Read AAI’s Latest Newsletter on AAI's New Mission and Building Our Community

Greetings from Accra, Ghana.  

Last month, The Africa-America Institute held a community retreat on the grounds of the historic Greentree Foundation. We are grateful to the wonderful staff at the Greentree Foundation whose skill and kindness created an ideal environment for a meaningful gathering. 

At the retreat, we reviewed our main assets: our storied institutional history; accomplished and devoted alumni; devoted partnerships; trusted convening power; and commitment to excellence that have sustained us for more than 70 years. Together, we delved into portions of our institutional archive, we explored how our founders mentored and supported many African students and how those students, in turn, influenced our founders. We also revisited how early on, one of our co-founders, William Leo Hansberry, helped to imbue our work with purpose.  

What we learned at the retreat inspired us to rearticulate our mission as follows: 

The Africa-America Institute bridges Africa and its diaspora to catalyze a more sustainable and equitable world.  

We have organized our work into four mutually reinforcing impact pillars: Liberatory Education; Community Building; Global Repair and Healing; and Economic Sovereignty. 

In this month’s newsletter we invite you to explore AAI’s new impact pillars; a virtual timeline historian and president emerita, Mora McLean, that situates William Leo Hansberry’s life’s work and contributions to AAI; the Alumni Spotlight featuring Ablade Glover celebrating his 90th birthday; profiles of our new STEM scholars; and updates from AAI’s 4th Diplomatic Orientation & Engagement Program, our upcoming 40th Annual Awards Gala, and our participation in recent events including the CCA US-Africa Business Summit. 

We look forward to continued engagement with you, as part of our valued community, so that we can continue to bridge Africa and its diaspora to catalyze a more sustainable and equitable world. 

Yours in partnership,

Kofi Appenteng

President of AAI