[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 33 (Friday, February 23, 2024)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E173]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  HONORING REVEREND MATTHEW AARON QUAINOO AS A DISTINGUISED LEADER IN 
                CENTRAL FLORIDA FOR BLACK HISTORY MONTH

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. DARREN SOTO

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, February 23, 2024

  Mr. SOTO. Mr. Speaker, in 2019, at the age of 23, Reverend Matthew 
Aaron Quainoo, Ph.D., became the youngest senior minister in the 
history of Solid Rock Community Church in Kissimmee, the largest 
Caribbean/African-American congregation in Central Florida. He also 
earned his doctorate in American history from Howard University in 
Washington, D.C., in August of 2022 while pastoring at Solid Rock.
  Dr. Quainoo has put his training as a professional historian to good 
use by leading Solid Rock to serve as the first and only organization 
in the Ninth Congressional District of Florida to teach the AP African-
American Studies course that was banned by the Florida Department of 
Education free of charge for high school students and members of the 
community during Black History Month this year.
  Under Dr. Quainoo's leadership, Solid Rock Church led Central Florida 
in offering its first mobile vaccine event in one of the poorest zip 
codes in Florida at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the last 
four years, Solid Rock has fed over 12,000 families experiencing food 
insecurity through a monthly food pantry. Under Dr. Quainoo's 
leadership, Solid Rock is the first and currently only church in the 
City of Kissimmee to offer a cold-night shelter to those experiencing 
homelessness in Central Florida. Dr. Quainoo is the educational 
establishmentarian and visionary for the Still We Rise Excellence 
Academy, a private Christian school housed at Solid Rock Church that is 
committed to spiritual formation in making disciples of Jesus Christ, 
academic excellence, and cultural, curricular, and civic courage. This 
elementary and middle school will teach the Black history that is 
banned in the state of Florida when it opens in August of 2024.
  Dr. Quainoo sits on the Board of the prestigious Hope Partnership, 
the leading non-profit combating homelessness and poverty in Central 
Florida, as well as serving as the special advisor of the Black 
Empowerment Council of Osceola County, a non-profit committed to 
seeking justice and unity for oppressed persons of color and all 
disenfranchised people in Central Florida.
  Dr. Quainoo is happily married to the beautiful Lady Rhesa Quainoo 
and has three marvelous sons, Matthew, Martin, and Micah.
  On February 22, 2024, Reverend Matthew Aaron Quainoo was honored as a 
distinguished leader in Central Florida for Black History Month.

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