Virtuous Women Awards Banquet – 1st Virtuous Woman Awards Banquet to honor African American Women for displaying various attributes of a virtuous woman in our community in the fields of:Health, Education, Politics, Business, CommunityThe theme of our Banquet is “Honoring our Women.”Entertainment includes spoken word by Paradise of Project Oakland, Marcel Diallo of the Village Bottoms, Ty out of New York, Street Blues Entertainment and more. It is sure to be a delightful evening of networking and African women recognizing and acknowledging our accomplishments. Tenative Honorees include: Barbara Lee and Barbara Becnel.

MOVEMENT WORKSHOPS – Take your pick and support them all! Experience West African drum and dance, Afro-Brazilian Drum and Dance, Afro-Cuban Dance, Capoeira, Aerobics, Morning Yoga or a walk around Oakland’s Beautiful Lake Merritt.

ART AND WELLNESS – local cultural performances will fill in the breaks and make the conference/festival extra exciting. In addition to a mini-film festival, highlighting the work of local filmmakers, there will also be an open-mic and performances by local dance, music and poetry groups. There is also space for local visual artists to display their work.

BRIDGING THE GAP YOUTH FORUM – A space within the conference where the young women aged 13-25 and educators of the youth of our community are coming together to create and continue to activate health and well-being from a knowledge sharing perspective. It is two days of open workshops, presentations and discussions presented by young women and educators of young women from various segments of our community.

HEALTH SCREENINGS – The “Healthy Oakland” Assessment Van and the Bay Area Black Nurses Association will be available to offer free health assessments to conference participants.

HEALING STORIES PANEL DISCUSSION –This will be a special time for those everyday she-roes and he-roes, who have had a healing experience, to come and tell their stories and pass on the wisdom.

HEALTH COMMITMENT – We will be asking EVERY participant to make at least 1 commitment to change or better their individual health, family health or community health. Support Circle will be formed around these commitments and will be asked to meet once a month for 6 months and report back on progress and change.