Priscilla Dames Blake is a nationally Certified Crisis Trainer, Conflict Resolution Practitioner, Educator, and Community Activist with over thirty years of rich and varied experience in South Florida. She taught students from the primary to the university level, beginning her career with the Miami-Dade County Public Schools System and includes experience as an Adjunct Instructor at Barry University.
Ms. Blakes’ professional contributions go well beyond the classroom. Her ever-increasing expertise in facilitation, conflict resolution and multicultural education continues to guide her career. She was selected by the Anti-Defamation League to receive training as a Facilitator/ Consultant and was sent to racially tense situations throughout Florida on their behalf. The Mediation Training Institute International (MTI) certified her as a Trainer of Trainers in Managing Workplace Conflict and the Supreme Court of Florida has certified her in Court Mediation. More recently, she was a consultant for the University of Miami’s Teacher’s Institute on “Infusing African American History across the Curriculum.” Eventually, Ms. Dames became a Safe Schools Specialist. As a Safe Schools Specialist for the Miami-Dade County Public School System, she was responsible for conflict prevention and intervention, crisis response and student, staff and community training on topics relative to conflict resolution, gang prevention, bullying and cultural diversity. She continues to make public appearances and accepts speaking engagements at businesses, churches and conferences on a local and national level.
Ms. Blake earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Sociology and American History, with a Certification in Education, from Ball State University, and a Master of Science Degree in Elementary Education from Nova Southeastern University. She is currently considering the continued pursuit of a Doctorate in Conflict Analysis and Resolution at Nova Southeastern, as a logical extension of her lifelong commitment to an interest in human diversity. She began an Internship with the Martin Luther King Center for Nonviolence. This affiliation started with a stint at the Conflict Center for Resolution in Kenya, Africa and was completed with a visit to The King Nonviolence Center in Havana, Cuba. She delivered presentations on “Conflict between Genders” and “Whose Music is it Anyway: the Conflict of Language” to faculty and staff at Eagerton, University, during her time in Kenya. Prior to this undertaking she was invited to address the Women of Parliament in Zambia, Africa, which led to recognition from the Zambian Minister of Education.
Her quests and topics of interest include supporting women business owners as past Chairperson of the Women’s Business Council, Miami-Dade Chamber of Commerce and providing women empowerment workshops. Blake is also a member of the National and Florida Crisis Teams and was actively involved with victim assistance efforts following the spate of hurricanes that hit Florida in 2005 and the crisis in Haiti, 2010. She is a lead trainer of Kingian Nonviolence, certified by the Nonviolence Institute at the University of Rhode Island. Her dream experience was realized as she trained ex-militants in the Nigerian Amnesty Program in Nigeria, Africa.
Ms. Blake is Founder and President of Wingspan Seminars, LLC, www.wingspanseminars.net, whose mission is based in conflict resolution and provides seminars focusing on improving organizational relationships as well as communal peace initiatives. Her affinity for supporting women led to a natural progression. In September 2011, Wingspan introduced a new component, Wings on Women (WOW). The mission is to assist women in the establishment of a safe environment through self development and understanding the principles of women’s empowerment. WOW seminar training and activities help provide the wings women need to enrich their lives by broadening their scopes. WOW’s initial activity was Skydiving for Women’s issues, November 2011. Its purpose was to highlight the problems women and girls continue to face; equal pay for equal work, domestic violence, disparities in government bid awarding and health to name a few. She has hosted a blog talk radio and television show. Wingspan’s inaugural global seminar, Wings on Women International Summit was held in Belize, March 2020. Mrs. Blake will launch her latest initiative, Wingspan Academy that addresses parents’ conflicts during the pandemic in February 2021.