Just in time before another school year begins, the sixth annual Village Youth Summit Back to School Rally is set to kick off at The AMP this weekend. According to organizer Regina Wells of Gena-Mae Productions, this year’s summit theme is “a better you creates a better community, society, and world”.
The summit, which takes place this Saturday, July 29 from 11:00am until 2:00pm aims to bring together city officials, families, local family resource organizations, and the like to encourage the community to come together and “be the village it takes to raise our children”.
“The overwhelming majority of feedback has been absolutely positive, with new people wanting to help each year and more attendants coming out to enjoy themselves,” explained Wells.
The idea for the summit came to Regina Wells about six years ago, after hearing about the sudden death of a young man at a party in a neighboring city. After learning the child of a friend attended the same party, she questioned where “the village for these children” was. Not long after she wrote “Where is the Village”, a play inspired by the same question, the Village Youth Summit Back to School Rally was born.
“We performed the play for the first time after the Amp was built,” explained Wells. “But I didn’t just want to do the play—I wanted to create an event around the play to inspire youth and teens.”
The day’s festivities will include face painting, free food, a tennis shoe giveaway for elementary children, and a teacher bag giveaway. Dr. Betsy Ayers from The Dental Center of Carrollton will be conducting pre-k dental screenings, while Dr. Charlie Rouse and West Georgia Cardiology will be doing blood pressure checks. Both services will be free to the public throughout the day.
There will be performances by the Overcomer’s Christian Center Youth Praise Team and local artist Jelinda Hill. The Keynote Speaker for this year’s summit is Damacia Howard, Miss Pre-Teen GA 2016. There will also be a book collection to help support Damacia’s service organization, “Books for Africa”.
“I want youth and teens to take away from the event a feeling of inspiration, encouragement and determination to be their best selves,” said Wells. “I want parents to leave the event knowing they are in a caring, supportive and giving community.”
