With Racial and Health Equity Summit, Wilmington's Sokoto House aims to boost community
For the past two and half years, community organization Sokoto House has worked tirelessly — and largely behind the scenes — to address and remedy violence and poverty in Wilmington's African-American community by using a model that treats these problems, and others, as a public health crisis.
This weekend, the leaders of Sokoto House will hold the second annual Cape Fear Community Racial and Health Equity Summit at its ever-evolving compound on Dawson Street.
Along with a free, opening night concert on Friday that will include performances by Wilmington rappers MoeSOS DC and Louis., the summit has two action-packed days on Saturday and Sunday.
"The thing I Iike that they're doing is putting the power back into the hands of the community," Louis said of Sokoto House.
More than a dozen presentations will focus on everything from the roots of the crises in the Black community (11:15 a.m. Saturday) and the process of building up community groups and leaders (12:20 p.m. Sunday) to looks at the importance of of arts and culture (7 p.m. Friday) and documentary filmmaking (3 p.m. Saturday). A community barbecue will be held at Sokto House Saturday afternoon.
The summit is free to attend in person or online, but organizers ask that participants register in advance.
"We have a phrase: 'Demonstrate to educate,'" said Abdul Hafeedh bin Abdullah, executive director of Sokoto House. "The concept is, before you talk about it, do it."
Abdullah, who's from California, came to Wilmington in 2016 after working on a Centers for Disease Control program in Portland, Oregon, that addresses community violence from a public health standpoint, in part by mobilizing members of the communities it impacts.
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In August, Sokoto House graduated its first cohort of community health workers it has trained to address various issues in the community. Abdullah said he sees his group as "professionalizing community professionals" who address "the root causes of the issues."
The community health worker model was little talked about in the Wilmington area before Sokoto House began advocating for it over two years ago. But the idea has begun to take root, and not just at Sokoto House.
Port City United, New Hanover County's recently formed violence interruption and community outreach platform run by Cedric Harrison, is using a community health model. Abdullah said he's had many conversations with Port City United's leaders.
More: How Wilmington's new 'violence interrupters' plan to spread peace in the Port City
"They're using our ideas," Abdullah said. "For us, that's impact."
Sokoto House is far from a one-man show, and Abdullah points to contributions by operations director Vance Williams, whose Advance Youth Outreach program focuses on deterring instances of life-altering violence; Lily Nicole and Bradon Cagle of the "lowercase leaders" community group; Kevin Roberts of Grey Raven Media; community coordination Brenda Galloway, who's taken the lead in getting young people involved; and others.
All will give presentations during this weekend's summit, as will Wilmington filmmaker Chris Everett, whose 2015 documentary "Wilmington on Fire" raised awareness of the 1898 Wilmington coup and massacre, spawning an article in The New Yorker and screening all around the region. Everett will screen some footage from his upcoming film, "Wilmington on Fire: Chapter II," at the summit 3 p.m. Saturday. The doc focuses in part on groups like Sokoto House, which are trying to address the inequities caused by decades of institutionalized racism and racist policies.
Since forming, Sokoto House has maintained a busy schedule of free community markets, workshops and forums.
"It's not a whole lot of talk," Williams said, "but in less than two years you see all that has happened here," something he attributes to "the energy and the sacrifice" of people dedicated to their community.
That energy and sacrifice has at times caught the notice of people outside Sokoto House's southside Wilmington neighborhood, leading to a small but growing garden that has become a source for community learning and, potentially, funding for the group.
Sheri Chisholm, who co-owns Flora Landscapes with her husband, Brock, also runs the Joni Appleseed nonprofit. She said she first heard about Sokoto House in the wake of the 2020's Black Lives Matter protests, and believed in its mission and wanted to help the group achieve its goals.
After raising close to $13,000 through Joni Appleseed, the Sokoto House Community Garden and Gather was completed this summer. It includes a blueberry hedge, a strawberry patch and an herb garden, as well as a stage and grassy gathering area.
"Its intent is not only to allow space for community members to gather, but also to fight the effects of the food desert by teaching people to grow produce at their own homes," Chisholm said.
She said Galloway told her that, during a recent community workshop, mothers were able to participate while their kids played in the grass. Chisholm said she was touched, and that she hadn't realized that she was helping to build "a safe space" for the community.
"These are compassionate, skilled people who have come together because they believe in and want to impact their community," Chisholm said. "And they are doing it on a shoestring."
Abdullah said that everything Sokoto House has accomplished so far has been done "without any significant support financially."
He said he would like to increase his group's impact, potentially by forming partnerships with local government or even Novant Health.
"But we want to be at the table as equals. We have the trust of the people. Let us be the connector," an approach he calls "the essence of equity."
"The goal is to scale it," Williams said of Sokoto House's mission. "Not to hoard the information" but rather to become a clearinghouse for it, something he hopes to accomplish with this weekend's summit.
"I think it's a platform where community members pose questions and get answers about community issues, and how to mobilize," Williams said.
Contact John Staton at 910-343-2343 or John.Staton@StarNewsOnline.com.
WANT TO GO?
What: Second annual Cape Fear Community Racial and Health Equity Summit
When: Sept. 16-18
Where: Sokoto House, 1219 Dawson St., Wilmington
Info: Free to attend in-person or via Zoom. Registration for sessions is required.
Details: SokotoHouse.org/summit.php or or info@sokotohouse.org
SCHEDULE
FRIDAY, Sept. 16
6 p.m. Opening ceremony and introduction
7 p.m. Arts & Culture: Indigenous Knowing, Decolonization, & Collective
9 p.m. Free concert with MoeSOS DC, Louis the Rapper, Speak Ya Peace NC and more
SATURDAY, Sept. 17
8:30 a.m. QiGong and morning welcome
9 a.m. Social Consciousness: What Builds It & What Inhibits It
11:15 a.m. Root Causes of Crisis: Social & Structural Determinants of Health
1:15 p.m. Barbecue, with family activities, arts and crafts, vendors, guest speakers and more
3:00 p.m. Filmmaking as Activism
5:15 p.m. Historical Consciousness: How the Past Moves Us Forward
7:30 p.m. Self Promotion for Young Athletes: Special Presentation
SUNDAY, Sept. 18
8:30 a.m. Recap of Presentations
9 a.m. The Silent Killer: Toxic Stress
10:05 a.m. Advocacy: Actions Speak Louder
11:15 a.m. Equitable Evaluation & Participatory Research
12:20 p.m. Capacity Building: Community-Based Organizations & Leaders
1:30 p.m. Organizing, Mobilizing, & Producing: The Equation for Building Sustainable Communities
2:40 p.m. The Sokoto House Method: Optimizing & Mobilizing Community Assets
3 p.m. Closing ceremonies
This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Wilmington's Sokoto House to hold Racial and Health Equity Summit
