By: Maaskelah K. Thomas, PhD, Transformativeconcepts.com

Wichita, KS -- With much in the media these days about the rapidly aging "Baby Boomer" generation, much less is mentioned that particularly focuses on African American Baby Boomers. Talk of the "good old days" when many in this group were coming of age fails to clearly reflect the lived experiences of those of African descent - experiences quite often different from those in mainstream America. Those experiences represent a dynamic resource for African American youth and adults, and also represent largely untapped opportunities for older African Americans to pass down a legacy of knowledge, experience and wisdom which could easily be lost forever.

As individuals pass through youth and into adulthood, there is also a stage past adulthood where the cumulative learning of a lifetime is embodied. This is called Elderhood, and although current systems in the United States have increasingly marginalized those in this group, traditional African societies throughout the continent and early African American communities understood the invaluable resources embodied within this life stage. In many traditional African societies, transitions from one life stage to the next - from birth through death - were marked with specific and predetermined rites of passage.

It was with this in mind that Dr. Maaskelah K. Thomas created and published an easy to read guide and toolkit: Calling the Elders - Reclaiming and Transforming Our Communities through Elder Wisdom: A Guide and Toolkit for Developing Local Councils of Elders. It was designed for those interested in developing an important avenue for capturing and enlisting the resources of African American seniors for ongoing community strengthening and development. Envisioned as a rites of passage process for elder members the African American community and a structure for keeping them engaged, the Guide provides both rationale and process for implementing Councils of Elders in communities throughout the country and beyond. Based on a successful model currently operating in her own community, it includes an overview of the historical importance of Councils of Elders, as well as the building blocks of this functional model for institution building. Most importantly, it provides practical steps and processes for ways to engage the entire community in reconnecting the links that have historically strengthened African American communities.

In addition, the evidence-based tools throughout the book can be adapted and used for a variety of other organizational and community development projects. Dr. Thomas, a scholar, consultant and twenty-five year veteran of community and organizational development and social justice activism brings together "tools of the trade" and useful guidance for community engagement, organizational development and institution building.

Councils of Elders have their roots in indigenous African communities which viewed the Elders as repositories of knowledge and wisdom, and more importantly, as the guardians and purveyors of a community's values, traditions, norms and interests. Elderhood represents a significant stage along the rites of passage continuum from birth through elderhood and on through transition into esteemed ancestor-hood. The Council of Elders has traditionally been the organizing institution that honors, embodies and unleashes the ongoing wisdom and potential of an indispensible group. The goal is that communities will be able to utilize this institution to help rebuild and reconnect communities - locally, nationally and internationally - based on common ground, as exemplified through the wisdom of our Elders.

About Dr. Maaskelah Kimit Thomas
Dr. Maaskelah Kimit Thomas is the founder and principal consultant for Transformative Concepts Consulting Group, which specializes in community and organizational capacity building. A founding organizer of the Council of Elders - Wichita/Sedgwick County, KS, she continues to work as a consultant with this group and others interested in developing elders as resources within their local communities. Dr. Thomas holds degrees in Management, Adult Education and Human and Organizational Systems. She is also author of Umoja Money and Gawakazi - Beyond Buy Black: A System for Building Community and Social Capital. Both books are available from Amazon.com.

PRESS CONTACT:
Maaskelah K. Thomas, PhD
Transformativeconcepts.com
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it