Student Organizations and Campus Engagement

Last month, hundreds of student clubs and organizations across our Partner Campuses celebrated Black History Month (BHM). We reached out to organizations that identify as Black or African American and are highly active, based on the number of events published on CampusGroups (CG).

These amazing student groups held over 1,000 events in the last year. The activity of these organizations gears up in February. However, year-round, these vibrant organizations engage with the community and:

🏗️ Build safe spaces.

💁🏿 Share advocacy.

⚖️ Highlight social justice initiatives.

One organization that stood out is the Black Business Alliance (BBA) at Yale School of Management (Yale SOM). In February, the BBA, which currently has 57 members and 8 officers, planned 6 unique events and activities to celebrate BHM .

About the Black Business Alliance (BBA)

Founded over 8 years ago, the BBA works to “enhance the experience of its membership and broader Yale SOM community”. Through its programming, the organization “promotes a diverse, inclusive, and culturally enriching environment at SOM and across Yale University”.

The BBA enables members to connect with the Yale SOM alumni network. It also works to identify internship and job opportunities together with the Career Development Office.

In line with its mission, events held by the alliance, are centered around these four pillars:

Community Building- to help people get to know each other and socialize.
Professional Development- to help people make professional connections.
Advocacy- to see that everyone is treated fairly and with equity.
Education- to help understand what is happening in the community.

To learn more about the BBA and its events, I had the pleasure of speaking with second year MBA student Jordon Rose. Jordon has been on the BBA’s Leadership Team since starting his MBA. This academic year, he served as the Lead for BHM.

Meet Student Leader Jordon Rose

Jordon is an entrepreneur. With a background in psychology and organizational behavioral studies, he has created his own tech startup Innerlytic. Combining Jordon’s passion for technology and social justice, Innerlytic is an online bias discovery platform.

Currently in beta phase, the platform’s purpose is to help individuals, workplaces, and communities uncover unconscious biases. It also offers different solutions to understand biases and foster diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Jordon’s focus within the alliance is “Advocacy” and “Education”. In addition to his role with the BBA, Jordon is an Officer of Yale SOM’s “Out of Office” queer affinity group.

In honor of BHM, Jordon worked with fellow alliance leaders to hold 6 inspiring and diverse events. Each event was centered around one of the four pillars of the alliance’s mission statement.

6 Unique Events Planned for Black History Month

🍔 Food Tasting- The BBA Kicked off BHM with a food tasting. Tickets were provided through the CG platform and the first 75 people to sign up got a free lunch from Ricky D’s Rib Shack. This social and community building event supported a local Black-owned business. The leads for this community building event were Rachelle Clark and Taylor Mitchell.

🖥️ Black to Future: The Future of Tech- This educational event brought together four professionals: two from Amazon and one from Google. The fourth was a beauty tech entrepreneur. The event started with a panel discussion led by Jordon, followed by a short Q & A session. Due to the nature of the topic, this event was completely virtual. The main discussion topics were:

🚀 The future of technology.

❌ What we are doing wrong.

🌈 How identity relates to technology.

🕺🏿 Black Diaspora Dance- This fun social event celebrated the many dances and dance traditions that Africans brought to the world and passed on to their descendants. This in-person event, held towards the end of the month, elicited a lot of interest, and was extremely well attended. It was organized by Rachelle Clark, Omolegho Udugbezi, and Julian Love.

💸 Building Generational Wealth- This educational event, planned by Matthew Mereigh, brought together two current MBA students to speak about building wealth from one generation to the next. The first specializes in real estate investments, while the other is focused on financial advisory services. Both provided tips on financial planning.

👕 BBA T-shirt Sale- The t-shirt design celebrates Black History Month, featuring the name of prominent Black figures that have made history in the Yale logo. According to Jordon, who served as the lead for this event, this is “a way to give thanks to those who made sacrifices to create opportunities for us”. The sale also created awareness around the alliance’s mission, giving people the opportunity to buy swag and interact with BBA members.

👽 Instagram Takeover- This year’s BHM celebrations concluded with an Instagram takeover. The BBA created a story in honor of Black History Month, which was shared with the entire class of MBA students via Yale SOM’s Instagram account. The story featured BBA leaders, enabling students to get to know and relate to these individuals and their experiences. Jordon led this initiative.

Events Promote Equity and are Open to All

In line with its mission advocating for justice and equality for all, events during BHM and beyond were posted on the CG calendar and open to all. BBA members, Yale students, and members from the local community could sign up to events using the CG registration link.

The BBA has several exciting events planned in the coming months. These events include:

🌍 Business in the Continent- This event will bring in two entrepreneurs from Africa to discuss how to do business in Africa and ways to give back to the continent. Both businessmen run social enterprises that are focused on benefiting the continent. Franklin Nyabanga is the lead for this educational event.

🥣 Soup Kitchen Volunteering- This initiative seeks to bring people together to volunteer their time and make a difference in the lives of the most vulnerable. Brandon Jones served as the lead for this advocacy and community building initiative.

🎥 Movie Screening- The BBA will screen “Blasian voices”, a movie about Intersectionality and the different attributes (including gender, race and sexual orientation) that can lead to discrimination and oppression. The screening is being organized in partnership with the Asian American and Pacific Islander Association (AAPIA) and Business Students for Racial Equity (BSRE). Jordon is leading this initiative, which highlights that BBA’s advocacy and education work is about equality for all.

Further, to advocate for intersectionality the BBA is always looking for ways to work with other affinity groups to build safe spaces, share advocacy and highlight social justice initiatives.

What events did your student organization or club hold to celebrate Black History Month? We would love to hear!

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