Greetings Arizona Community Leaders,

A week has past since the Phoenix College NAACP/BSU showing of the film Pressure by Abdul Dandridge (author, producer, and director). We send a heartfelt thank-you to each of you for any aspect that you may have had in the execution and very successful charge to show the film which focuses on “Making Choices” as the central theme – dedicated to uplift and strengthen our teens and young adults.

The dialogue after the film was extremely genuine, rich, and provocative. Most importantly, we gave the young audience our time and dedication, for they communicated with us and we communicated with them. The narratives were “very real”.

A “special thank you” is expressed to the expert panel which demonstrated extreme enthusiasm to the purpose of the event as we dialogued about the five established foci for the evening: Language, Drugs, Gangs, Guns, and Police Interaction. We began the activities at 3:15pm and officially finished at approximately 8pm (many did not leave John Paul Theatre until well past 8 pm as the discussion and networking continued).

We feel that we helped build a bridge to cross and address many of the concerns regarding some of our most precious, vulnerable young people of today. The expert panel consisted of the following:

• Charlene Tarver, Esq., The Tarver Law Group, PLLC
• Chanette Campbell, University Student,  NAACP Youth and College Division Representative
• Theresa Heard, Educator, Mother of 3 Sons and Wife of a Retired Law Enforcement Supervisor
• Vincent Marold, CEO/Founder, Dental Sticks
• Hank Wilson, Co-Founder, Hanlea Education Services
• Ghazi Hazma Muhammad, Founder/CEO, Your Path Is Unique

Where do we go from here? Over the week, we have received very positive reviews from those who attended the event and will further assess the films showing. We ask, if at any point you have ideas for the project or are interested in providing support feel free to contact us.

Again, we express our “heartfelt” thank you!!!

Yours in concern for our teens and young adults,

Camilla Westenberg, Ed.D. –     Faculty Emeritus

Phoenix College – English Department

NAACP/BSU Co-Advisor

Dolores King, Ph.D. –     Faculty

Phoenix College – Business Department

NAACP/BSU Advisor