EDITORS/NEWS DIRECTORS: Tonight, Jan. 30 at 7 p.m. in the Trojan Center Theatre, Birmingham Mayor Bernard Kincaid will deliver the kickoff address for the Troy University Black History Month. This event is sponsored by the University Activities Council. The UAC point of contact is Derrick Brewster.

At 6:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 3, Dr. Ronald V. Myers, MD, will deliver the opening address of the African-American Leadership Conference in the Trojan Center Theatre. Dr. Myers is president and medical director of the Myers Foundation Christian Family Health Centers in Tchula, Belzoni and Greenville, Miss. Together with his wife, Sylvia Holmes-Myers, his service in Tchula has centered on indigent health care and community development through the Myerses’ Christian, holistic health ministry. Myers has been the founding president of a voters league, a Southern Christian Leadership Conference chapter, a community development commission, a Bible Fellowship Church and the three health centers in the Mississippi Delta. He is founder and chairman of the National Juneteenth Observance Foundation, founder and president of the American Pain Institute, founder and chairman of the University of Wisconsin African-American Alumni Foundation and is the artistic director of the Mississippi Jazz and Heritage Program – Black Arts Society.

At 11 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 4, the Rev. Jamal Harrison-Bryant will deliver the keynote address at the closing ceremonies of the African-American Leadership Conference. Rev. Harrison-Bryant is 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.

For more on the African-American Leadership Conference, please visit our website at  http://www.troy.edu/news/archives/january2006/leadershipconference.htm

Also, the Southeastern United States Concert and Band Clinic is Feb. 2-4. For more information, please see the link on our website at http://www.troy.edu/news/archives/january2006/seus.htm. Opportunities for photo/video and stories are available throughout the weekend.