Principal

Our team is led by Christopher Norwood J.D., Principal of Norwood Consulting. Mr. Norwood has 25 years experience working with Human Service Agencies as both Consultant, Board Member, Employee and Volunteer. He is a graduate of Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia where he studied Social Work & Community Organization (1995). Mr. Norwood pursued a Masters of Public Administration at Cornell University's Institute for Public Affairs (1995-1997) and his Juris Doctorate from St. Thomas University School of Law (2002). Mr. Norwood is a community organizer, passionately involved but strategically focused. His network ranges across the spectrum of human services. His involvement is particularly strong in Children's Issues and Development. He is a founding Board Member of Florida Memorial University's Social Work Program. He is the Past Chair of the Council on the Social Status of Black Men and Boys (Appointed by Former Speaker Marco Rubio of the Florida House of Representatives in 2007). He is a member of Miami-Dade Public Schools' Audit and Budget Committee and City of Miami's Education Advisory Board. He is the Founder of the Florida Association of Independent Public Schools and the Governance Institute for School Accountability.

 

Director of Education

James Braxton Peterson, PhD is the Director of Africana Studies and Assistant Professor of English at Lehigh University.  He has been a visiting lecturer and preceptor in African American Studies at Princeton University and was the founding Media Coordinator for the Harvard University Hip Hop Archive.   He is also the founder of Hip Hop Scholars, LLC, an association of Hip Hop generational scholars dedicated to researching and developing the cultural and educational potential of Hip Hop, urban, and youth cultures. Dr. Peterson has written numerous scholarly articles on Hip Hop Culture, African American Literature, Culture, and Linguistics as well as Urban Studies. He has conducted interviews with Gil Scott Heron, Dr. Manning Marable, Sistah Souljah, Snoop Dogg, Dead Prez, DJ Jazzy Jeff and generally applies his journalistic skills and his ethnographic training toward innovative academic inquiry.  Dr. Peterson has been featured on/in BET and Bet.com, The Michael Eric Dyson Show, Hot 97s Street Soldiers, The Michael Baisden Show, and the award-winning PBS documentary, Beyond Beats and Rhymes. He has appeared on Fox News, CBS News, MSNBC, ABC News, ESPN, HLN, and various local television networks as an expert on Hip Hop culture, popular culture, urban youth and politics.  He has published his scholarly work in Callaloo, Black Arts Quarterly, XXL, and African American Review. Peterson is currently working on his first book, Major Figures: Literary Approaches to Hip Hop Culture (Mississippi University Press).  He has also been featured and/or quoted in Vibe Magazine, Philadelphia Weekly, Southern Voices and The Wall Street Journal.  For more information, speech clips and media appearances, go to: www.youtube.com/user/DrJamesPeterson.

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