Damascus Path Initiative

Our Mission

Damascus Path Initiative is a Birmingham-based nonprofit working at the intersection of community care and responsible technology. We expand mental health access for underserved communities and study how emerging tools can serve, not overlook, the people too often left out.

What We Do

Two missions, one road.

The Kairos Institute of AI and Mental Health

We research how artificial intelligence can responsibly support mental health and well-being for communities that mainstream technology tends to overlook, keeping the people we serve at the center of the work, not at its margins.

The Giving Circle Project

We meet immediate, practical needs through direct community outreach, including our food pantry and partnerships with local organizations. Service comes first, and trust is built one neighbor at a time.

Our Story

Where we began.

Damascus Path Initiative is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation founded in Birmingham, Alabama, in 2026. We were created to do two things that rarely sit at the same table: meet the real, immediate needs of underserved communities, and ask hard questions about whether new technology actually serves those same communities. We believe those two missions belong together. Service builds trust. Trust makes honest research possible. And research, done responsibly, can return real value to the people who made it possible.

Our Name

Why we are called the Damascus Path.

The name Damascus Path Initiative draws on the road to Damascus, the journey on which a man set out to do harm and was instead stopped, changed, and given new sight. Over centuries it has come to stand for a turning point: the moment of clarity that sends a person down a different road than the one they were on.

That image sits at the center of our work in three ways.

It's a path, not a single moment. Real change, in a community, in a person's mental health, in how technology gets built, rarely happens all at once. It's a road walked over time, and we mean to walk it alongside the people we serve rather than out ahead of them.

It's about restored sight. The story turns on someone whose sight is taken and then given back. Our work begins by seeing the people that existing systems overlook, and by building care and research that keep them in full view.

It's about new direction and second chances. Above all, the road to Damascus is a story that change is possible for anyone. That conviction shapes how we approach mental health, dignity, and belonging in the communities we serve.

We're an initiative because the work is ongoing, a direction we've committed to, not a destination we claim to have reached.

Leadership

The people behind the work.

$Dr. Summyji S. Groom, DNP$

Dr. Summyji S. Groom, DNP

President & Co-Founder

Dr. Summyji Groom is a board-certified psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner (PMHNP) and Doctor of Nursing Practice with clinical experience serving patients across multiple states. She is also completing a Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence in Medicine. As President, she leads Damascus Path Initiative's mission to expand mental health access for underserved communities.

Eddie Groom

Vice President & Co-Founder

Eddie Groom is an electrical engineer with nearly thirty years of experience across multiple industries. He is completing a PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering focused on AI, machine learning, and the responsible and ethical use of AI, and holds graduate degrees in electrical engineering, business administration, healthcare administration, and healthcare informatics, along with a Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence in Medicine in progress. As Vice President, he leads the organization's research direction and the Kairos Institute.

Research: The Kairos Institute

The Kairos Institute studies how artificial intelligence intersects with mental health and well-being in communities that existing systems underserve. Our approach is built on a simple sequence: we serve first and build trust; that trust, with consent, makes responsible research possible; and the findings are accountable to, and return value to, the community they came from.

Get Involved

There's a place for you here.

Whether you want to volunteer, partner, or support the work, there's a place for you here.