During a casual conversation with her mother a few months back about Black History Ellis senior Jourdan Washington realized that not all schools have the same depth of programming on the subject.
Then she thought, maybe there’s a way to help. She wrote up a grant proposal and submitted it to McAuley Ministries, which not only liked the idea but agreed to fund it—to the tune of $25,000.
“I didn’t even ask for a specific amount of money. So, yeah, hearing that number that was pretty amazing,” she said. “It’s exciting. It’s cool to see an idea you have work out.”
As a result of her work, an eight-week series of sessions, two Saturdays a month, will begin Sept. 20 at the Bedford Hope Center in the Hill District and will include 20 high school juniors and seniors from Pittsburgh Public Schools and half from a mix of surrounding districts.
The Pittsburgh Black History and Culture Series program will be run through the Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh’s Clean Slate E3 affiliate, which received the grant, and will be facilitated by an instructor from Unity Consultants. Jourdan’s mother, Michelle Jackson, is the communications director for the HACP.
For her part, Washington said she has been doing background and structural work, and will act as an instructing assistant for all the sessions. She said each of the sessions will focus on a different topic in African-American history—music, theatre, politics, sports—and connect the past to the present.
“I wanted to start these classes so students could talk about the history, environment, and spread the knowledge of African-American culture,” she said. “My vision is that my classmates and I will be able to share viewpoints and opinions, which will educate us further about past and current day issues. I hope our interaction will help contribute to everyone’s life presently and open eyes for the future.”
Each session will be videoed and the series will be compiled into a digital format in for wider distribution. Participating students will be provided with copies of the finished product and asked to serve as ambassadors between the program and their high school, providing an opportunity for schools to further bolster their African-American History curriculum without incurring any costs.
“I plan on adding video from outside the classroom, to asking regular people what they know and don’t know about a given aspect of the program. I think that will make it more interesting,” said Washington. “Then we’ll start on the editing and production work. I want to have it ready for Black History Month so that’s going to be tight.”
If it is successful, Washington would like to see the series expanded.
“Not just more students, but perhaps two more grade levels—to freshman and sophomores,” she said. “I’d like to have another class so we can keep the same number of students in each one to maintain the focus.”
(Send comments to cmorrow@newpittsburghcourier.com)
