New Program Unveiled to Support Black Students at City College

Students, staff, and faculty ducked underneath an archway of red, black, and green balloons to enter the crowded lobby of Harry Britt Building (HBB) Room 101. Earth, Wind & Fire played softly in the background as people found seats in plush armchairs or office chairs grouped around a table of computers. 

Interim Dean of Social Sciences, Behavioral Sciences, Ethnic Studies, and Social Justice Andrew King announced a new program for Black students called The Village on Sep. 3 to the guests gathered in room 101.

“We did surveys with our students in African American studies (AFAM),” said King "Students didn’t know where the resource centers were, who did what, and from that data we developed a model of The Village.” 

King started developing The Village last spring with support from partners at UMOJA/African American Scholastic Programs (AASP) and the Office of Student Affairs. In addition to surveying students, King and his collaborators collected research from the African American Transfer Tipping Point Study to design a comprehensive approach to Black student success. 

“There was a desire to have folks all under one roof, but more of a desire to provide consistency" said Tanea Lunsford Lynx, chair of the AFAM department "Consistent open hours, student workers, and ability to deliver resources."

“It’s a model that is really bringing together [everything] rather than duplicating and separating programs.”

The Village gathers teachers from AFAM, counselors from UMOJA/AASP, and supplies from the African American Resource Center (AARC) into a suite of offices in HBB 101. Visitors can meet with professors, draft an academic plan, grab a snack or hygiene product, and do homework on a working computer all in one location.          

“When students come into the space, they see the model of The Village and all the resources, the components, the academic, the social, the physiological, coming into one space.” said King. 

Guests of The Village ranged from longtime UMOJA/AASP staff to first-semester newcomers. Sabrina Hall, AFAM student worker and Vice President of Public Relations for the Associated Students Council of Ocean Campus (ASCO), led a game of “human bingo” to get everyone in the room acquainted.

Students, counselors, and faculty jogged from person to person, asking each one to sign their name on bingo squares that read “likes hoghead cheese” or “sings the Stevie Wonder version of ‘Happy Birthday.’” After 15 minutes, one student waved a bingo card with all 16 squares signed and dashed around the front desk to collect a prize bag containing City College swag.  

“I like the fact that I can be myself here,” said Hall. “[I can] be an African American, I don’t have to code switch. I can talk real here.”