Bridge The Gap Coalition

Well, this is my last blog fr this semester and to tell the truth I am relieved. This internship has been an eye opening experience riddled with obstacles yet painfully fun.These last couple of weeks I have been adjusting to the fact that I will not be a student anymore and that fact feels good to finally claim for myself. I think that that infatuation has allowed me to push back revising my proposals. I admit at first I needed the help to really understand the critique given to me but over time I just dropped the ball on staying focused on finishing and started putting my focuses elsewhere like work. This has been hard to face because I now have little to no time to finish all of my assignments but it was imperative that I overcame that challenge. Now that I have fund the faults in myself I can start the work necessary to change. I am typing this blog with full knowledge that I have two proposals that need to be revised by this weekend for my presentation next week but I am not stressed. I have scheduled my time for this weekend to finish both proposals so I may add them to my PowerPoint. I admit this will be hard since I work 10-6 pm on Saturday but I will persist.

My greatest challenge with this internship is finding balance within my work, other classes, and intern responsibilities. I would create schedules to properly make use of my time and attention for this internship and my schoolwork. Since I am playing catch up I made another schedule to follow so that I may succeed in finishing  all assignments on time. I recently made my PowerPoint presentation for my final showcase and sent the rough draft to all of the constituents that are invited to this remote presentation. I will finish revising my two proposals this weekend so I may work on my talking points for the presentation. I have also created a google survey to document what is the best time and day to have this presentation. It appears the time that won is 9:00 am- 10:30 am and the day that one is Tuesday. I will email everyone tomorrow about the details of the presentation before I start working on my proposal. 

Below are some of the slides in my presentation.

We are now in week 3 of social distancing to flatten the curve of impact from COVID-19. Public institutions and offices remain closed, however essential businesses are still allowed to remain open for the safety and benefit of everyone. The threat of COVID-19 and its seriousness is looming more over us as the number of people affected grows. We are now living a new normal. Life as we’ve known it has been suspended for a moment and everyone’s in a rush to get it over with. However, things like this take time— especially the good ones— and at this moment, we have a rare opportunity to reassess, reevaluate and to reinvigorate. I’ve spent my time gathering ideas, information and resources for my grant proposal. I was also able to get a hold of Josie and with her help, I was able to further narrow suggestions for my grant proposal. I must admit that there is a lot of pressure to maintain productivity despite everything being suspended. It most definitely has taken its toll on me having to work from home and still participate in classwork activities as though everything’s normal. There’s an imperative to finish especially since I was supposed to graduate this semester. Since that’s not happening, as I am sure a lot of other college seniors in similar positions can relate, it’s a bit difficult to remain motivated to continue as though there aren’t very serious implications from this pandemic. Nonetheless, I believe in this project, and I intend on doing the work and doing it right. If nothing else, it has become even clearer to me that I am contributing my energy and time, skills and mind to a cause I truly stand behind.

Well, to be honest this week has been hectic in the department of time management. I really haven’t given much attention to my internship because of the added stress of bills being due this week and my roommate losing her job due to this crisis. Handling this information is tough because this social distancing order has really effected some people more than others. Thankfully helping others most effected by historical crisis's and current crisis’s is apart of my job and internship responsibilities. I have assigned times to turn in work this week and have been following that path until about Friday night because I did not think I had done anything for my internship since we last touched base, hence the late blog post. I have since learned that setting up and following my schedule is also apart of the criteria of the internship. 

My scheduled day to speak to Josie and do work for BTGC is on Sunday, which is also my day of from work. Before this pandemic I sent Josie a schedule in google docs for my available times to do work, schedule meetings, have check-in’s and when I will be out of town. I have been consistent in my communication and doing the work asked of me. I am planning a video chat with Josie and Amy on Sunday to go over the critique for my proposal presentation, I briefly talked about in the last post. This day I critical for me to finish this proposal as the deadline in April 15th. I’m not sure if COVID-19 effected the deadline for the proposal but I want to be extra cautious and turn in this proposal before April 10th. This semester has been filled with a lot of obstacles but no matter the journey, I must finish strong. 

Social distancing over this last week honestly consisted of a lot of balance on my part to work from home; job, internship and school work. This week was also riddled with a lot of harsh decisions made by U.C.F like the cancelling of the graduation commencement. That hurt me to the core because I was looking forward to my graduation is year and walking that stage as the first in my immediate family to receive a college degree. I was actually with my family earlier in the week for my mothers birthday when I found out about the cancelling of graduation (I had to process my cap and gown refund *sad face*). Focusing on the positive, maybe that time is meant to be enjoyed with my close family and friends. I mean I would have to wait for the real one to come in the mail anyway plus a saved headache from the anxiety that forms on the day of graduation. Back to the topic of the Coronavirus, these quarantine ordinances proved rather grueling for everyone’s communicative response times because of the necessary restrictions imposed on our livelihoods. Some of my teachers, coworkers, and personal friends have been slow in their communication probably due to the surrounding pandemic. With that being said there might not be as much to report for this week but I’ll give it a go.

During this week I figured it would be best to work on balancing between my school assignments and internship responsibilities. I created a couple of documents a week ago to flesh out my ideas for the proposal and describing the training in detail. I went back to those documents this week and added the critiques of last week in them as well as format them in the correct style to be shared for an updated critique. This week Josie critiqued my proposal and challenged my broad solution of cultural competence training's and said I need to “Stick to the mission- use this information to build the grant request. “To improve the quality of life...” for the people in undeserved communities.” It left me feeling a little uneasy because I received feedback last week from Amy that helped me add into this particular topic, while leading me to believe from all of her positive critique that I was on the right track. I took the critique and went over each detail to really figure out HOW I can still use this topic to fully embrace Bridge the Gap Coalition’s mission, my internship responsibilities, and actual tangible outcomes. 

This week has surely been a roller coaster ride because after Spring Break everything has gone to sh*t (excuse my crass language) but’ it’s the truth. This virus has done a lot of fear mongering and ‘othering’ during the beginning of the outbreak. Yes, it should not be taken lightly but it is not a virus that is tied to an ethnic people as it may infect anyone. 

Before the break I had a phone call with Josie and a meeting with UCF community involvement and education department at the downtown campus. We spoke about my responsibilities being gathering data starting with surveying Parramore community w. UCF, collecting research by collaborating w Equity Council, and obtaining funding by presenting Ben & Jerry’s Proposal. During my break I had time to think of and create possible survey questions for data collection which were created in real time after our meeting with the UCF director. An example for the survey questions I prepared is data collection regarding this virus outbreak:

“What financial lesson do you wish you were taught as a child? 

When did you learn it?

Do you have a bank account? 

Do you have savings of more than $100?

During this COVID19 pandemic, are you prepared for this financial emergency? 

How have you prepared?”

I recently took it upon myself during my period of social distancing, to create a training idea for one of my internship responsibilities, obtain funding. The Ben and Jerry’s Grant mentioned earlier is one of the tasks given to me that depends solely on the non-profits abilities to present a project for grant approval. I have done a lot of work with this organization and some of its partners to understanding and creating proposals in the proper style. Since I have spent most of my time learning about writing research proposals, creating grant proposal and understanding the differences between the two. I even made a slight change in what I will present to UCF at the end of the internship (I will go into detail later). I have attached the background to the cultural competence training I am proposing to Ben and Jerry’s. I don’t want to give away any details about the training and what content makes up the training because I am still awaiting the response of Josie and Amy, so that we may move forward with the processes of this proposal. The proposed cultural competence training background is below: 

“FL Law 1003.42 requires the teaching of African American history using books and materials that must focus on the development of slavery, passage to America, the enslavement experience, abolition, and the contributions African Americans made to society in order to qualify as an instructional staff by rules of the Board of Education and the district school board. How has this requirement been met and how are we monitoring its progress? One way is to look at everyday social interactions among people who were indoctrinated to purport this modernized idea of color blindness within institutionalized systems such as the school system. There is no better way to judge the effectiveness of instructional knowledge than through actual application. Color blindness supports the idea that there is no racial caste system because of the illusion of racial integration and perceived abandonment of slavery but what the law fails to specify is what makes an instructor qualified to teach these histories is those staff who has challenged their own biased indoctrination with formal training and/or education. Cultural competence is necessary to understand and practice when indoctrinating students with limited histories. This training is the first step in combating symbolically annihilated communities by providing cultural knowledge and practices as part of the “required… materials” for the teaching of African American history.”

This week has been a little slow in my intern responsibilities but really hectic for the tailoring of this task force idea. The week started pretty rough for me because I was suppose to meet up with Lawanda of the Equity Council to go over proper proposal writing but, I was feeling under the weather so that did not happen. It was a little ironic because we saw each other while I was canvassing for my job, she was driving by and we said “hey... I can’t wait to talk tomorrow,” (little did I know my stomach and uterus was on a different page). I felt bad because I needed the direction and guidance from her for proposal insights but it ended up being a blessing in disguise because, Lawanda and I got to speak over possibly signing a non-disclosure agreement to protect her intellectual property and to clarify her purpose and use for a intern. This is absolutely necessary part in establishing a professional relationship and I encouraged this step because BTGC’s community based economics breakdown includes the “Influence [of] equitable and socially responsible business practices”. I want nothing but the best for The Equity Council and I will gladly sign. We agreed that she will continue to act as a mentor to me and help me in providing an equitable approach for my proposal and task force ideas.

I did end up meeting Lawanda on Tuesday March 3rd for a Community conversation with the Residents of the west side of Winter Park and the city of Winter Park candidates for commissioner. We listened to the blanketed promises of the upcoming candidates and pressured them to listen to the forgotten communities they are say they will be representing. Hearing Lawanda Demand more for her community was a riveting civic moment. Below is a video of her at this public forum. 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/cxtbU313cQajhXoL9

This meeting was inspiring and just what I needed to find more concrete objectives, responsibilities and leaders that will establish a reputable foundation for the task force’s success. Using an Interdisciplinary research approach, I started narrowing my objectives by unpacking the issue in the first place. The task force idea was initiated because of the need to challenge the educational system designed for middle classed white students and offer culturally relevant  practices and African based teaching styles to the current curriculum provided in orange county public schools. Out of the 13 persistently low performing schools in Orange county and Seminole county, I choose one school that has one of the highest percentages of minority students at their school and had the most consistent preforming grades ranging from C-D average. That school is Pine Wood elementary. Pine wood elementary is located in the Hiawassee /Pine Hills city area and which has a 90 percent minority population. These historically black populated cities are some of the areas of study for Bridge The Gap Coalition’s mission for communities to become self-actualized. I want to incorporate this mission with the mission statement for the task force. 

As I reflect on this week I find myself thinking about why there is a need for a task force beside the fact of having something tangible to show at the end of my internship. Part of the answer is found in the theme of the required books for the internship, I have been reading “The New Jim Crow, Mass Incarceration In The Age Of Colorblindness” by Michelle Alexander and have been inspired by her work to consider all of the litigation work done by individuals who fought seemingly reasonable cases against the unreasonable institution.There is no fighting against the systems of inequity if we are only providing biased information to fight our case. Even if the biased information may be valid it is not enough to be valid in the American judicial system in order to prove the need to create a chilling effect on a current system such as prison and education. There must be proof that no matter how you fit into the institutionalized system that it’s effects are infringing on all citizens rights and protections.The task force will provide equitable solutions and differing perspectives that will make the need for educational reform important for all minority students at low performing schools and high performing schools.

The Equity Council’s leader, Lawanda T. did a review of my research proposal and gave me much needed critique and suggestions to strengthen the claims to fit students in any environment. These remarks helped me to think outside of the box to provide research from an equitable perspective rather than a limited one. I have a meeting with her on Sunday 3/1 to discuss the proposal and task force.

This past week has been an eventful and fast-paced one but, I will try my best not to skip any details while keeping my blog post brief. The networking event/movie screening of “Death to the N-Word” on Saturday February 15th consisted of me making connections with some of the artists and vendors of the 1619 festival, and me kicking it with the Film director of the movie we were previewing. I worked a long day of canvass work at my job so staying awake during the movie screening was battle but it’s raw creative aesthetic and powerful messaging was worth the fight. Director Sariq Al-Aleem gave a bit of background around language and how important it is to resist using the highly contested word to obtain power over it’s negative confinements. He makes arguments against the reclamation of the N-word and whether I agree or not it was persuasive in its repetitive persistence and valid truths.

The following day was the 1619 festival. Boy did I wake up early on my day off because of my excitement and slight preparation for the festival. Once I arrived there was still lots of setup happening and I immediately saw the Director of the Equity Council, Lawanda running around frantically prepping for success. I offered my help to run the vendor assignments and sign in of all the vendors who attended the festival. I started by gathering company/vendor information so Lawanda could go back and track the success of the festival. My responsible included finding the perfect spot for vendors to set up their tables, making sure there were tables and chairs available for the vendors, and keeping Lawanda up to date with any information that would be of her concern. I also featured all the vendors on my Instagram story to show Ujamaa or cooperative economics for black history month and sent the Equity Council these media materials for future promotion of their events (Amy from BTGC is pictured below). I spent so much money supporting these vendors and I’m glad because each item I purchased are valuable to me, some items I purchased in my head and not yet financially, such as that awesome leather corset pictured below. The festival was a great way to show Winter Park that black businesses are great investments for the soko marketplace and proof that it can be successful. House representative Anna Eskamani even came down to support and purchased with one of the vendors at the festival (I’m also posted on her personal Instagram page, woo-hoo). I had to flick it up with my girl because she always shown support on many events and campaigns for the community. 

I start this week’s log a little anxious as I await a response for my research proposal. As I stated in the last blog I was given resources to help with my research proposal and its execution. I spoke with Lawanda from the Equity Council Corporation about meeting up and finding ways to create tangible change in equitable education. The great part of being refereed to this awesome resource of B.T.G.C is the fluidity I have to work as an intern/volunteer for the Equity Council. This connection is just the start of something great and I am excited to learn more about what these resource organizations have to offer the community and for myself. Speaking with Lawanda was refreshing because we both agreed that before we delve into the work that we should meet first and get to know each others goals and plans with this internship. The connection was also equally important because I was invited to help with the 1619 festival the Equity Council is hosting for the commemoration of the first arrival of African slaves to Jamestown, Virginia. 

The 1619 festival is a celebration of Africans being apart of the origin of American history and not just a footnote. This festival the first major festival that I will be involved in since I was back home, so needless to say I am stoked. The festival will consist of cultural experiences, health and wellness activities, and a movie screening. The festival is on Sunday February 16, 2020 and starts at 10 a.m or 8 a.m. if interested in the health and wellness activities. The festival is free and open to the public: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/celebrating-black-history-month-1619-fest-in-historic-hannibal-square-tickets-90189432019

Before I enjoy the festival there will be a networking opportunity for the volunteers, members, and talent to prepare for the festival and watch the movie that will be screened at the festival.There I will receive my itinerary and responsibilities as a volunteer. The movie that will be showing is called “Death to the N-word” directed by Sadiq Al-Aleem. The movie will go in depth and power words have on how and what we do in society. The movie screening is not free but there will be a discussion panel available after the film to discuss what went on in the movie and why it is important to discuss the impact of how a single word shapes artists lives.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/exclusive-orlando-premier-of-death-to-the-n-word-film-by-sadiq-al-aleem-tickets-88912045321

There has been much that has happened since I last wrote a post. Posts are usually on Friday but I am submitting week 5 within the start of my 6th week. I must start with my meeting with Amy from Bridge the Gap coalition on Sunday February 2nd at the Drunken Monkey. I threw the part about the Drunken Monkey because I haven’t been there before and I enjoyed the scrumptious shrimp corn chowder (yum). Back to the topic, we talked more about the next steps with BTGC and the upcoming events happening with their affiliate groups for the month of February. We spoke about the blog posts and how they would like to use them for their website in order to share the experience of their first internship. Amy was extremely helpful in clarifying some of the objectives for my position as an intern while providing me the space to explore topics of my choice. While we spoke Amy provided resources in order to aid in my exploration. She pointed me to Lawanda for a partnership with the Equity Counsel to address the inequities in education and to help me find tangible solutions to this historically institutionalized problem. I was also referred to some home school directors that teach students using African based alternative learning methods from the traditional educational practices meant for white middle class students. These Instructors work hard to shape curriculum for majority white or black home classrooms for more diverse ways to combat the racist traditional structures of the education system and to resist excluding others learning opportunities. The practices of alienation in the world make it harder for the youth in high poverty and largely minority areas to participate in education systems that they have no connection to, which is more reason to focus on curriculum and practices that aim to eliminate the attitudes associated with alienation in persistently low performing schools.

This is a late post because I have been working hard with finding research on Orange and Seminole county’s persistently low performing schools as well as, finding out where these schools are located to determine its mean minority population, income, and poverty level to compare to Florida’s median demographics. Creating programs to aid in the educational improvement of African American/Black and minority students using culturally relevant pedagogical practices in the classroom and through cooperative efforts of non-profits who receive public funding and tax credits for education. Some of my proposal called for coalitions and organizations such as BTGC to aid in program development by providing frameworks of culturally relevant practices and African based learning models for the non-profits who receive money for voucher credits. 

This post also took so long because I doubted myself the whole week into a depressive episode that told me ‘I have no idea what i’m doing’ and I believed the message. I know that I am not supposed to have the answers to everything but I felt pressured to pump out a research proposal when I wasn’t really sure what that entailed. Once I finished putting it together I felt a sigh of relief because I tried my best and it is only the beginning. I am excited to collaboration with the home school directors and equity counsel on how to execute a comparative study focusing on best educational practices for the youth of the persistently low performing schools in Orange and Seminole county. I also am nervous to hear back suggestions on how to garner attention from non-profits who aim to help these students but aren’t providing alternatives in learning. This topic has been critical to my studies at U.C.F. and I am happy to use my research with BTGC to create empowerment and sustainability through knowledge for African American and minority youth.

The best ending of this week was attending the boat and wine scenic tour hosted by Josie Allen. This was quite reassuring to my involvement with BTGC and a great opportunity for me to see Josie in a different environment. By far the best ending to a hectic week.

So as I await my meeting with Josie from B.T.G.C I find myself growing a little impatient. I am excited to start my internship but I am just sort of waiting around. I would like to say in this meantime I started the reading list for my syllabus but I have been busy getting ready for my graduation and working on a huge campaign at my job. I have been a little overwhelmed with trying to stay on top of my classwork and job functions, BUT I can say that within my time of waiting to hear back from Josie, I have been working on a campaign that I believe could be tied into Bridge the Gap Coalition. 

I recently went to Tallahassee for a Housing Convening for low/moderate income families and individuals and manufactured homeowners. Most of the residents who were involved were African-American/Black Americans as well as Latinx peoples who are experiencing rent gouging and demand protections for tenants. I do believe some of the members and volunteers who went to the convening has a general knowledge of what is happening with the disenfranchisement of low income communities for corporate profit. The historical practices of red-lining and zoning still remains culprit to what is effecting tenants from affording housing here in Central Florida. It is a little known fact that Black and Brown renters pay up to 3x more than white renters in low-income housing. I believe that the structure of BTGC could help with an increased awareness to how historical practices of discriminatory zoning practices and price gouging relate to the social problems that are happening in the present. 

I would really love to brainstorm some ideas with this organization on how we can address housing for black families through a historical context and bringing awareness to the plethora of problems that relate to housing such as education and health. Even though I am impatient to meet with my internship, everything happens for a reason and maybe I needed to go to this convening to learn more ways to connect historical contexts to social inequities still happening now.

I started the week with a clouded conscious about my path in 2020. I was uncertain about my job and the new internship and how to find balance. I spoke to Josie of Bridge The Gap Coalition and got more clarity with what I must do in my path. I also received that confirmation when I did not get chosen for the position at my job. It was as a weight was lifted off of my shoulders. I am excited and feel more free to dedicate and align myself with such a cool organization. Bridge the gap coalition is a non-profit that seeks to create communities that are self actualized by educating them of their history and connecting history to present social issues.To help describe their values they use African Andinkra symbols such as “Sankofa” which means to reach back. Another symbol they have is a combination of 3 andinkra symbols making up a phrase “Boa Me Na Me Mmoa Wo”.

“This symbol is a puzzle with the arrows showing the meeting between two entities.The red arrow has a square base that fits into the black arrow. The black arrow has a circle top that fits into the red arrow. The green parentheses represent the exchange of resources between the two entities.”