about amaha

brief bio

amaha sellassie is a peace builder, social healer, freedom fighter, network weaver and lover of humanity. amaha serves as president of the Gem City Market Cooperative Board of Directors. He’s an Associate Professor of Sociology and director of Center for Applied Social Issues at Sinclair Community College in Dayton, Ohio.

extended bio

amaha sellassie is a peace builder, social healer, freedom fighter, network weaver and lover of humanity. amaha serves as president of the Gem City Market Cooperative Board of Directors. He’s an Associate Professor of Sociology and director of Center for Applied Social Issues at Sinclair Community College in Dayton Ohio.

amaha is a practitioner scholar dedicated towards building bridges of trust, healing historical wounds, and harnessing the unique gifts and talents of every human being as we press towards a just and equitable society.

As the former chair of the Dayton Human Relations Council Board, his areas of interest include health and education equity, praxis, dismantling structural violence and getting the voice of marginalized communities into the center of public policy in order to emerge structures of belonging that acknowledge the dignity and worth of every human being. He is co-founder and board chair of the Gem City Market, a community driven effort to address food apartheid through a food coop dedicated to increasing access to fresh fruits and vegetables within west Dayton. He is also co-founder of West Dayton Strong an afterschool/summer program in Desoto Bass public housing that is focused on math and reading development utilizing a S.T.E.A.M. curriculum.

Currently he is working towards his Ph. D. in Sociology at the University of Cincinnati with an emphasis on utilizing community based participatory research (CBPR) towards emerging health equity and community transformation.

Attribution and credit

Included above are amaha's most recent bios and select photography captioned with appropriate credit.
When referring to amaha in print please use "amaha sellassie" uncapitalized.

Speaking and Facilitation

May 15, 2021 - Panelist “Black Cooperation! Black Power! — Where we are now and our visions for the future” Up & Coming Food Co-op Conference

May 13, 2021 - Co-facilitator “Building Unity and Cooperation - Refining Our Priorities and Action Steps” Up & Coming Food Co-op Conference

May 13, 2021 - Presenter “Stronger Together: Fostering Cooperation Among Black Food Co-ops” Up & Coming Food Co-op Conference

Apr 28, 2020 - COVIDeo session "Collective Hope" Food Co-op Initiative COVIDeo series, online link to video recording

Apr 16, 2020 - Facilitation "Collective Hope in Time of Crisis" Pop.Ed. Video Conference Gem City Market, online

Mar 6, 2020 - Presentation and panelist"Choosing a General Manager"Up & Coming Food Co-op Conference, Madison WI

Feb 20-22, 2020 - Presenter at Bootcamp for Activism, Coretta Scott King Center Antioch College, Yellow Springs OH

Feb 3, 2020 - "What does an Equitable Community Look like?" 3rd Annual Black Unity Conference, Dayton OHvideo link

Dec 11, 2019 - Presentation"Implicit Bias and Health"dayton children's hospital, Dayton OH

October 22-23, 2019 - Presenter at Symposium Racial Equitable Community Development, Network for Developing Conscious Communities, Baltmore MD

Sep 12, 2019 - Presentation "We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For" PechaKucha Dayton Vol 40, Dayton OH

Mar 2, 2019 - Presentation "Gem City Case Study" Up & Coming Food Co-op Conference, Milwaukie WI

August 1, 2018 - Facilitation "Building Community Power Part II" Popular Education, Gem City Market, Dayton OHdownload illustrated notes

Jul 27, 2018 - Panelist "Forum on challenges facing black adolescents" Greater Dayton Association of Black Journalists, Dayton OH

July 15, 2018 - Facilitation "Building Community Power" Popular Education, Gem City Market, Dayton OHdownload illustrated notes

May 18, 2017 - Presentation "Gem City Market" PechaKucha Dayton Vol 21 Hack Your City #2, Dayton OH

Mar 18, 2017 - Presenter at Community Organizing Conference, Arthur Morgan Institute for Community Solutions

March 2017 - Presenter "Emerging Hope in Communities" Reach Conference, Dayton OH

October 2016 - Presenter "The Praxis of Afrofuturism.” With/Out ¿Borders? II Conference, Kalamazoo College Kalamazoo MI

June 2016 - Facilitation "Intentional Dialogue: Facilitating Insight through the Fishbowl." Conflict Resolution Education Center, Columbus OH

April 2016 - Facilitation "Transforming a College Campus: Inviting Peace through Sustained Dialogue." SOCHE, Dayton OH

March 2016 - "Black Lives Matter. The Social Construction of Race, Healing Historical Wounds and Engerging the World House." University of Dayton Creating Inclusive Community Conference, Dayton OH

Jan 25, 2016 - Panelist "Deciding When to Use Less-Letha Devices" Town Hall Dayton Unit NAACP, Dayton OH

June 2015 - "Connecting Poverty and Violence in the Classroom" International Conference on Conflict Resolution Education, Alexandria VA

January 2015 - "Healing Historical Wounds to Build Community Trust" St. Margaret's Episcopal Church, Dayton OH

Trainings and Certifications

2016 - Crossroads Anti-Racism Training, Chicago IL
2015 - Initiatives of Change Community Trustbuilding Fellowship, Richmond VA
2013 - International Caux Scholars Program, Caux Switzerland
2012 - Neighborhood Leadership Institute, Dayton OH
2012 - Shalom Zone Facilitator Traning, Scranton NJ
2011 - Participatory Action Research at Highlander Institute, Knowxville TN
2011 - Dayton Dialog on Race Relations Facilitator Training, Dayton OH
2011 - United States Institute of Peace Interfaith Conflict Training
2010 - United State Institute of Peace Conflict Analysis Training

Education

M.A. - 2017 - Master of Arts Sociology, University of Cincinnati
Thesis: The Land They Forgot. Testimonies of Communities Lived Experience with Hypersegregation

B.A. - 2014 - Bachelor of Arts Sociology, Wright State University
Minor in Youth and Community Engagement

A.A.S. - 2012 - Associate of Applied Science, Sinclair Community College
Applied Science in Supply Chain Management
Certificate in Geographical Informational Systems (GIS)

Media and Articles

Jan 15, 2023 - VOICES: ‘Beloved community’ is a present possibility Dayton Daily News

July 30, 2021 - Gem City Market Receives $100k Foodservice Equipment Donation progressivegrocer.com

May 27, 2021 - West Dayton Stories: An Immense and Defiant Joy wyso.org

May 13, 2021 - Gem City Market opens to customers after years of planning; SNAP EBT now accepted, whio.com

May 5, 2021 - Destination: Gem City Market by Onita Morgan-Edwards daytonweeklyonline.com

April 21, 2021 - Guest on Cincinnati Edition Dayton's Coming Co-op Market Builds On A Playbook Developed in Cincinnati wvxu.org

April 10, 2021 - 100 work to clean up site of new market daytondailynews.com

April 8, 2021 - Guest on “Like It Is Dayton — The Power of a Co-op: Gem City Market” by Blaq Sage Productions, hosted by Shenise Turner-Sloss

April 7, 2021 - Guest on “Politics of Food: Breaking Bread” podcast by Cristina Gonzalez

February 26, 2021 - West Dayton Stories: Living Into Our Full Humanity audio WYSO Radio

January 7, 2021 - West Dayton Stories: I am Because We Are audio WYSO Radio

“I have witnessed humanity pulling together across difference realizing that together we are strong. This acknowledgment of our interdependence and interrelatedness is a glimpse of hope, of what we can become together as we expand our ‘we,’ become greater in our outlook and truly enter the space of this global pause intentionally seeking to acknowledge the dignity and worth of every human being through our actions rooted in love amongst each other."

amaha sellassie