but does not degrade your dignity. You are the best we have. You are
all we have. You are what we have become. We pledge you our whole
hearts from this day forward.” Each mentor recruited by the program
will be asked to recite and embrace this pledge to their community’s
youth.
To RSVP call (404)
681-0044, or visit the website at:
www.essencecares.org
Click here for a copy of the press release.
|
