AYA Educational Institute

Central Ohio, we're coming for you!  Countering Injected Racial Scripts (CIRS) and The River of Touches - A WHB One-Day Skill Building leadership and personal development training will be held on August 11th and 12th in Columbus, OH at the Millennium School. See Flyer! The 11th: Injected racial scripts are a kind of social hypnosis. CIRS identifies 4 powerful scripts and gives you the tools, the steps, the recipe to GET OUT from under their spells! Community organizers, parents, grandparents, teachers, storytellers - those who work to lift our children and our people - this session is for you. The scripts confound your great work. They turn your empowerment stories and efforts into limiting stories and efforts. Without knowing it, they induce us to turn our own power against us. Wonder why our efforts so often fall short? It's the scripts - the social hypnosis. GET OUT. This session is free! The 12th: RVT - The River of Touches (RVT) is not a speech, not a sermo...

We are so happy to have you join up with us for this monthly journey.   You will: 1.)  Deepen your learning of the BN7 (Blacknificent 7 -- 3 Skills and 4-Steps) 2.)  Develop your skill at applying the 3 skills and 4 steps 3.)  Link and Connect up with a growing community who are committed to fighting oppression, healing injected oppression and building with Black people Click here to sign up for Monthly Subscription Click here to Subscribe.  $20.00 Monthly Click here to Subscribe.  $15.00 Monthly

What kind of romantic love do you create when you’ve been shaped by community love? What turns you on about a man or woman, when the community has turned out for you? Is attraction simply a matter of individual biology and natural instinct, or does the community’s touch help you interpret the intimate touch? AYA’s 2017 - Community Love Honorees - Gerry and Celeste White may be best qualified to answer this age-old nature/nurture paradox. Gerry is an Assistant Professor at the Clark Atlanta University (CAU) Whitney M. Young School of Social Work and Owner of PES Consulting. Celeste is an author and Instructor in Sociology and Criminal Justice @ CAU. They've been married for 24 years. Gerry: "When I was in Jr. High school there was a major race riot. Some white boys tried to jump me. My brothers weren’t having it. My neighborhood wasn’t havin’ it. The next thing I know, there are police dogs and everything. I was in the Malcolm X movement, and just after high schoo...

What does is mean to have a love that heals and a love of healing? What is it to love healing our people in a society which profits from making us sick? What does it take to transform that love from a dream to a "dream come true" for decades? You’ll have to ask our Healing Love Honorees for 2017 - Quinne Cook-Richardson and William E. Richardson, MD. Their love is like their diet and their lifestyle – organic. It is derived from the living spirit that each brings to the marriage of 26 years. Like all living things, their love has grown. Like organic fruits and vegetables, they came to the marriage table with perfect imperfections. “William's imperfections caused me to find my own joy." Explaining more Quinnie said, “My husband isn't perfect. He is human. At first, I expected him to make me happy, then I learned through our trials and tribulations that no one can make you happy. I was used to basing my happiness on outside experiences. My husband helped me...

Growing Trust Trust is the operative word for a Building Love. . The operative skill is how to build trust when distrust is induced? Oppression induces us to distrust ourselves and each other. It’s like learning to grow food in a torrential rain. Conventional growing wisdom is not enough. However, the skill of AYA’s 2017 Black Love Building Honorees is more than sufficient. The honorees are: Brother Wade and Sister Monica Muhammad Brother Wade and Sister Monica Muhammad have cut a new path through a thicket of obstacles. They have been growing their love in this torrent of oppression for nearly 28 years. This year, they will celebrate their 25th anniversary and they will celebrate their children: 5 girls, 2 boys and their “bonus” sons and daughters: Ayanna and bonus son - Jeff  Aisha and bonus son - George  Amiynah and our bonus son - Jamar Horace Emmanuel Zuheerah  Tynnetta For them, nation-building is family building. It is at the center of their buil...

Young Love in a Bowl, or Two New love (and young love) is awkward. It has incredible highs and lows as bottomless as the ocean. Young love is vulnerable love, especially in this oppressive environment which uses individualism, self-blame, induced identity confusion, the superior/inferior line, and more to thwart its journey to maturity. With all that and more, young love is our only hope. We embrace it and surround it with support and protection. To that end, it's with great pleasure that we announce AYA's  2017 Black Love Young Love Honorees: Ruby and Tenisio Seanima They have been building together for 8 years and married for 4. They have been fruitful  - Fasola, Kwame, Malik are a testament to that. They have been fruitful in the community as well. They both attend to our community's health in different and complimentary ways. Tenisio is an agrarian. He cultivates the land and advocates for Black farmers – urban and rural. He’s a disc jockey and audiop...