From the Desk of
Carolyn G. Williams, Ph. D.
President, Bronx Community College

Bronx Community College is proud to host the third annual Black Male Initiative Conference, “Reclaiming the Legacy: Defining our Responsibilities – Developing our Communities” on Friday, May 23, 2008.  The Black Male Initiative started as a platform for CUNY Colleges and our communities to highlight our role in addressing issues of education, employment and empowerment of Black and Latino men.  On our campus, we have taken a holistic and comprehensive approach, providing support and resources to enable both men and women to acknowledge and accept their responsibilities and pursue their education and careers to build successful lives and develop a strong community.

The 3rd Annual Conference will explore how we can help our youth to clearly articulate the crucial concerns and issues that we face in our community – and how we can help them take on the responsibility of finding meaningful solutions.  BCC’s goal is to promote pride in academic success.  Educating oneself is an important responsibility and it is one of the critical ways we can develop our communities. 

It is indeed a great pleasure to see the growing strength of this initiative, as is reflected by the amazing slate of workshops and seminars that continue the dialogue we began on this campus almost 3 years ago.  I welcome our keynote speakers, Dr. Adelaide Sanford, former Vice Chancellor of the New York State Board of Regents and Mr. Dominic Carter, NY1’s Chief Political Correspondent and other presenters.  This conference will present a wealth of information and our hope is that the workshops, panel discussions, seminars and resources become a platform for sharing and learning.

Know that we are united in our effort to exploring solutions to the problems that our communities face.  Your participation and feedback are very important as we expand and implement the various activities under this initiative. 

I look forward to welcoming you to our campus and to a very productive day.

Carolyn G. Williams, Ph. D.
President
Bronx Community College