Kent Amos New Speaker at 2003 Minnesota Prayer Breakfast.

Business Editors

MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 31, 2003

Former Corporate Executive Amos Established Community Academy

Public Charter School; Previously Scheduled Speaker Unable to Attend

The Minnesota Prayer Breakfast Committee, a nonprofit organization that organizes and implements the annual Minnesota Prayer Breakfast, announced today that Kent Amos, decorated veteran, former Xerox Corporation executive and founder of the Urban Family Institute (UFI) and the Community Academy Public Charter School, will replace Chief Charles A. Moose as the featured 2003 Minnesota Prayer Breakfast speaker. Chief Moose serves as the Chief of Police of Montgomery County, Maryland, and has recently been acclaimed for his decisive work in connection with the apprehension of the "Washington Snipers." Chief Moose was recently called to active duty as a member of the National Guard.

Kent Amos will share his story of Faith at the Minnesota Prayer Breakfast on April 16, 2003. Enjoying a promising career in corporate America, Kent Amos, with his wife Carmen, began opening their hearts and their homes to dozens of teenagers, providing a structured environment, respect, discipline, high expectations, a sense of family, and plenty of encouragement. Seeing the vast majority of his kids become solid and contributing members of their communities, tempered by the heartbreak of losing several, provided Amos an ever-expanding vision of what could be accomplished and the dangers of not acting on the children's behalf.

Amos' subsequent focus on systematically reforming the way communities nurture and develop children brought him to found the Urban Family Institute in 1991. UFI sought to strengthen neighborhoods and families through resources and programs that provided children the close guidance, nurturing, discipline and support essential for them to reach their full potential. Kids' House was an innovative UFI program that created neighborhood safe havens. In these urban safe havens, children were helped to learn and develop during non-school hours.

Recognizing the pivotal role of neighborhood schools, Amos saw in the newly emerging charter school movement several years ago the opportunity to meld his successful Kids' House model and emphasis on strengthening neighborhoods within a traditional school framework. UFI gave way to Community Academy Public Charter School, one of the leading charter schools in the District of Columbia and a model for charter schools nationwide. Community Academy incorporates Amos' vision in a vigorous academic program that helps children acquire the skills and knowledge to succeed. Now entering its fifth year of operation, Community Academy has been nominated for numerous awards. Its School Leader was named 2002 Principal of the Year by the DC Public Charter School Resource Center.

Widely recognized for his personal work with children and expertise in child-related public policy, Amos is a noted speaker and has been featured on numerous radio and television shows, including "Oprah." He and "his kids" were the subject of a cover story in Parade magazine and were included in President Bill Clinton's book, "Between Hope and History: Meeting America's Challenges for the 21st Century." Amos has served in a leadership capacity in a variety of community-based efforts, including chairing the District of Columbia 2000 Census, the DC Commission on National and Community Service, and vice chair of the DC Library Foundation Group. He has received numerous citations, awards and honors.

The Minnesota Prayer Breakfast is a nonprofit project organized by the Minnesota Prayer Breakfast Committee, a nonprofit organization that organizes and implements the annual Prayer Breakfast. The Minnesota Prayer Breakfast was first held in 1961 and is patterned after the National Prayer Breakfast held annually in Washington, D.C. The 43rd Annual Minnesota Prayer Breakfast will be at Touchstone Energy Place at RiverCentre in Saint Paul, Minnesota on April 16, 2003 at 7:00 a.m. The Minnesota Prayer Breakfast alternates annually between sites in Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota. The Co-Chair's of this year's Breakfast are Bill Hogan and Shadra Hogan. For more information, including ticket information and directions to the Breakfast, please visit www.minnesotaprayer.org or call [phone]. A liwmited number of tickets are available at the door.