FLINT, Mich. - s4story -- In Flint, Michigan, nearly 70 percent of the children grow up in poverty, five times the U.S. average, according to the University of Michigan Center for Poverty Solutions. Flint is also among one of the poorest cities in the country. Too often poverty is the barometer for which educational outcomes are measured. Enter Flint, Michigan's inaugural Poet Laureate, and award-winning educator, Semaj Brown, whose passion for education has no boundaries. Her imagination-no limits. She created the multimedia platform BLACK DANDELION: CONVERGENT VOICE™(BDCV) and introduced it to the Michigan Council of Teachers of English (MCTE) at their Centennial conference in 2022. From there the news spread across the state of Michigan and beyond, with educators inviting Brown to their schools and institutions of higher learning to help implement her inventive 'poetry as a second language' method of instruction, which she calls: PSL/Poetry As A Second Language: The Semajian Method^TM. That is where the magic begins in transforming students who by classroom diagnostics are illiterate-- to them becoming clever wordsmiths with poetry. Some of the youth experiencing this method of instruction are expressing themselves in other artforms and disciplines, including ecology and science, art history, social justice and more.

Why the Focus on Literacy.
"Literacy is a bridge from misery to hope. It is a bulwark to poverty...For everyone, everywhere, literacy is, along with education in general, a basic human right."--Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the United Nations. A person who is illiterate will not be able to fully participate in the labor force, they will earn less, and most likely remain in poverty. The impact on society is negative, and can stunt the growth and development economically of a society for generations. Teaching literacy and improving those basic skills promotes the development of critical and creative thinking. This is the mission of Semaj Brown, as she knows the circumstances and the plight of the children she is targeting with her platform. She believes in them and their unlimited possibilities.

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Since the introduction of Brown's multimedia platform and Semajian Method of instruction, Brown has worked tirelessly with a number of schools and institutions over the past year. She did have help along the way. Semaj Brown taught an Ekphrastic Writing class at the Flint Institute of Arts, and several of her students, mostly retired educators and former business executives, wanted to do more, as Brown piqued their curiosity about her other projects. Those curious women became "The Reading Writing Word Warriors" aka, RW3, and they too entered into the schools to assist the children in the BLACK DANDELION: CONVERGENT VOICE™(BDCV)  platform.

The Epic Presentation.
On April 6, 2024 the culmination of  Brown and her RW3 ladies, their creativity, hard work and education will come together, and be on display for everyone to see and partake in at the Flint Institute of Arts. The event, "The 2nd Annual BLACK DANDELION: CONVERGENT VOICE™ Forum, Where Art Meets Poetry", will have the following schools and organizations in attendance to present their work and creations:The Flint Institute of Arts Education Department; Greater Heights Academy; Grand Blanc West Middle School; Grand Blanc East Middle School;  Peckham Career Academy; Grand Valley State University; Carmen Ainsworth High School; Flint Cultural Center Academy; The Alpha Esquires of the Epsilon Upsilon Lambda Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.; Ecole Konoura, Togo West Africa, and the Al Nur African Dance Troupe.

Semaj Brown did not leave out the elders in receiving literacy education. She created Vo Cab Bee which is a word sport game, that will be the opening act of the event. The day will also include a documentary preview, prizes, and lunch for the first 160 people who register for the afternoon workshop.

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Persons interested in attending this free, family-centered event may register via the link: bit.ly/48SD7VQ.

Special acknowledgments to : Flint Institute of Arts-Partner; The Poetry Foundation-Sponsor; Molina Healthcare-Lunch Sponsor; and Zeta Beta Zeta Chapter, of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated-Community Partner.

About Semaj Brown: She is Flint, Michigan's inaugural Poet Laureate and the recipient of the Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowship Award, 2021. Semaj was Visiting Artist/Educator/Editor at The Flint Institute of Arts, Art School, 2023. She is the recipient of the 2024 Poetry Foundation Poetry Programs, Partnerships and Innovation Grant. Brown is also an award-winning educator and author of the book, Bleeding Fire! Tap the Eternal Spring of Regenerative Light. An excerpted recording is highlighted in the national AT&T Dream in Black, Black Future Makers Afrofuturistic Lifestyle television commercial. To learn more of the Black Dandelion poem evolution visit: https://poets.org/dear-semaj-brown-2022, and https://www.facebook.com/BlackDandelionConvergentVoice