Community Mission

            “Through out my life I [have] looked for communities, and when I cant find them; I build them.” Imani has given birth to many communities all of which have black people and their societal well being at the core. One of the many important and influential communities that Imani started is Fellowship of Friends of African Decent, which bought together Quakers of color to support and encourage one another on their social and spiritual endeavors. The fellowship that started as a weekly meeting held Friday nights at her house grew to be an international community of black Quakers that is still in existence and active today, traveling all over the world to join with other Quakers of color. The other extremely influential community, that was the beginning of a line of other similar ones, that Imani was hugely responsible for was The Star Team. This team was a group of four teachers who were responsible for 60 students who were far behind in their academics. Not only did the STAR team get students excited and celebrated for positivity and progress, but The STAR team also went to the students’ houses to make a personal connection that allowed even more holistic growth. The STAR team “helped to build the foundation for [her] continued work as an educator. It was in the STAR team where [she] learned how to be in holistic communities that were intergenerational and placed youth empowerment and societal transformation at the center. The STAR team was the first community [she] helped to develop that linked education with liberation.” After this Imani went on to teach and be an administrator in schools where there were an overwhelming number of black students who were behind in their education. Also, while working on her dissertation she was immersed in African-centered schooling and culture at Imhotep Institute Charter High School and Khepera Charter School. She is currently at Sankofa Freedom Academy where she works daily and diligently to build a community of service to her people and holistic education to the youth. “All of these communities have as part of its mission and vision the transformation of self for the transformation of communities.  In all of these communities we challenge ourselves in order to challenge the system.  In all of these communities education is seen as basically a spiritual endeavor that manifest itself in the incarnation of good in the world.”

Ayesha Imani while accomplishing so many goals and both serving and creating communities, she is also a mother, daughter, sister (and care taker of both her mother and sister), administrator, and spiritual and cultural leader; and she fulfils these full time roles completely with an insatiable drive towards excellence.