The fifth session fifth of the Ubuntu Conversation Series would be held on Thursday, February 13, 2025, at the Martin Luther King Library, e. Long Street, Columbus, Ohio from 5 – 7 P.M.

With the theme as “Shared Experiences and Opportunities,” this session which is being hosted by the City of Columbus Department of Neighborhood and Columbus Public Health is also in commemoration of this years’ Black History Month.

The conversation will be held in both a Panel and Dialogue style. Members of the panel include Dean Smith, Commissioner, Greater Hill Top Area (NALA, 2024), Hassiba Makour, Executive Director, Advance Education Technology (NALA 2023 & Program Grant partner 2024), Karen Scott, Ohio Poetry Association and Deba Uwadiae, Chief Editor, New American Magazine.

Also, the conversation is expected to Elevate the importance of Black History Month and create an opportunity for learning and empathy across cultures; Help identity the values and wealth that we all bring to this city and community engagement landscape as well as highlight the importance of culture and diversity; and Foster dialogue and learning aimed at bringing gaps between African Immigrants and African Americans for enhanced relationship building and collaboration.

The UBUNTU Conversation Series also represented as (US), is a program initiative of the Department of Neighborhood’s New American Program that aims to create safe conversation spaces for community leaders and stakeholders to reflect on their community work, identify challenges/barriers that limit residents’ ability to reach their full potential and facilitates the disintegration of communities considered as pillars of sustainable change, growth and development.

The word UBUNTU is a south African Word from the Zulu language considered to be often referred to as a humanist African philosophy but that also carries a mainstreamed concept of Community as a unifying factor for social cohesion found across cultures and societies.

Though being used since the 1800s, the concept is known to have been popularized by Nelson Mandela whose worldview was shaped by UBUNTU philosophy. Also popularizing the philosophy was Nobel laureate and Anglican Archbishop Desmund Tutu who mostly used the term to call people to “Unite beyond the common good.”

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