Hampton Roads made history on, Saturday January 27th 2007, as the inaugural Caribbean Summit was held at the Hampton University Library, Hampton Virginia.  With an audience of over 60 people, the Hon. Dr. Izben Williams - Permanent Representative of St. Kitts & Nevis to the U.S. and Organization of American States (OAS), Embassy of St. Kitts &  Nevis, delivered the keynote address entitled "Unity  is strength".  Dr. Williams emphasized that we must "pursue the things that make for peace and the building up of one another" to achieve real unity .  The purpose of the summit, organized by Mr. Kenneth Williams  and hosted by Dr. Lewis, was to achieve a greater appreciation for the needs of the Caribbean people in the Hampton Roads community while creating fusion and forging a plutonic relationship between its leaders.  The summit was open to all business leaders , Caribbean Organizations and anyone else in the general public.

The vision for this summit was to form a unified body of representatives and develop strategic goals.  A major goal was a pledge by all organizational/community leaders to cooperate and support of all local, regional, national and international Caribbean effort through the election / appointment of delegates.  Another goal was to make a unified presentation  for the upcoming Caribbean American Heritage month in June.  A third was to have a presence in the festivities as Jamestown celebrate their  400th anniversary.

Each business leader and Caribbean organization spoke on  their short term and long term goals; their accomplishments; the constraints they face daily and the synergy that can be derived  from this undertaking. The audience was given an opportunity to express their desires, goals and aspirations for the organizations and leaders in the Hampton Roads area.  The audience expressed their desire for the organizations to reach out to the foreign Caribbean students and younger generation.  The students are key in keeping the Caribbean culture fresh and alive in Hampton Roads.

The summit took over five hours for everyone to make their presentations and answer questions.  As a closing remark, Dr. Williams returned to the podium to reiterate the need and necessity for the Caribbean Organizations to form a collaborative entity.  He also invited the audience to come to Washington DC in June as we celebrate our first anniversary of Caribbean American Heritage month.  He noted that Caribbean leaders are scheduled to be in Washington D.C.  June 19-21st to discuss several issues including U.S. Caribbean relationship and trade.

After the summit, all business leaders, organizers and Caribbean Organization leaders were invited to spend an intimate evening continuing the dialogue with Dr. Williams and Dr. Lewis.  The leaders left the table with renewed energy to take collective measures for the advancement of the Caribbean culture.  Some of the goals were to develop amicable relationships among all organizations; to achieve mutual cooperation when solving economic, social and cultural dilemmas with respect to race, sex, language and religion; to take due account of the educational aspirations and achievements of our youths; and  to take all measures in achieving togetherness and unity in our community.

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