Community activist Diane Latiker has been honored with so many awards that her dining room can hardly contain them. However, the makeshift memorial across from her house outnumbers her awards, with hundreds of stone markers that bear the names of the children she had lost to gun violence. The ages range from 6 months to victims in their young 20s. Latiker is also the founder of the not for profit organization Kids Off The Block (KOTB). Latiker describes her organization as a “holistic care center for prevention, personal growth, and empowerment.” Founded in 2003, the organization reaches out to the most "at-risk" youth in the Roseland/Pullman area. It provides them with access to a path that leads away from violence, self-destruction, and economic impoverishment. To achieve its mission, Latiker's foundation offers a multi-service youth program that focuses on personal and social growth, health and wellness, and educational achievement. KOTB provides a safe place "off the block" for those young people who do not feel welcomed by traditional youth programs.
Candice Washington, mother, child educator, and nonprofit founder has discovered the key to instilling black culture, art, and a love for literacy in the minds of children, is to start them when they’re young. By walking in the steps of her passion, she found that her project, Brown Books and Paint Brushes, would take her beyond anything she could have ever imagined.
Black women today often feel the pressure to be strong and to do everything for everyone. It can be challenging to find a space to connect with others and feel free to let go in order to heal and grow. Twyler Jenkins, founder and owner of Strategic Event Services, an event planning company, and the I Am That Woman Movement, has created that space through her retreats. She recently sat down to share not only how she became "That woman," but also how every woman can become “That woman” and live her best life.
Armed with both a passion for singing and all things creative, and the spirit of servant leadership, Robbins, IL native, Jeremy “Vessel” Holmes, has found a way to fuse his musical background with marketing. And what started as what some might call a hobby, quickly turned into a career path for Jeremy that would take him from behind the microphone, to a seat at the table that he would build, which he hopes will, in turn, create a long-lasting legacy.
