'A CALL TO ACTION'

The “Forgotten Communities Program’ is the cornerstone of the Pan African Cultural Heritage Institute and the National Cultural Heritage Tourism Center, Inc.  The program is a major program under the National Cultural Heritage Initiative and serves as the catalyst for the promotion and marketing of the culture, heritage and the communities of people of African Descent.
 

The program was created and developed to support the efforts of chambers of commerce, economic and community development entities address economic and job creation issues in disadvantaged communities. The leadership at the local level is comprised of entrepreneurs, artist, educators, government, and community activists/leaders.  The goal by all is to access the viability of creating a tourism destination, by establishing an arts cluster as an attraction.  Art that focuses on the cultural history and people of the city and community, told in paint, with emphasis on faith and tradition.  
 

The program has proved itself as very successful and has allowed an industry to take hold and renewed interest in historic Black communities.  With the support of talented painters and performing artists, the program has been able to spiritually recapture the people’s memories and visions and dreams of the people that resided there, outside of the view of mainstream America.  Forgotten Communities is not Black Art, it is a spiritual movement, to showcase a people of dignity and neighborhoods that are a part of us.  Only through the arts, can the spiritual moment and importance of a culture be recreated and conveyed to another culture.
 

The Forgotten Communities Program is a ‘call to all artists’, particularly those of African descent, to begin painting their visions and memories of their culturally significant and historic communities.  The National Cultural Heritage Tourism Center was created to allow those images to be shared with the world and rekindle an interest in these forgotten communities.  The knowledge required to sustain the community and help it grow is provided by the research and teaching of the fellows and members of the Pan African Cultural Heritage Institute.
 

The National Cultural Heritage Tourism Center, and Pan African Cultural Heritage Institute are poised to share their knowledge and resources to assist in ultimate goal being to create artistic images and performances that will cause a nation to think and consider redeveloping these cultural treasures for future generations reeducate others and ourselves on the value and importance of our culture in America and the Diaspora..

  Gateway Countries to Gateway Cities (GC to GC) effectively applies time-tested cultural principles that produce optimum socio-economic development in the "New and Old Worlds".  Similar to the Marco Polo era and other historical examples, GC to GC recognized the cultural and heritage routes of the "Old and New Worlds" are as the roots of the "New Marketplace".  Gateway Countries to Gateway Cities supports the idea that the "New Marketplace" will currently thrive best in the "New World".  Nevertheless, it promotes and celebrates the "New Marketplace" globally through the formation of strategic socio-economic linkages with countries in both the "New World" and the "Old World".  Of significance, it recognizes Europe and African countries; as important Gateways to the heritage routes of the New World, via the Caribbean, and Florida, the "Gateway State".
 

Based in the Pan African Cultural Heritage Institute, the Gateway Countries to Gateway Cities:
 

1. Establishes      Gateway Trade, Travel and Transformation Centers to promote      effective socio-economic development perspectives for individual,      organizational and community development, including community-based      socio-economic development
2. Assists      Chambers of Commerce to become more      effective in reaching deeper and more broadly into the marketplace by      creating within each chamber a Culture, Commerce and Community identity      that integrates different socio-economic perspectives" 
3. Uses      cultural explanations to describe the      physical and spiritual resources of the "New World" and the      "New Marketplace" thereby assisting individuals and      organizations to more easily capitalize on the available wealth in      their culture and heritage.
4. Designs      and implements tourism packages for greater      experiences of the "New Marketplace and the "New World" and      focuses on developing new attitudes and improving relationships by      "taking" individuals and organizations back to the "Old      World" through Ghana and "The Joseph Project".

 ​The "New Marketplace" or knowledge economy is a physical representation of a spiritual world we are now beginning to discover. Some of us increasingly comprehend that the rules governing the Spiritual World are the same as those that guide the "New Marketplace". Just as the spiritual world is deeply influenced by our attitudes and our relationships; likewise, success in the "New Marketplace" is largely dependent on our renewed commitment to improving our attitudes and building great relationships. Attitude will indeed determine altitude in the "New Marketplace".
 

Information and knowledge will only be utilized properly when we gain a thorough understanding of culture in the "New and Old Worlds". Likewise, the information and knowledge economy will only realize its maximum value when we achieve an intelligent understanding of Spirit in the Spiritual World. The degree to which we develop culturally is the exact degree to which our physical and Spiritual Worlds develop.