Honoring the Legacy
Founders & the Vision
The vision of Dr. C. Vincent Bakeman and Dr. Frances L. Brisbane established a unique international conference dedicated to culturally responsive care, education, healing, and service to people of colour.
Together, they created an enduring space where professionals, advocates, community leaders, and people with lived experience could learn from one another while strengthening the services provided to diverse communities.
Meet the Co-Founders
Their leadership, scholarship, international experience, and commitment to culturally responsive care created the foundation CTPOC-IP continues to follow today.
Dr. C. Vincent Bakeman, Ph.D.
Co-Founder
Dr. C. Vincent Bakeman was a visionary humanitarian, mentor, and internationally respected leader. He served as Chief Executive Officer and President of Human Resources Development Institute, Inc. (HRDI), a multi-service nonprofit and nongovernmental health and human services agency serving people with substance use disorders and mental health needs on Chicago’s South Side.
Dr. Bakeman also served as a consultant to the United Nations Drug Control Programme during the early 1990s. Through his national and international work, he recognized the need for greater education about serving people of colour with cultural awareness, dignity, and respect.
Dr. Frances L. Brisbane, Ph.D.
Co-Founder
Dr. Frances L. Brisbane is a nationally recognized scholar, educator, mentor, and leader whose career has advanced health equity, workforce diversity, social work, and culturally responsive care.
For more than 50 years, she served Stony Brook University in numerous leadership roles, including Dean and Professor of the School of Social Welfare and Vice President for Health Sciences Workforce Diversity. Her international research, teaching, publications, and consultation work have addressed addictive behaviors, cultural competency, childhood trauma, aging, and community wellness.
How the Vision Began
As Dr. Bakeman and Dr. Brisbane traveled throughout the United States and internationally, they recognized that professionals needed greater understanding of how culture, identity, spirituality, history, and lived experience influence the health and well-being of people of colour.
In partnership, they developed a vision for a conference where people could educate one another, strengthen culturally responsive services, exchange practical knowledge, and renew their commitment to the communities they served. Their vision began taking shape in 1986 and came to fruition with the first conference in 1989.
Although Dr. Bakeman passed away in 2004, the vision he established with Dr. Brisbane continues to guide CTPOC-IP.
The Vision
A culturally integrated, international conference where attendees become learners, teachers, sharers, and partners in healing.
Culturally Integrated Learning
Our vision is to create a culturally integrated conference reflecting diversity in ethnicity, religion, age, gender, income, geography, and educational experience. Participants engage in meaningful discussions about how these characteristics influence the beliefs, practices, health, mental health, education, and well-being of people of colour.
International Cultural Immersion
The conference is held in countries, cities, islands, and communities connected to the ancestral and cultural histories of people of colour. Each location helps create an immersion experience in the traditions, beliefs, spirituality, and cultural practices of the people who live there.
Teaching, Sharing, and Training
Professionals of all races, ethnicities, religions, and cultures are welcomed to learn both academically and experientially. Whenever possible, conference sessions reflect a Training of Trainers approach so participants can carry the knowledge, skills, and resources back to their workplaces and communities.
Access, Innovation, and Partnership
CTPOC-IP seeks to remain affordable and accessible to professionals who work directly with communities of colour. The conference highlights innovative treatment models and prevention programs while building partnerships with governmental, nonprofit, academic, and community organizations that understand and support its mission.
Renewal and Recommitment
The conference is also intended to be a place of spirituality, harmony, respect, reflection, and renewal. Attendees are encouraged to care for themselves while learning how to care more effectively for others, returning home professionally renewed, culturally responsive, and committed to the people they serve.
CTPOC-IP Across the Globe
Healing Our Communities in Solidarity: The Legacy Continues
Since its earliest gatherings, CTPOC-IP has brought professionals, advocates, community leaders, and people with lived experience together in culturally significant locations throughout the United States and around the world.
Each destination supports the conference’s commitment to cultural immersion, international learning, community connection, healing, and the exchange of knowledge across cultures.
Recent Conferences
- 2025 — Montgomery, Alabama
- 2024 — Panama City, Panama
- 2019 — Fort Lauderdale, Florida
- 2018 — New Orleans, Louisiana
- 2017 — Elmina, Ghana, Africa
- 2016 — Oranjestad, Aruba
- 2015 — Mesa, Arizona
- 2014 — New Orleans, Louisiana
- 2013 — San Juan, Puerto Rico
- 2012 — San Diego, California
- 2011 — Havana, Cuba
- 2010 — Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
- 2009 — Mesa, Arizona
- 2008 — New Orleans, Louisiana
- 2007 — Nova Scotia, Canada
- 2006 — Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
- 2005 — Albuquerque, New Mexico
The Founding Years
- 2004 — Hamilton, Bermuda
- 2002 — St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
- 2001 — San Diego, California
- 2000 — Isla Verde, Puerto Rico
- 1999 — Honolulu, Hawaii
- 1998 — Isla Verde, Puerto Rico
- 1997 — Phoenix, Arizona
- 1996 — Honolulu, Hawaii
- 1995 — Barbados, West Indies
- 1994 — San Juan, Puerto Rico
- 1993 — Honolulu, Hawaii
- 1992 — St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
- 1991 — San Juan, Puerto Rico
- 1990 — Nassau, Bahamas
- 1989 — Hamilton, Bermuda
- 1988 — St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
- 1987 — Paradise Island, Bahamas
From Bermuda to Puerto Rico, Ghana, Panama, Canada, Cuba, and communities across the United States, the legacy continues.
Their Legacy Continues
Be Part of the Vision
Join professionals, advocates, community leaders, and attendees from across the world as CTPOC-IP continues the vision established by Dr. Bakeman and Dr. Brisbane.
