Guyanese-born, Dr. Janice Emanuel, and colleague, Dr. Malcolm Cort, friends, and supporters from around the world will gather in person, on Sunday, March 19, in a virtual space for the 2023 APC Community Services Gala, honoring the exemplary service of five honorees during the organization’s 27th anniversary.

The group that has been providing high quality services in the areas of health and wellness, advocacy, domestic violence prevention, HIV/AIDS awareness, youth, mentorship services to foster the empowerment of residents in underserved and other communities, will honor Pastor and Mrs. Michael Bacchus — Community Services Award (Full Gospel Assembly); Dr. Daniel Beckles — Health Care Award (Baylor Scott and White Medical Center); Alice Blair NP, NYC H+H/Kings County SART director- Health Care Award (NYC H+H/Kings County Anya Dillard — Community Services Award ( Next Gen Come Up) and Samuel Clarke — Health Services Award (NYC H+H/).

In a statement to Caribbean Life, Dr. Emanuel said the celebration is slated to be rich with an array of live and prerecorded performances, some of the other highlights will include a video clip of the 17 mission trips to Guyana, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and Ghana, serving over 22,000 individuals and providing over $.5 million worth of medicine, equipment, glasses, and supplies, APC Scholarship program and the school APC is building in Nkoranza, Ghana.

A Digital Commemorative Journal will be produced celebrating the accomplishments of the honorees and milestones of APC.

Persons wishing to place advertisment in the 27th Anniversary journal, are asked to call Dr. Janice McLean for Journal ads at 917-531-7901 APC Community Service11@yahoo.com. Donations gratefully accepted: Zelle- APCTreasurer7@gmail.com and Cash App- $APCCommunity Services.

According to the release, after graduating with a Ph.D. degree in Health Services, Drs. Emanuel and Cort, who had just completed his Ph.D. in Sociology discovered that they both shared a common experience — the challenges encountered while navigating their doctoral journey. Sharing their determination to change this trend, Academic Professional Consulting Inc. (APC) was born.

For years they experienced the profound joy of working with doctoral and master’s level students among those individuals is the APC current Board Chairwoman, Dr. Yvonne Peters.

In 2000 services were expanded to better cater to the needs of our community and APC was incorporated as a not-for-profit 501 C 3 Community Based Organization, offering services in mentorship, and after-school. Having had great success in these areas they decided to start the APC Carol Kingston Early Childhood Center in 2002 to fulfill the quest to provide high quality childcare services. They continued this service until Summer 2021 when due to challenges with the pandemic they decided to close our facility. APC is extremely grateful to Mrs. Claudette McRae, Mrs. Timothine Anderson, Mrs. Yvonne English, and Mr. Lindon Assaye for the successes achieved in this institution.

They saw many of the graduates skip Kindergarten and went on to 1st grade because of their academic skills, many children reading by age 4. They also developed a partnership with parents through our monthly parents’ meetings and training to equip parents with skills to help their children academically in the home setting.

“Other services offered by APC include dealing with Domestic Violence, diabetes prevention/ management, hypertension prevention/management, thanks to the grants we received from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. In 2022 APC achieved the Full Plus Recognition Status with the CDC.”

Sensing the need to do more, a small group took a fact-finding trip to Guyana in 2010 to find out the needs and to figure out how APC Community Services could support the medical work in Guyana and meet some community needs.

In 2011 a new initiative was started — Medical Missions, the first mission went to Guyana, since then APC has completed 17 successful mission trips to Grenada, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and Ghana, serving more than 22,000 individuals and providing over $.5 million worth of medicine, equipment, glasses, and supplies to the people of these regions. During these mission trips APC and their volunteers provided free Medical. Podiatry, Pediatric, GYN, Vision (cataract surgery) and dental services. Big thanks to our doctors — Douglas, John, Newland, Belle, Kamkan, Marks, Wyafe and McCulla. Also, Dr. Alan Woodson (dentist) and the Loma Linda School of Dentistry.

Over the years, APC sponsors the Caribbean Health Summit in partnership with SUNY Downstate Medical Center, Kings County Hospital Center and Kingsbrook Jewish medical Center and community partners. This year we are hosting a virtual summit on June 9, which will focus on health inequities and its impact on the Caribbean Community, mental health and how these issues can be resolved.

APC also hosts the Caribbean Wellness Health Fair and the Caribbean Heritage Month Celebration in partnership with Senator Kevin Parker, celebrating the unity and diversity of our Caribbean Community and highlights our contributions to the United States.

Please submit any questions to: apccommunityservices11@yahoo.com.

The Board of Directors of APC. are: Dr. Yvonne McCullum Peters Board Chairman, Dr. Janice Emanuel McLean- President; Dr. Naomi Modeste – Vice President, Hildegarde Reimers -Secretary, Vernel Jacobs-Assistant Secretary, Claire Patterson Monah- Treasurer, Dr. Orin Douglas-Medical Director, Dr. Alan Woodson-Dental Director, Dr. Gordon John, Dr. Illouise Tucker, Jean Pickering, Stephen Isaacs and Nia Mendonca.