Honoring Those Who Serve the Community
More than 500 people attended the National Council of Negro Women’s eighth annual Tribute to Black Women Community Leaders in Los Angeles on Saturday.
The breakfast program was held to honor four California women for community service: Betty Davis-Walker and Shirley R. Miles of Los Angeles, Regina Jackson-Rasheed of Oakland, and Qiana Cerise Conley, a college student from Hawthorne.
Davis-Walker, an educator, founded two organizations for black males, Male Achievement Project and the African-American Male Achievers Network, as well as the Young Ladies Achievers Club. Miles was the first female African American manager of Arco’s manufacturing and marine operation. Jackson-Rasheed, director of the East Oakland Youth Development Center, has turned the center into a national model of youth development. Conley, a senior at USC, maintains a 3.0 grade-point average while staying active on campus in groups like the Black Women’s Caucus and Rites of Sisterhood (a mentoring program for inner-city youth).
The honorees will be eligible for the national competition Aug. 7 in Washington, D.C., at which four women will be selected National Community Leaders of the Year.
The National Council of Negro Women, headquartered in Washington, D.C., was founded in 1935 by legendary educator and human rights activist Mary McLeod Bethune. Today, the group is recognized as the principal advocacy group for African American women and families.
