The Akoben Family
Kamau Ptah, Founder and Executive Director
Embracing the rites of passage philosophy, ideals and practices, Kamau Ptah, Akoben’s Chief Visionary, Founder and CEO, has for past 23 years created rite of passage systems and healthy cultures and norms in all of the communities that he has served. Brother Ptah currently serves as a nationally renowned educational consultant, who specializes in rite of passage, building school culture and community, identity restoration, cultural relevant pedagogy, healing Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome, transformative experiential learning, social and emotional development, and the education and socialization of boys and young men of color.
For the past 8 years, Brother Ptah has served as a consultant with the nationally distinguished Coalition of School’s Educating Boys of Color (COSEBOC), where he created and currently directs the Youth Voice Passage strand of the Gathering of Leader’s Annual Conference. Brother Ptah’s service through COSEBOC also helped launch the COSEBOC 444 Sankofa Passages Program in Philadelphia, PA. This pioneering venture was a partnership with the School District of Philadelphia – Alternative Education. Brother Ptah played a significant role with conceptualizing, designing, implementing and guiding 35 educators and facilitators to serve as rite of passage custodians for the in-school model rite of passage enterprise. Their attitudinal transformations, academic performances, establishment of missions and the actualization of goals evidenced the amazing impact of the COSEBOC 444 Sankofa Passages Program on the 355 young men served. The success of this passage experience has led Brother Ptah to serve as a consultant for City Year Boston, Boston Public School’s Dynamic Young Men’s Leadership Program’s 10 Boys Initiative, Youthbuild, Rhode Island, Man Up Global – New York City, Expanding Success Initiative (Eagle Academy for Young Men) – New York City, Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute – New York City, Nassau Community College Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs – Garden City, NY and STRONG Youth, Inc. – Hempstead, NY. Additionally, Brother Ptah was a Co-Founder and Program Director of the Urban Assembly Academy of History and Citizenship for Young Men, the first all-male Public High School in NYC since the 1960s and the first rite of passage mission in Public High School in the city’s history.
As a cultural custodian and a student of healing modalities, Brother Ptah is elated to assemble other “Keepers” of the culture that possess knowledge of the customs, traditions and practices of indigenous wisdom and adapt and apply these transformative methods to the issues that impact the modern world of people of African and Indigenous ancestry.
Dr. Ptahsen-Shabazz, Historian
Dr. R.A Ptahsen-Shabazz is a Black/ Africana Studies educator as an Associate Professor in English and Africana studies at Nassau Community College in Long Island, NY and adjunct professor at Westchester Community College and Medgar Evers College.
Born and raised between the Bronx and Westchester, Dr. Ptahsen-Shabazz is of Jamaican maternal and African-American paternal heritage. He attended college on track scholarships received from Howard University and South Carolina University where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Broadcast Journalism and Mass Communications. He then attended graduate school at Temple University where he received the Master of Arts and Ph.D degrees in African-American Studies.
Dr. Ptahsen-Shabazz has committed his life to researching and teaching on the often forgotten contributions that Black/African people have made to human progress; on such topics he has spoken internationally.
Elias Encarnacion, Facilitator and Teaching Artist
“Sharpen your eyes
Tune your ears
So you know what you see
Understand what you hear
Minute by minute
Hour by hour
As we know Our Story
We know our POWER!!!”
This mantra was the transformative fuel that ignited Elias Encarnacion, more affectionately known as Brother RED (an Acronym meaning Ready Every Day), from the destructive life of the streets to becoming an agent for positive change in his community. For the past 6 years, Brother Red has used music and spoken word as vehicles to tell his powerful narrative of how he transformed pain into power and has persevered over the societal traps that many young men of color have fallen victim to in our communities.
Brother Red cultivated his voice at the Urban Assembly Academy of History and Citizenship for Young Men High School (Also known as Uniting African and Aboriginal History and Culture) in the Bronx, where he identified, claimed and began to live his mission as a keeper of the rich cultural heritage of people of African and Indigenous Taino Ancestry. Since his graduation in 2013, Brother Red has continued to use his artistry and activism to break the mental chains that incarcerate the minds and bodies of our youth. He is often sought out to speak to young people about their identity and how their self-concept determines their daily decisions. Additionally, he also facilitates sessions for educators on reimagining and transforming the schooling experience for students who have experienced trauma and emotional wounds.
Lastly, Brother Red serves as a rites of passage facilitator for Akoben Enterprise. He helps to usher boys of color to healthy states of manhood through his powerful narrative, creative voice and excellent facilitation skills.