Founded in May 2001 in Sacramento, California, Africamix uses the unique combination of attractive family-, children- and parent-oriented multicultural music and arts festivals in conjunction with simultaneous specially designed child abuse awareness, education, prevention and intervention activities at the festivals to stage powerful community events with long lasting impact in combating all forms of child maltreatment.
In 2003, Africamix was honored by being nominated for special recognition in the “"Emerging Practices in Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention", an initiative of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Administration for Children and Families, Children's Bureau's Office on Child Abuse and Neglect (OCAN). OCAN was conducting a comprehensive review of nominated model child abuse and neglect prevention initiatives around the nation. Its objective was to elevate its understanding of the kinds of programs and initiatives, like Africamix and its model program approach, that are operating across the country and share the best available information on emerging and promising practices with the child abuse and neglect prevention field.