What is Black Power Initiative?
A message from the Executive Director.
“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”
― James Baldwin
To be honest, when I founded Black Power Initiative, the only thing in my mind was the murder of George Floyd replaying in my head like a broken record. I spent countless nights crying and wondering if change was even possible. It was on June 11th, 2020, when I recognized that change WAS not only possible but change HAD to happen. On this day, Black Power Initiative was established as an official non-profit organization in the state of Ohio and Black Power Initiative was created to be a part of the change that is needed to ensure that Black Americans receive both equality and EQUITY.
Equity is understanding. Equity is empathy. Equity is ensuring that each person is being given the neccessary amount of resources and opportunities to create EQUAL outcomes for ALL people.
For centuries, Black Americans have faced oppression and systemic injustices that have created socioeconomic gaps between Black and White people. Median incomes of Black People on average is ten times less than their White counterparts. This wealth gap creates barriers to many of the most basic human rights which includes housing, transportation, healthcare, education, and healthy food. These barriers create stress, anxiety, depression and eventually leads to death if not addressed on time.
So then, what are we supposed to do as a community to create equity? Remove the barriers! In September, 2020, Sasha Blackman (pictured shown) suggested that we focus on creating a program that removed some of the barriers to nutritious, healthy foods. Our free food program was founded and would eventually become the staple of our organization.
The free food program allowed us to feed thousands of Cincinnati residents with the support of YOU. Together, we addressed the healthy food gap by providing foods that were affordable and distributed directly to community members.
In the midst of our free food program, came Jasmine Miller (pictured above to the right). Jasmine proposed that we tackle the educational gap that exists between Black and White people. Our educational system is racially divided. The National Report Card (NAEP) shows that from 1992 through 2019, the average reading and math scores for Black 4th, 8th, and 12th graders had always been lower than those of their white peers. There are many barriers to adequate education, and it takes a well-rounded approach of collaboration, curriculum changes, and increased resources.
Black Power Initiative established Liberated Minds Institute (LMI), the educational wing of BPI. LMI bridges the gap between within our educational system by hosting both parent and student classes that focuses on topics that are critical to classroom success. LMI’s biggest success has been the annual “For the love of literacy” event that we have co-hosted with the Winton Hills Recreation Center. These events included us collecting and distributing more than 1000 Black books to 100+ kids while providing a learning environment of reading and arts and crafts around those distributed books. LMI has also offered mentoring sessions, tutoring, and book clubs for the youth of Cincinnati.
so then… what’s next?
We are focused on expanding and increasing the reach of our free food program. We have shifted our efforts to food recovery, and we are currently recovering and distributing thousands of pounds of food a month to the predominantly Black community of Walnut Hills of Cincinnati. Walnut Hills does not have a grocery story thus is suffering from a food apartheid. Our plans are to reach other Black neighborhoods suffering from food apartheids, continuing to break down barriers to healthy food access and bring more. equity into the our communities.
The heart of Liberated Minds Institute is literacy and the current mission is to increase literacy rates in the city of Cincinnati. LMI will be hosting a summer book club that is centered around providing an interactive and fun literary environment to promote literacy growth. The book club will be held in Walnut Hills from July to the beginning of the 2023 school year.
Black Power Initiative has a lot more to accomplish and we need your help to make it happen, join our mission to bring equity, remove barriers, and close gaps between our communities. BLACK POWER INITIATIVE FOREVER. - Rico (pictured to the left)
