King for America Strategic Action Agenda

"Uniting the dream of civil rights and moral justice for abundant life."

I.  Education (Intellectually)

A.  Faith leaders’ involvement:

Calling for faith leaders to mobilize volunteers from their respective congregations to support Local City Schools. Leaders are asked to solicit volunteers to tutor, to monitor halls, and to mentor, and support PTSA objectives, especially in schools identified as being most in need of improvement. Leaders are asked to identify a point person in their church to coordinate volunteer efforts.

B.  Books for Babes and Youths:

To help our next generation prepare to enter school, and to do well in school, we support county-wide programs which provide books to children from birth through grade 12 at no charge to the family.

C. “Over the Top” After-school and summer programs:

Modeled after existing faith-based programs, this action item supports initiatives to provide jobs, enrichment and recreation to young people and their families. During the summer months while thousands of young people are out of school, Over the Top would create a safe haven in schools, churches, and other faith-based institutions. The youth in at-risk communities would have alternatives to unstructured and unsupervised activities. Similarly, additional after-school programs would operate during the regular academic year. Programs would include academic enrichment, sports activities such as bowling and tennis outings, Friday night at the movies, cooking and nutrition reality shows, etc. Emphasis will be on completing school to graduation, career planning, reducing youth and teen pregnancy and stds, nutrition counseling, enhancing the work ethic and other values based programs, all part of a “values based success mapping agenda”.

D. Life Choices Agenda: Working with pro-life organizations around the country:

KFA will work to strengthen marriage, family, and reduce the high rate of abortions that plague our youth today. A major strategy will be to work with Heartbeat International, Care Net, Priests for Life and other organizations to maximize such strategies as using a “hotline” like “Option Line” to help those in need. Also, working with African American pro-life and pro-family leaders to maximize the education of our communities as to the problems and solutions to the abortion and family current family crisis. The dynamics and definitions of love as opposed to sexuality are also explored, with a strong emphasis on abstinence until marriage.

E. Family Power Workshops and Seminars:

These programs will explore the dynamics of strong, healthy families, including the individual and collective roles of parents, children, relationships, definitions of love, marriage and family which are based on proven statistics and moral principles. Practical applications such as how to be a father, mother, child, family unit are explored.

F. Youth Power Media and Technology Campaign:

Television pilots, positive imaging, positive music and lyrics, poetry, You Tube, Internet blogging, book publications, radio shows, Internet talk and reality shows, and other creative projects will be produced for the purpose of improving the messages in the media that inundate our youth and young adults. Purity, Discipline and Power are major themes of this campaign.

G. Writing, Poetry, Debates, Arts and Media Scholarship Programs:

Awards, scholarships, dinner dances, etc. will focus on highlighting those youths who are achieving the dream of uniting civil rights and moral justice for abundant living.

H. Racial Reconciliation:

There is one human race on planet earth, not separate races of black, white, red, yellow and brown. The concept of separate but equal races breeds racism. This campaign will educate people as to the truth that we are all truly the “beloved community” that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. talked about.

II. Economic development and empowerment (Economically)

A.  Business involvement:

Business owners deriving significant benefit from African-American spending are encouraged to recycle significant financial resources into African-American businesses.

B.  Community involvement:

Businesses deriving significant benefit from African-American spending are encouraged to financially support programs and initiatives that develop and enhance the African-American community.

III. Public Safety (Socially)

A.  Operation Recover:

To encourage citizens to take a stand against gang activity and violence, Operation Recover will mobilize people from different communities to come together and remove gang graffiti, and to encourage positive, motivational cultural norms. Additionally, signs and billboards will be posted with messages calling for respect and restraint.

B.  Peace summits:

Former and current gang members will meet with local church and community leaders to discuss : 1) how to leave the gang lifestyle, and 2) how to find a job, especially if they carry a felony conviction.

C.  Gang hotline:

Modeled after the Memphis SCLC program, KFA will establish a gang hotline which provides counsel to gang members who would like to leave their affiliation and involvement with gangs.

D.  Re-entry options:

KFA will network with existing organizations for successful strategies. This re-entry program would create micro-enterprise opportunities for formerly incarcerated persons. Viable job options are necessary to address and reduce recidivism. In keeping with Federal regulations under H.B.1593, KFA will work to ensure viability for formerly incarcerated citizens by seeking opportunities for:

• Educational, literacy, vocational programs inside correctional facilities as well as job placement services to facilitate re-entry into the community.
• Substance abuse treatment and services, including outpatient as well as residential services and recovery programs.
• Coordinated supervision and comprehensive services for offenders upon release from prison, jail, or a juvenile facility, including housing and mental and physical health care in order to facilitate re-entry into the community. This includes veteran-specific services for eligible veterans.
• Family development services, including encourage offenders to develop safe, healthy, and responsible family relationships and parent-child relationships; and by involving the entire family unit in comprehensive reentry services.
• The involvement of prison, jail, or juvenile facility mentors in the reentry process and enabling those mentors to remain in contact with offenders while in custody and after reentry into the community.

IV. Poverty

A.  Aid for the homeless:

To assist the homeless, KFA advocates a networking policy for providing vouchers to provide food, clothing, and shelter in conjunction with life and job skills development programs. These policies and programs carry the promise of restoring human dignity and returning citizens to productive lives.

B.  Agency support.:

To expand the capacity of existing providers KFA supports the fund-raising efforts of agencies such as the Salvation Army, Hosea Feed the Hungry, and other local church and community efforts.

V. Political action

To make citizens aware of the process and power of civic involvement, voter education campaigns are encouraged and delivered.

B.  Civic engagement:

To augment civic education, extensive voter registration and participation drives are coordinated and encouraged.

VI. Public health (Physically)

A.  Health Awareness:

Prevention and Intervention focusing on obesity, nutrition, disease prevention, teen and youth abstinence.

B.  Morbidity reduction:

KFA supports efforts to reduce the rate of infant mortality, teen and youth pregnancy, and the incidence of HIV infection and AIDS.

VII. Civil Rights History and Relevance to Today’s Issues (Spiritually)

A.  Awareness:

To foster greater local, national, and international awareness of the Civil Rights Movement, KFA supports on-going efforts to publicize the mission and programs of those museums and organizations that provide education and awareness of the Civil Rights Movement.

B.  Public involvement:

To yield greater civic benefits from publicity efforts, KFA encourages the active participation of all concerned people in the programs and activities of national and local Civil Rights museums, organizations and programs that are life affirming.

C.  Spiritual Component:

KFA gives prayer support to all programs and activities, and seeks to remind our communities that prayer, worship and Christian stewardship, Christian love and faith in God are the basis of any effective movement, including the Civil Rights Movement.