Ako Abdul-Samad, member of the Iowa House of Representatives and founder and CEO of Creative Visions Human Development Institute, will host a convocation at Central College Sept. 19.
Creative Visions, a Des Moines-based organization founded in 1996, focuses on stabilizing and developing families and communities to help address issues such as drugs, gang violence and crime involving at-risk youth. Its core programs focus on self, family and community betterment that allow individuals to build stronger lives.
Abdul-Samad created the organization after witnessing the challenges low-income minority families face in Des Moines. Creative Visions strives to break the chain of poverty by empowering individuals to become prosperous and productive citizens.
Abdul-Samad also provides consulting services to community- and faith-based organizations to help set up human service programs.
His address, “Real Conversations: Turning Pain Into Power,” will relate to this year’s common reading book at Central, “The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates.”
This is the seventh year of the college’s common read program—which brings together Central College faculty, staff and incoming students through literature. The common read is the centerpiece of the required first-year seminar Intersections, which is taught by faculty across disciplines.
“The mission of Creative Visions relates very closely to the message author Wes Moore emphasizes in his book: We all make choices and good or bad we live with the results of those choices,” said Mitch Lutch, director of Intersections.
This convocation is part of the Intersections Teach-In event Sept. 18-20. The teach-in includes a three-day schedule of events giving students the opportunity to explore the themes of the common reading book.
The convocation will be held in Douwstra Auditorium at 11 a.m.