It is the birthplace of civil rights pioneer, Rosa Parks, the headquarters of the famed Tuskegee Airmen, and the home of Tuskegee University, founded to educate black people for self-sufficiency. It is, in many ways, the capital of black self-reliance.

It is the City of Tuskegee, Alabama, the spiritual home of CHN's Community

Mayor Omar Neal

Healing Institute, and the first city in the nation that has set out to make itself a community healing "model city." Tuskegee's Mayor Omar Neal was the first mayor in the United States to issue a proclamation calling for the celebration of Community Healing Days and he is the first municipal chief executive working to bring all community-based institutions together around a vision and plan of action for community healing.

Mayor Neal, who also serves as vice chair (along with Dr. Maya Angelou) of the Community Healing Network's Board of Advisors, has divided the city into forty neighborhood areas-with forty churches each responsible for a specific geographic area. In the coming months, these forty churches will be working to establish neighborhood healing circles-safe spaces in which black people can come together to learn about the impact of our history on our emotional lives, share stories, and work toward "psychological freedom."

Read Mayor Neal's moving essay on why he is Building a "Community Healing" Model City.

"Great leaders," according to General Colin Powell, "...can cut through argument, debate and doubt, to offer a solution everybody can understand." CHN applauds and thanks Mayor Omar Neal for his visionary, practical, and inspiring leadership-and we look forward to continuing to work with him to build the movement for the emotional emancipation of black people.

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Be sure to put "time for healing" on your agenda. Mark your calendars now to celebrate Community Healing Days 2011, October 14, 15, and 16. Please visit www.communityhealingnet.org to say "yes" to Dr. Maya Angelou's call to Wear Sky Blue to show your support for the movement for emotional emancipation -and please encourage your family and friends to do the same.

Thank you,

Enola Aird, Jill Snyder, Dottie Green, Natalie Roche, Tarice Gray, Wizdom Powell Hammond, Sheila Warren, Ric Jennings, Gretchen Vaughn, and all your friends at Community Healing Network, Inc.

P.S. We need your help to make this the decade for the emotional emancipation of black people. CHN is a low-overhead, volunteer-run, 501(c) (3) grassroots organization. Your gift of any amount will help. Please donate today using the secure link below, or send a check to Community Healing Network, Inc., 111 Whalley Avenue, New Haven, CT 06511, Attention: Jill Snyder, Treasurer. Thanks again.

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