The mission of I AM KING, Inc. is to uplift men and boys of color by cultivating mentoring relationships between men of color and boys of color and creating empowerment programs through which the young boys will learn to recognize and develop their potential, celebrate their strengths, build their confidence, and grow their network.
The 2022 I AM KING seminar is about bringing young men of color together to impart guidance and inspiration to them through relevant workshops pertaining to health, education, finance and other topics. These sessions are run by men of color that are succeeding in various fields and doing positive things with their gifts, talents and abilities.
In these powerful and inspiring sessions, the goal is for each young man to be inspired to a unique sense of self and to be proud of who he is. I AM KING is also about helping young men explorer their existence, and begin to focus their minds and attention on a new story for themselves...one that they define, not society.
Here are a few reasons why this seminar is so important:
• According to The Journal of the American Medical Association, black male adolscents represented the largest increase in suicide attempts from 1991-2017. A startling 162 % increase. The pandemic has only added to this horrifying number.
· According to the NYC Mission Society, 25 percent of all adult males in central Harlem have been imprisoned at some point in their life.
· The New York Times reported that more than one in every six black men in the 24- to 54-year-old age group has disappeared from civic life, mainly because he either died young or was locked away in prison.
· Perhaps the most disturbing statistic, however, was recently published in the JAMA Pediatrics journal: The suicide rate among black boys ages 5 to 11 has risen from 1.78 to 3.47 per million over the last two decades.
The time for encouragement, unity, and inspiration is NOW!
We change the world when we begin to change ourselves and be a light to those around us.