The Umoja Community at Fresno City College hosted its fourth annual Welcome Black Week on campus from Sept. 15-17, where a family cookout was held on the final day. The Welcome Black Week focused on honoring Black students by providing resources and bringing people together in celebration of Black identity.
The Umoja Community, a community on campus aimed to enhance the cultural and educational experiences of students, held panels for student educational planning and entrepreneurship led by Black business owners in the days leading up to the cookout.
The cookout offered free meals to attendees, raffle ticket prizes and information about local programs. Event organizer Davion Baker described the cookout as a family-oriented event for students regardless of ethnic background.
“I think it’s building a community. It’s about building that connectedness and making people feel comfortable,” Baker said. “It’s all to help bring students closer to each other.”
Local vendors from outside of campus gave student aid resources from Fresno programs. The family cookout brought representatives from different programs, which included Habitat for Humanity and the Black American Political Association of California. Baker emphasized awareness for the available services that students can benefit from.
“[Local services] can support students as far as things like food insecurity, or if you need support from the Fresno Metro. If you’re into your faith and religion, if you want to learn about voting and things like that, all these resources are here for students,” Baker said.
Coordinator and counselor of Umoja Community, Arrie Smith, wanted the event to reflect home cookouts, a time when family comes together to converse and have fun.
“We are a community college, right? And so this is having the community come on and share,” Smith said.
Smith encouraged students to seek out support from their local programs, both to receive help and to find a place they belong within campus.
“It’s an opportunity for people to meet new people. It’s a collaboration. We love the fact that we’re having a community come in because of people’s pride in why we’re here and how we’ve been here for over 100 years,” Smith said.
A member of the Fresno City College women’s basketball team, Kayla Silva, attended the cookout with her teammates. Silva expressed appreciation for the event’s ability to bring in students across campus to spend time together.
“It shows different types of people, all different types of backgrounds, and it’s very fun to get to know everyone,” Silva said.
