Afrotina Initiative Forms in Asheville
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| (Seated L-R): Linda Block, Andrea Arias, Lina Herrera, Lisa Watson (Standing L-R): Julie Montanea, Isaac Coleman, Althea Gonzalez, Robert Grant, Jr. Photo by Cathryn Shaffer |
In April of 2005 the Asheville-Buncombe Community Relations Council along with several other organizations sponsored the First African American-Latino Conference. The conference was well attended by members of the African American and Latino communities as well as people from the white community.
As the event was ending, a call was made for those who might be interested in forming an African American Latino Coalition to share their contact information and arrange for a time and place to meet. Approximately twenty people expressed an interest.
direction for the group and how to increase the participation. We
agreed to meet to work on a mission and goals for the organization.
Initially, the meetings were not well attended but after a few months
of struggling to increase the participation, it seems like all of a
sudden the word spread and the attendance grew.
It was decided that our first mission was to begin to eliminate the
cultural barriers between the two communities. As a catchy way to bring
the communities together, the group\’s name was shortened to Afrotina. A
social gathering was priority number one and we held a party with food,
music and dancing representative of both communities. The party was a
great success and everyone had fun!
Our next step was to work on a mission statement and to set forth goals
for Afrotina. After lengthy discussions, we agreed on the following.
Our mission: To empower the African American and Latino-American
communities of Asheville/Buncombe County to eliminate social, economic
and political barriers through collaboration and partnership with all
people and organizations who work to improve the lives and well-being
of the residents of our region.
We also agreed that our first project would be to work with youth of
both communities in an effort to head off the conflicts that are
beginning to occur. Afrotina is planning an African American and Latino
Youth Conference that will focus on the challenges faced by our youth.
Afrotina meets the fourth Thursday of every month at 6:30 PM at the
Ritz Restaurant, 42 N. Market Street. Asheville, NC. We invite everyone
who is interested to join us. As Mayor Bellamy often says, “We want one
Asheville.”
