CHARTER SCHOOL'S FOUNDER LEADS NATIONAL "WALKATHON" FOR AFRICAN-CENTERED EDUCATION

-- Co-founder and current Board Chairman, Amefika D. Geuka will walk from the school in West Palm Beach, Fl to Washington, DC to dramatize the urgent need for African-centered education for children of African descent. --

West Palm Beach, FL (BlackNews.com) - Florida's only African-centered public school today announced that its co-founder and current Board Chairman, Amefika D. Geuka will walk from the school in West Palm Beach, Fl to Washington, DC to dramatize the urgent need for African-centered education for children of African descent. Geuka and his colleagues have dubbed this venture a "Trek for African-Centered Education," to be conducted from July 15th through August 15, 2009. In addition to gaining credibility for African-centered education, the walk is expected to raise money to close the funding gap for Geuka's Joseph Littles-NGUZO SABA Charter School which completed ten years of continuous operation on January 20th of this year. Overall coordination and planning for the walkathon has been contracted to iZania, LLC based in Columbus, Ohio.

This 1,000 mile "trek" from West Palm Beach, Florida to the nation's capital has a three-fold purpose:

1. To challenge consciously responsible Black adults to demonstrate willingness to revive their sense of responsibility to restore our children's inalienable right to a childhood;

2. To raise the level of awareness among the caring public to the critical need for, and elevate the credibility of African-centered education as the most effective means of restoring "an adequate, realistic self-image" to Black children who have too long been under mental and emotional siege;

3. To raise an unprecedented amount of money via sponsorships and pledges, to elevate Joseph Littles-NGUZO SABA Charter School to the long-sought after status of self-sufficiency, self-reliance, and fiscal independence and autonomy.

In so doing, we intend to prove by example that the African-American community can and will take on the responsibility of becoming the primary source of funding for the effective education and development of our own children - just as our Jewish and Catholic counterparts have long done.

Both President Barack Obama and his Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan have spoken strongly in favor of public charter schools, which are designed to explore creative and innovative approaches to educating students who do not fare well in traditional public schools. The African-centered approach to providing a strong cultural foundation for children of African descent is being adopted across the country by school districts, public schools, private schools, and charter schools. The supporters of African-Centered Education draw parallels between the 'ACE' approach and the generally accepted contention by Jews and Catholics that their respective students learn best when their formal education is rooted in study and appreciation of their own heritage, history, and culture.