I still remember when Herb English, the current Dean of Counseling and Special Programs at Riverside City College and the current president of the African American Male Education Network and Development (A2MEND), mentioned to me that I needed to listen to Nipsey Hussle. (At that time, I thought I was up on hip hop but never listened to Nipsey Hussle, so thank you, soon-to-be Dr. English.)
Nipsey’s track, “Last Time That I Checc’d,” is about putting in the work to be successful and remembering those who helped you along the way. This has been my Black Student Success Week anthem because, for me, Black Student Success Week is more than an initiative – it is a collective movement supporting Black Learner Excellence. In the Unapologetic Leadership Thoughts: Making Black Student Success Week – This Isn’t a Moment, it’s a Movement, I discussed how institutions can implement Black Student Success Week, including adapting our toolkits, engaging the campus community, collaborating, the importance of diversifying faculty, and reviewing institutional structures and policies. Just like Nipsey’s track (RIP), I believe achieving our dreams is within our reach, especially for our Black students. That is the driving behind this work and Black Student Success Week, which we celebrated less than one month ago.
Black Student Success Week was founded in the spring of 2020 with various organizations within the California Community College System. However, the goal is for Black Student Success Week to be an event for institutions of higher education across the country, not just California. (Please mark your calendars now. Black Student Success Week occurs the last week of April.) Because if we all work together on this common goal, we can improve Black learner enrollment (which has seen steep declines since 2000) and Black Student Success at our institutions.
Black Student Success Week’s Activities included:
- Daily webinars, oriented for higher education practitioners, hosted from 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m., called #TheBlackHour
- Daily small group discussion forums following the webinars to discuss the previous hour’s presentation, from 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m., called #TheAfterParty
- A virtual advocacy day was held on Thursday, April 25, 2024, called #TheBlackOut.
- Daily student-centered webinars hosted from 6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m., called #TheStudentHour
Before I share the data from Black Student Success Week, I have to mention that this year, we established a website for https://blkstudentsuccess.com/; previously, we had a linktr.ee. On our website, you can get more information on Black Student Success Week, our partners, links to the webinars, and a place to purchase Black Student Success Week merchandise. Again, this is a movement; this year, we had over 400 individuals participate each day in the #TheBlackHour workshop. We are still collecting data as #TheBlackHour workshops are still being viewed on YouTube. This year, we had over 80 watch parties at different community colleges (however, we don’t know how many people attended each one). For #TheStudentHour, which was focused on current and prospective students working with the California Community Colleges I Can Afford College Campaign, we had over 3,400 individuals participate in all four workshops held in the evening.
Black Student Success Week’s growth was evident this year, not just in the number of participants but in the unique ways our colleges and communities expressed their support of Black Learner Excellence. At Compton College, we held a watch party every day. Shouting out my students during the #TheBlackHour and sharing lunch with them while we discussed the webinar during #TheAfterParty was easily one of my favorite Black Student Success Week moments. I especially enjoyed watching the posts on social media about what each college/district was doing, marveling at how we’ve grown since 2020 when we didn’t have this collective movement around Black Student Success.
I have always considered myself an activist, and I try hard to be strategic in this work. I am always thinking about how we organize ourselves around this movement. For Black Student Success Week, we have a planning committee, which I chair. The planning community includes partnering organizations, the Equity Avengers, California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office, the American Association of Community Colleges, A2MEND, and Umoja Community, to name a few, in addition to various faculty, classified professionals, and administrators from around the state of California who are committed to this work. The planning committee meets year-round. We don’t take a month off from meetings because we all know if we aren’t working towards Black Student Success, who else will? This is a working planning committee, as all members have assignments, and we hold each other accountable. In addition to the planning committee, we have regional leads who work with each of the colleges’ Black Student Success Week contact persons. The regional leads model was implemented this year to provide more support to the respective colleges’ contact persons. When we first started Black Student Success Week, everyone was directed to #TheBlackHour. Now, many colleges/districts are hosting their events during Black Student Success Week, and #TheBlackHour is just one of many things happening during that week.
Now, in every movement, you must have results, and it’s not just about gathering and having conversations; it is also about improving Black student enrollment and their outcomes at our institutions. In doing so, it also includes legislation. During Black Student Success Week, we developed our legislative policy agenda, and we had “#BlackOutDay,” an advocacy day. I always remind educators about the importance of advocacy in the roles we have, and if we don’t do it, who else will act on behalf of our students? This year, we had a lot of items on our policy agenda, but for me, the most important was California Senate Bill 1348 (Bradford), which was amended this week and would establish the California Black Serving Institution Designation (More in a later thought). This legislation sets the stage for there to finally be a national designation for Black Serving Institutions (BSIs), and I am hopeful that this will happen as a part of this movement. In December 2022, I announced Compton College was a BSI. I stated that “being a Black-Serving Institution means we strive daily to serve all students while unapologetically seeing and valuing the Black learners’ experience.” This definition of being a BSI emphasizes serving and valuing Black students. Being a BSI is not about just the number of Black students enrolled but how we serve those students.
The Black Student Success Movement was the inspiration for the California Senate Bill 1348, as I was able to work with California State Senator Steven Bradford and Dr. Luke Wood, President of Sacramento State University, on the amendments. I take the responsibility to speak up for Black Student Success; as Nipsy Hussle says, “Last time that I checked, I’m the street’s voice out West.” As it relates to Black Student Success, we are all the voices and advocates for our students the last time I checked.
This year’s theme for Black Student Success Week was Building a Better Future Together: the Urgency is Now, challenging us all to be a part of the solution. It’s time for us to work together to hold our college leaders and policymakers accountable. We must use our voices for advocacy and, most importantly, action on our campuses. We all have the power to create the change we wish to see by sending letters to our lawmakers, sharing these posts, and reminding our leaders that we are watching. The last time I checked, we would accept nothing less than the best support we can get for our students, especially our Black students.