Who We Are
Community Healing Network (CHN), the creator and sponsor of Community Healing Days,^SM is a diverse and growing group of individuals, faith communities, and civic groups working to promote emotional and physical health and wellness for Black people.

We are united by a shared commitment to the emotional emancipation of Black people everywhere. We are helping to build the movement for emotional healing and renewal—to help Black people find release from the internalized myths of inferiority that too often keep us from reaching our full potential.

We envision a world in which every Black person is joyful about being Black. Our mission is to celebrate healing in the Black community and to help all Black people envision, believe in, and act on our true potential.

CHN was founded in New Haven, Connecticut in 2006 and is led by a committed and energetic group of volunteers.

The members of the CHN Board of Directors are:

• Enola G. Aird, Esq., Cheshire, Connecticut, President
• Janice M. Jones, Esq., Montclair, New Jersey, Vice President
• Jill M. Snyder, Hamden, Connecticut, Treasurer
• Antoinette G. Wright, New Haven, Connecticut, Secretary
• Dr. Betty Neal Crutcher, Norton, Massachusetts
• Dorthula Green, New Haven, Connecticut
• Dr. Wizdom Powell Hammond, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
• Natalie E. Roche, M.D., South Orange, New Jersey
• Rev. Dr. Victor Rogers, Hamden, Connecticut

The members of the CHN Board of Advisors are:

• Dr. Maya Angelou, Chair
• Honorable Omar Neal, Vice Chair
• Professor Stephen L. Carter
• Dr. Ronald A. Crutcher
• George Faison
• Professor Anita F. Hill
• Rev. Dr. Bernard Lafayette, Jr.
• Alvin F. Poussaint, M.D.
• Stephanie Robinson, Esq.
• Rev. Dr. Frederick J. Streets
• Professor Calvin William Sharpe

What We Do

1. CHN is the sponsor of the annual celebration of Community Healing Days,^SM held on the third weekend of every October and designed to encourage Black people everywhere to take the time to focus on healing—in mind, body, and spirit.
2. CHN is the sponsor of the Community Healing Institute^SM which creates opportunities for people to share stories and resources that promote personal healing and which offers workshops and trainings to help local leaders promote community healing.
3. CHN is the sponsor of the annual presentation of the Community Healer Awards,^SM designed to recognize outstanding contributions to community healing.

Highlights of Our Work to Date

• The Community Healing Network is launched in October 2006 in New Haven, Connecticut
• From October 2006 through September 2008, CHN sponsors local community conversations and healing events in New Haven
• In September 2008, CHN issues a Call to Healing and Renewal urging Black people everywhere to put “time for healing” at the top of their lists of priorities by celebrating Community Healing Days^SM on the third weekend of every October
• On October 17, 18, and 19, 2008, people in Montclair, New Jersey and Tuskegee, Alabama, join people in New Haven in the first annual celebration of Community Healing Days^SM
• In January 2009, CHN partners with the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art in Washington, D.C. to co-host a celebration of the inauguration of President Barack Obama--and to raise national awareness of CHN’s mission to help us as a people “see ourselves in a whole new light.”SM
• On June 27, 2009, in Tuskegee, Alabama, CHN launches its Community Healing Institute,^SM to offer workshops and trainings to promote emotional healing and renewal.  One participant describes the launch as “life-transforming.”
• On August 26, 2009, the Honorable Omar Neal, Mayor of the City of Tuskegee, Alabama, and Co-Chair of the CHN Board of Advisors, issues the first mayoral proclamation supporting the celebration of Community Healing Days^SM
• October 16, 17, and 18, 2009, marks the second annual celebration of Community Healing Days,^SM with observances held in fifteen cities--up from three cities in 2008.
• On November 7, 2009, Dr. Maya Angelou, Chair of CHN’s Board of Advisors, leads Saving the Race: The Human Race, a ground-breaking gathering at the Riverside Church in New York City, featuring Common and Tom Joyner, among others, to introduce CHN to the world. One of the nearly two thousand people in attendance captures the spirit of the evening, describing it as: “…one of the best nights of our lives….Our spirits were lifted so high.”
• On November 8, 2009, CHN presents its first Global Community Healer Award to Dr. Maya Angelou

Our Focus in 2010

• In 2010, CHN will continue building the movement for emotional healing and renewal by focusing its work at the grassroots level:
• Building its online healing community through the CHN Video and Reading Club
• Reaching out to communities through its Speakers’ Bureau
• Launching a Community Healing Rites of Passage Program for young people
• Launching a city-wide community healing initiative in Tuskegee, Alabama
• Sponsoring the second annual Community Healing Institute in June 2010^SM
• Leading the third annual celebration of Community Healing Days^SM on October 15, 16, and 17
• Recognizing and highlighting the accomplishments of winners of the 2010 local Community Healer Awards^SM

For more information on these activities, please contact us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .