New York, USA — Representatives of the Jamaica Diaspora Advisory Board in the United States have scheduled a leadership summit for November 16 to 18, 2018, in an effort to formulate a cohesive development plan for the grouping here.

It will mark the first time that such a summit — to be held at the Morrow Center in the Atlanta suburb of Morrow, Georgia — will take place. More than a hundred leaders of organisations across the US are expected to attend.

One of the architects of the planned summit, attorney Wayne Golding, who represents the southern US on the Diaspora Advisory Board, said in a press statement that the development plan “will seek to rationalise the work of the Diaspora across the United States”.

He said also, that the objective of himself and the two other representatives on the board — Akelia Lawrence-Maitland, representing the Northeast; and Dr Rupert Francis from the West/ Mid West region — is “to stimulate our US-based network, to become a structured entity”.

“Such an entity will have a focused leadership and structured plan to enhance our contributions to Jamaica,” said Golding, indicating that the summit “will focus on strengthening the Diaspora to mitigate fragmentation and bring together diverse leadership to implement plans for growth and development”.

In the meantime, Dr Francis noted that the summit would “enhance the consolidation of the operations of the three Diaspora Advisory Groups in the US”, and that the planned summit followed months of deliberations on how best to coordinate the efforts of the three groups.

He said that a series of workshops on topics such as financing, business, collaboration and coordination, investment and mobilisation, among others, would take place over the course of the three-day summit.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/jamaican-us-diaspora-to-hold-major-leadership-summit-nov_148206