Ideas plentiful at African American forum

Education, health care and affordable housing among top issues

Since last month, the county’s African American⁄Black Advisory Group has been working to collect information on what issues are important to each community.

Arva Jackson, a resident of Rockville and co-chair of the African American⁄African⁄Caribbean Leadership Summit Planning Committee, said the issues and ideas raised at each session would be presented to county officials at the December event.

Similar initiatives are also under way for the Asian American and Latino communities.

‘‘It is our intention to make sure that your words do not stop here,” Russell Campbell, chair of the African American⁄Black Advisory Group, said to the large group at Saturday’s forum.

Not a seat was left empty in the gym of the Lincoln Park Community Center as local leaders and county residents gathered to identify some of the most significant issues confronting the county’s African American residents.

Howard Nicholson, a resident of Rockville and a member of the Rockville⁄West Montgomery Team, which is volunteering as part of the African American⁄African⁄Caribbean Leadership Summit Planning Committee, served as the moderator for the discussion.

Andrew Milisits, a resident of Boyds who used to live in Aspen Hill, said he has worked with children and teenagers and would like to see people ‘‘building leadership, self reliance and accountability” in their communities.

Donald Davis, a resident of Gaithersburg who grew up in Lincoln Park, said he often returns to Lincoln Park to work with children. He said he feels that the county government should get more involved in programs that communities are creating outside of community centers.

‘‘It takes a village and we can’t depend on the community center to do it all,” he said.

‘‘We need to focus on the youth of our community because they are our future,” Davis added.

After several other people spoke about education, affordable housing and the need for workforce development, forum participants whittled down the list of issues to what they felt were the five most important: positive youth development⁄engagement, economic development⁄employment development, education, health care⁄family development and affordable housing.

From there, five smaller groups were formed to discuss each of the issues and propose solutions. One of the groups was composed of at least a dozen teenagers.

As her group brainstormed ideas, Jackson said she was pleased to see so many people and different faces.

‘‘I’m delighted that there are people here who are old and young who represent a crosscut of the African American community as well as the African and Caribbean communities, and I think that by having them work together this way, we’re beginning to see a common cause,” she said.

After the small groups wrapped up their discussions, a representative from each shared findings with the audience.

Philippa Smithey, a resident of Rockville and a member of the Rockville⁄West Montgomery Team, said she was impressed by participant’s passion and enthusiasm at the forum.

‘‘I think the turnout was excellent,” she said. ‘‘I felt that everyone who came really was focused — really had a reason to be here and some issues that they felt particularly passionate about. And therefore, we could have spent many, many more hours, but I think that for the amount of time and the energy here and the commitment that people showed, this was a very, very successful event.”