History

Since its founding in 1988, AAAL has offered after school enrichment programming for students and their parents that was built upon information about African history and culture. The success of this programming led AAAL, in 1993, to begin the development of a formal curriculum that could also be used by school districts.

From the very beginning AAAL has sought to collaborate with school
districts to incorporate culturally specific enrichment activities in the classroom. From this emphasis on effecting change in the classroom, grew AAAL’s first education conference offered in 1998. This conference is not only geared toward educators, but also provides information and tools for parents and youth centered on recognizing the potential of every child.
[above: Summer School 2006 participant]

In 2004, AAAL conducted an in-depth review of its mission, and decided that in order to effect systematic change in the schools, the organization needed to reorganize its programming in order to reach more educators, who in turn can reach more African-American students. Building upon the success of its enrichment programs, AAAL developed a multi-faceted set of programs geared toward education and training for teachers, parents and students.

As a result of the fertile discussions that started during the 2005 educational conference, AAAL has been laying the groundwork for long-term collaborations with other organizations in order to reach the broader community with knowledge about better ways of ensuring the successful education of African-American children. For the 2006 summer school program, AAAL worked with the Minneapolis-based Freedom School in the Kwaanza Church. Current parent/student trainings focused on literacy are being offered in partnership with NdCAD (Network for the Development of Children of African Descent). Additional trainings are being planned with Way To Grow and other like-minded organizations.

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