Queen Mother Falaka Fattah
Founder, House of Umoja, Inc.
Website: www.houseofumoja.org
Telephone: (215) 473-5893
Fax: (215) 879-5340
E-Mail: falakafattah@aol.com
PHILADELPHIA, PA (USA) -- Mark your calendar! Between 3 and 6 pm on Wednesday, December 28, 2011, House of Umoja's founder Queen Mother Falaka Fattah will celebrate her 80th Birthday in the Mayor’s Reception Room 202 City Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the United States of America.
This is a commemoration of a rich history, multitude of accomplishments and human services. Under her visionary leadership,Queen Mother Falaka Fattah chose to dedicate the balance of her life to rebuilding young high-risk boys trapped in gangs. Captured as prisoners of love, the Fattah Family embraced this mission with tireless commitment, compassionate caring and tenacious advocacy. Little did they realize that their vision of peace and increasing the life chances: of youth would eventually evolve into a unique program.
Without any funding, the UMOJA’S founder pursued this Herculean task during the early days by sacrificing meager personal assets and sharing her home with fifteen gang members. Today, this “random act of kindness: has successfully grown into a non-traditional safety net, 501©3 youth agency and sanctuary with a diverse mix of community partners and donors who believe in peace, civility and self-reliance. Thus, House of UMOJA has successfully embarked on training neighborhood peace-makers, the stewards of earth and formidable ambassadors of non-violence before it was fashionable or politically correct.
Since 1968, due to the tremendous experiences of the HOUSE OF UMOJA, it has made a paradigm shift in approach, programmatic emphases and focus on service-delivery. Initially, the unit of analyses has been
improving the individual youth’s internal survival skills and mental/attitude adjustment behaviors. Over the decades, UMOJA has evolved its curricula, reshaped its programs and services to foster positive individual as well as group coping skills to promote social responsibility and productive skills for shaping a better world. This paradigm shift establishes the groundwork for the evolution of UMOJA’s embarking on emphasizing ownership of green peace in neighborhood, advocating for inter-group harmony and rebuilding green spaces on earth.
WHAT WILL BE UMOJA’S LEGACY?
For over forty-three years, the HOUSE OF UMOJA has successfully refined its unique formula for transforming lives of high-risk youth and families through direct interventions as well as teaching a positive work ethic, fostering life-management skills while building self-esteem. It is impossible to calculate the total legacy of UMOJA’s
impact in investing thousands of troubled youths and navigating them through hardships, burdens and challenges towards the productive life of responsible citizenship. In perspective, the UMOJA legacy can be partially measured in terms of the increased well-being permeating throughout Philadelphia neighborhoods. This was done by embracing
principles of self-reliance, education, civility and family values taught by a broad cross-sector of committed mentors. Youth received a second chance and tools necessary to overcome poverty and are now men.
These alumni represent a myriad of trades/professions and have their own families.
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