April 2023 News
Announcing New Executive Co-Directors
Executive Director K. Melchor Quick Hall will be joined by Dr. Cheryl Jefferson Page in leading the African American Education & Research Organization at Melchor-Quick Meeting House (AAERO@MQMH). Effective immediately, Drs. Hall and Jefferson Page are the Executive Co-Directors of the organization. Cheryl Jefferson Page, PhD, is an experienced organizational development and (Prosci-certified) change consultant, seasoned (PMP-certified) project manager, and U.S. Navy veteran. After serving in the military, Page worked as a nurse while completing her bachelor’s degree in psychology and master’s degrees in public administration and organizational systems. She has more than 20 years of leadership experience in strategic planning, creating organizational vision, transforming organizational culture, and implementing strategic initiatives to improve organizational processes and overall effectiveness in corporate environments. Page brings a practical, results-driven approach to the organization’s work serving and elevating Black communities.
Liberation Ventures Grant Award
We are excited to announce that AAERO was awarded an unrestricted grant to advance our research about the potential for reparations for the Black community in the state of North Carolina. We will be looking to partner with Asheville’s Racial Justice Coalition. We encourage you to read the Liberation Ventures press release with the full list of grantees, receiving a total of more $2.2 million USD. We look forward to posting future updates about our community research and education work related to reparations.
Donate to the Tanzania Girls Home
When K. Melchor Quick Hall came into her leadership position at the organization, she knew her primary contribution would be to expand the impact of programming to Black communities outside of the United States. Partnering with Tanzanian resident Judth Atamba, the organization started the Tanzania Girls Home in October 2021. Today, we are looking for your support to purchase the permanent home for the project, which houses five girls completing their secondary and university education. Read more here.
Cultivating Black Book Roots
From April 2023 through August 2023, we will be on the road! Honoring Black writers and storytellers, we will develop partnerships with Black-owned bookstores in New England, Washington DC (and bordering states), and the Carolinas. At each stop Executive Co-Director K. Melchor Quick Hall will give a talk on her book, Naming a Transnational Black Feminist Framework: Writing in Darkness, and inviting attendees to join the Cafe Darkness community. There will be book raffles for new subscribers. For details, including our upcoming stops, check out the full description of our Cultivating Black Book Roots tour.
Expanding Cafe Darkness Offerings
Café Darkness is an online community for writers and storytellers of color. Our core offering is a monthly virtual gathering space to write, share, read, and discuss projects. While our emcees Ms. Joanne Daley and Dr. Cathy Ames Turner play soulful music in the main room, breakout rooms are available for a silent writing space or writing discussions. This monthly event happens the second Saturday of each month during the September – May academic year. Based on the feedback from the community, we have decided to add Wednesday evening workshops on the fourth Wednesday of each month. The workshop topics will be shared with Café Darkness subscribers at the beginning of each month. Subscribe now for the 2023-2024 season, and enjoy this year’s remaining writing sessions and workshops (April 2023 – June 2023) free of charge.
Upcoming Events
The next Founder’s Blog Discussion will be Saturday, June 17 at 2:30 pm EST at https://zoom.us/j/94154640567. This month we want to hear what you think would be most helpful, as we pursue our mission. Keep in mind our focus of education, research and spiritual exploration by Black people. We’ll share more about this in the Founder’s Blog, which is being organized to make it easier to search. In July and August we’ll take a summer break. We hope you’ll join us in person at Melchor-Quick Meeting House for the AAERO Symposium July 22. In September, we’ll resume monthly conversations with a fresh format and guest presenters.
Sign up for our mailing list to receive notification about our monthly events!
Café Darkness Virtual Writing Community: On Second Saturdays, 2pm – 5pm EST, we convene as people of color to support each other in our writing projects. Sign up today!
Founder’s Blog – Essay and Discussion: On Third Saturdays, 2:30 pm – 4pm EST we meet to discuss the posted essay and questions about the current topic. Essays are posted one week in advance of the discussion. Visit the Founder’s Blog to download previously discussed essays and check this page monthly for the new topic and Zoom link.
The Annual Symposium: Late summer, we host a symposium to review the year’s accomplishments, gather with the African American community of Durham and Fayetteville (North Carolina), have an HBCU intern reunion, and host a Board retreat. The symposium is open to all community members in and out of Fayetteville. Due to the health pandemic, the 2021 retreat was held virtually. In 2022, we held the symposium in-person at Melchor-Quick Meeting House in Fayetteville, NC. We look forward to holding an in-person symposium again on Saturday, July 22, 2023 at the Melchor-Quick Meeting House in Fayetteville, NC. We hope to see you there! Look out for more details on the 2023 retreat, which we will publish here on the events page.