“For those who educate a person, you educate a person. However if you happen to educate a girl, you educate a nation.”
The precise origins of this timeless quote are debatable. Nevertheless, what is just not up for debate is the truth that Queens, New York Municipal councilor Selvena Brooks-Powers not solely does she perceive the profound phrases of this quote, however she additionally lives them.
The politician, spouse and mom is a lifelong resident of Queens. Lengthy earlier than the first-generation Jamaican started serving the thirty first Ward as a metropolis councilwoman, she lived, performed and was educated within the southeastern area of Queens. A proud HBCU (Wilberforce College) graduate and member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Brooks-Powers really values neighborhood.
This love for neighborhood inspired the little powerhouse to tackle an formidable process: organizing a ladies’s convention in her hometown. On Saturday September 19, 2026 on the Black Spectrum Theater in Jamaica (Queens), NY, the premiere Girls’s Convention on Girls’s Views in 2026 came about. Led by the New York Metropolis Council member, a whole lot of girls gathered on the historic venue in southeast Queens to take part in informative panel discussions, community with different like-minded ladies, and even partake in a tasty (and nutritious) lunch.
“The imaginative and prescient for this convention was actually about creating the sort of area I needed ladies in my neighborhood to have—a spot the place we might come collectively, have sincere conversations about what we’re navigating, study from one another, and simply come again to ourselves. What began as an concept for just a few dozen ladies grew to a whole lot, and seeing that room stuffed with a lot power, pleasure, and sisterhood was extremely rewarding,” says Brooks-Powers. “We had been intentional about each element of this convention, and seeing ladies embrace it the best way they did affirmed why creating these alternatives near house is necessary. Girls in southeast Queens should not have to go away their communities to entry highly effective conversations, sources and connections – we are able to and may create these areas at house at any time when doable.”
Media persona of Conversations on the block – 94.7 THE BLOCK Patricia Robinson moderated the empowerment convention. Featured panelists included a gaggle of gifted and completed ladies within the fields of wellness, drugs, coverage, workforce improvement and extra, reminiscent of Director of New York College’s McSilver Institute for Poverty Coverage and Analysis Rose Pierre-Loius, Queens native obstetrician and gynecologist Sergelyne Cadet-Valeus, MD, and President of Employment Non ladies’s conventional (NEW), Leah Rambo.
Panel dialogue subjects included a well timed profession dialog titled “Working twice as onerous is just not a technique” and an insightful dialogue targeted on ladies’s well being titled “Why is Half the Inhabitants Nonetheless an Afterthought?” The convention concluded with a trio of black ladies political heavyweights. Afua Atta-Mensah, Chief Fairness Officer and Commissioner of the New York Metropolis Mayor’s Workplace of Fairness and Racial Justice, and Tamika D. Mallory, bestselling creator and social justice activist, joined Brooks-Powers in a full of life dialog on “Elected Officers. Now Ship.”
LaToya Stone, licensed life coach and CEO of REAL Wellness, served on the convention planning committee and provided attendees an sudden however welcoming breakout session to get the physique shifting. Stone shared her feedback that day: “I had the chance to assist form the dialog about what ladies in our neighborhood want proper now, after which convey wellness into that dialog in a tangible approach. Main the wellness break was precisely what I needed! I had ladies shifting, tapping, and respiration; creating area to extend circulation, launch these ‘joyful hormones,’ and be totally current to all the things the convention was about to supply. As a lady from Queens, there was one thing extremely particular about doing this work in my very own yard.”
Tamika D. Mallory shares this sentiment. “I have been organizing for a very long time, and one factor I do know is that info is necessary, however info with out motion would not get us far. What I liked about this convention was that we weren’t simply speaking to ladies, however difficult them to consider the place they’ve energy and the way they’ll use it. Whether or not you are an elected official, a mom, a enterprise proprietor, or somebody who has by no means thought of an activist, you may have a task to play. We want extra alternatives to assist ladies acknowledge this.
Attendees had been nourished in a number of methods in the course of the convention: thoughts, soul and, in fact, physique too! A scrumptious lunch was ready by The Nourish Spot, a black woman-owned restaurant in Queens. After consuming, they had been in a position to buy groceries as native distributors had been available promoting collectibles reminiscent of scented candles and costume jewellery. Mallory was additionally within the room to signal copies of her books and take photographs together with her supporters.
Black Spectrum Theater Director and Queens native and Convention Committee Advisor Vanessa Caesar provides, “The Outlook for Girls in 2026: The Girls’s Convention was deeply enriching, particularly with Black Spectrum Theater offering an inspiring area to host such important conversations. Bringing our neighborhood collectively to handle civic engagement, well being fairness, and office justice impressed me with the power of our collective energy to drive actual change in Southeast Queens and past.
Convention sponsors included BlaQue, Airbnb, A New JFK and Resorts World. When requested if she plans to make this an annual convention, Brooks-Powers responds like a real activist, chief and changemaker.
“Girls requested me about subsequent 12 months earlier than we even completed this 12 months’s convention, which informed me all the things I wanted to know concerning the influence of what now we have created. I hope to make this an everyday gathering all through my time period on Metropolis Council and proceed to develop it every year based mostly on what the ladies in our neighborhood inform us they want. Finally, I wish to see the spirit of this convention endure properly past my time period. “Girls deserve areas near house the place they are often knowledgeable and empowered.”