TROY – Troy University and the City of Troy are co-hosting the fifth annual African-American Leadership Conference as Black History Month gets under way on campus.

The conference, scheduled for Feb. 3-4, will be held in the Trojan Center on the Troy campus. Pre-registration for the event is on-going, said Shelia Jackson, the City of Troy’s public relations director.

Highlighting this year’s conference will be a keynote speech by Rev. Jamal Bryant, pastor of Empowerment Temple in Baltimore, Md. His ministry focuses on empowering people spiritually, developing them educationally, exposing them culturally, activating them politically and strengthening them economically.

A dynamic motivational speaker, Bryant held the Stop the Violence, Start the Love Crusade and organized the Youth at Risk speaking tour. His work has been highlighted in Emerge, Sister To Sister, USA Today and The Source and he has appeared on BET, CNN, C-Span and Politically Incorrect. He has served as a panelist on the national town hall meeting The State of Black America and The State of the Black Church, hosted by Tavis Smiley.

Bryant, who dropped out of high school in the 11th grade, obtained a GED certificate and went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in political science and international studies from Morehouse College and a master of divinity degree from Duke University. He is currently pursuing a doctorate in theology at Oxford University in Great Britain.

Other conference speakers during the event include Tennessee State Rep. Lois DeBerry,  the Rev. Michael Thurman, pastor of the Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church, national speaker and author Patricia McCloud and civil rights attorney Thomas N. Todd.

The conference opens at 6 p.m. on Feb. 3 with Bryant’s address. A reception will follow that address. Several workshops will be conducted at Feb. 4 including grant writing for non-profit organizations, legal briefing for organizations and churches, affordable web site building and accounting software.

For more information or to pre-register, call 334-670-2283 or 334-670-3668. Pre-registration is $30 for adults, $10 for students. On-site registration is $35. A limit of 300 may attend the conference.