AALFNW

TriMark Legal Funding is one of America’s original lawsuit funding companies. We provide fast, low-cost pre-settlement funding and post-settlement funding to seriously injured plaintiffs throughout the United States.

---

The African American Leadership Forum is a movement of African American leaders and stewards across five metropolitan areas – the Twin Cities, Portland, Seattle, Des Moines, and Tacoma – that is committed to the revitalization and sustainability of a vibrant African American community. We are united in the belief that we can do more together than separately. We recognize that in order to achieve enduring, positive, change in our communities we need a truly transformative agenda; one that is exciting and fresh; one that challenges the status quo and changes the game.

To learn more about our national approach and our regional efforts, click here

Visit here to see a video entitled Our Voices: Transforming Leadership, about the work of the AALF produced by Twin Cities Public Television.

Portland

We are the Portland African American Leadership Forum! To learn more about who we are please visit the tabs along the right side of this page, starting with About PAALF or our four focus areas above.

PAALF Vision
We, in all our diversity as Black people, are a connected, thriving, resilient Black Community

…because we have honored the sacrifice, the tradition, and the wisdom of the generations before us,

…because we have protected the potential, the innocence, and the power of the generations after us,

…because we have upheld our responsibility to preserve our self-determination and build the humanity of one another.

PAALF Mission
The Portland African American Leadership Forum leverages the power of our community’s combined resources to advance the vision of a connected thriving, resilient Black Community.

We do this by:

• Convening the Black Community to discuss issues of importance, share ideas, foster collaboration and engage democratically in PAALF
• Facilitating strategic interaction and cooperation among Black organizations and individuals towards a unified action agenda
• Promoting civic engagement and political participation and leadership by Black people
• Advocating for and proposing effective public policy solutions to the challenges facing the Black Community (in education, housing, economic development, civic engagement, administration of justice and other areas) in a manner that builds self-determination and accountability of institutions, eliminates racial disparities
• Developing transformative leadership skills and capacity amongst the Black Community
• Collecting data, engaging in research and publishing reports that provide an ongoing analysis and evaluation of the condition of the Black Community
• Supporting community efforts to preserve and enhance the historical and cultural contributions of Black people
• Applying a community centered, anti-oppression, non-violence lens to all our work

Seattle

The African American Leadership Forum is a movement of African American Leaders that understands, values, and leverages “the power of the collective.” We are united together to bring about positive social change in the greater Seattle African American community. We engage in deliberative dialogue and collective action to address the most critical issues affecting the well-being of all African American individuals and families in Greater King County.

The mission of AALF is to identify, create and promote community-based solutions to strengthen families, youth and children in the African American community of Greater Seattle. AALF convenes experienced and emerging community, organization and family leaders in creating a shared action agenda that responds to community issues.

Over 125 leaders in the Greater Seattle African American community have participated in AALF meetings or forums. Leaders across community sectors — nonprofit, grassroots, faith, political, government, business, philanthropy, education, health, arts — are involved in this work. We anticipate and welcome many more participants. Our work as a community is enhanced when we can come together as multiple voices to create a coordinated message.

Participants are engaged not only in their professional roles but also as community members who have a personal investment and responsibility in our African American community.

Goals

The AALF’s goal is to establish itself as a conduit of information, data and resources; act as a convener or connector of “the community” for the purpose of knowing and sharing information. Know what is happening in the community, know what individuals and organizations are doing to advance our community, know where African Americans are living and their living conditions, and share information, share what’s happening, how to navigate systems, share resources, share to connect or create cohesiveness and unity.

How we will do this:

• Utilize the AALFNW website, as a tool to connect community members and organizations. Create a space for community news stories, blog posts, events and common calendar in order to provide a central hub for information about community activities.
• Outreach to African American organizations and individuals to build a network of active community advocates.
• Build a social media presence for the AALF in order to 1) hear what is happening 2) distribute information to the community in a timely manner and 3) build coalitions.
• Develop partnerships with the multitude of organizations working to advance the conditions of African Americans in the Puget Sound Region.

In the meantime, check out the following resources: