The mission of the Boukman Institute is to generate relevant information, research and knowledge which would contribute to constructive public debate on the social,educational,cultural and economic issues critical to the well-being of peoples of African descent with special emphasis on the African American population in the United States.  While socio-economic and cultural studies are still critical to our work, we will expand our mission to incorporate cognate action-oriented goals and objectives. Foremost among such goals would be to help build sustainable urban communities incorporating principles of environmental justice, human rights, sustainable agriculture, and clean production within an ecologically appropriate framework.