Kamau Ptah
Program Design and Facilitation Specialist
Husband, father, leader, teacher, traveler, drummer, writer, Indigenous Spiritual Technologist, and practitioner of sacred healing modalities are several terms that have been appropriately assigned to characterize Kamau Ptah.
With over 30 years of experience, Kamau has become a trailblazer in education, creating transformative systems and fostering healthy cultures in the communities he serves. As the Founder and Executive Director of Akoben Enterprise, Kamau is making powerful contributions to the disciplines of education, youth development, cultural centered pedagogy, restorative practices, social and emotional learning, and school culture and climate.
Kamau earned his BA from Hampton University in History/Social Science and Education and his master’s degree in School Administration from Cambridge College. Additionally, he was the was the co-founder and Program Director of the Urban Assembly Academy of History and Citizenship for Young Men (one of the first all boy public high schools in New York City since the 1960s) where he has provided his consultancy services.
For the past 15 years, Kamau has proudly served as a consultant for COSEBOC. Also, he has consulted with My Brother’s Keeper, the New York City Department of Education, the Eagle Academy for Young Men, FHI 360, Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute, Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs, Westchester Department of Social Services, and STRONG Youth, Inc. to name a few.
Kamau’s journey is a testament to the power of passion, expertise, and unwavering dedication in preserving and deploying sacred traditions for the betterment of boys and young men of color and the communities that serve them.
Kamau Ptah, the Executive Director of Akoben Enterprise and COSEBOC’s Professional Learning Facilitator and Consultant, has played a pivotal role in shaping and implementing rites of passage curriculum framework and practices for several important COSEBOC Programs. His commitment to centering youth voice through the rites of passage approach has left an indelible mark on COSEBOC’s mission and the experiences it offers boys and young men of color.
Ptah’s journey with COSEBOC began with the proposal to establish the rites of passage methodology at the central focus of the COSEBOC Annual Gathering of Leaders Conference. This initiative, introduced in 2009 at Dillard College, brought together hundreds of educational leaders, scholars, researchers, and policymakers while authentically showcasing the voices of boys and young men of color. Ptah was integral to some of the most successful and replicated activities at this COSEBOC event including the “Walk of Integrity,” ancestral tribute, and other meaningful elements that marked the birth of COSEBOC’s Young Men’s Passage (YMP), a program that gained prominence and distinction at all the Gathering of Leader events.
Additionally, Ptah’s visionary leadership extended beyond COSEBOC’s Annual Gathering of Leadership conference. His instrumental role in working with COSEBOC’s executive team in conceptualizing, designing, and providing professional learning experiences for facilitators in Philadelphia’s underperforming schools led to the creation of the COSEBOC 444 Sankofa Passages Program, impacting over 400 boys and young men. His dedication culminated in the development of the “Discovering Rituals Understanding Manhood (DRUM)” professional development course, which became a COSEBOC staple addressing the need for a safe space to support men navigating their personal and professional journeys as they create transformational and healing spaces for the boys and young men that they serve. Through his unwavering commitment to rites of passage practices, Kamau Ptah has significantly contributed to COSEBOC’s mission as a go to vendor and collaborator, fostering transformative and culturally relevant and healing centered educational experiences for boys, young men, and seasoned men of color.