Black in Glendale officially kicked off fundraising last week for the Black Scholars Fund, which intends to provide scholarships to Black Glendale Unified School District graduates beginning in 2025.
Money generated from this fundraising effort will be sent directly to accredited colleges or universities that students will attend.
Black in Glendale founder Tanita Harris-Ligons said the fund is all about action.
“We’re putting our money where our mouths are,” she told the News-Press. “[Rather than] just saying we want our [Black students] to take those steps toward matriculating and furthering their education, we are doing something about it.”
Board of Education Vice President Ingrid Gunnell played an instrumental role in getting the project off the ground. As the mother of two Black GUSD alumni, Gunnell noticed there were not any programs or scholarship opportunities dedicated to the Black community despite opportunities being in place for other groups.
“I’m seeing event after event after event and I’m not seeing anything for Black students,” Gunnell recalled thinking. “Where are the events for Black students? Where is the programming? Where is the support? Where is anything for them?”
Harris-Ligons echoed this sentiment.
“There still should be attention and services geared towards Black students,” she said. “Just because they’re the smallest group in Glendale schools doesn’t mean they should not get any attention, any accolades or anything set up for them like a scholarship fund.”
After getting involved in Black in Glendale a few years back, Gunnell decided to see if any members would be interested in a Black Scholars Fund. Having received some community interest, Gunnell met with the Community Foundation of the Verdugos in January to facilitate an official fundraising effort.
“I wanted to start this scholarship because I believe our Black students need to have something targeted for them that lifts them up,” Gunnell told the News-Press.
Harris-Ligons and Gunnell both emphasized how important uplifting Glendale’s community is considering the city’s history as a sundown town. Although Harris-Ligons appreciates the City Council’s 2020 resolution acknowledging and apologizing for the city’s racist past, she said the biggest impact comes from true action, rather than words.
To that end, Mayor Elen Asatryan announced at a Tuesday council meeting that she will be requesting an agenda item for the city to sponsor the Black Scholars Fund and provide a donation of at least $5,000.
With the fund still in the early stages, having just been kicked off on Juneteenth, Harris-Ligons said she is still exploring ways to engage the community with this effort.
Hoping to create unique events to engage the community not only about the Black Scholars Fund but about Black culture as well, Harris-Ligons also wants to have some joint mixers and events, potentially partnering with glendaleOUT and the Glendale Latino Association to get the word out.
Currently, the fund is only for Black GUSD students; however, depending on the level of community support the effort attracts, there is a possibility of expanding to private schools, Gunnell said.
Above all, Harris-Ligons stressed the positive nature of this fund with the goal being simple: supporting Black students.
“The idea that students can actually see that there’s a scholarship fund for Black students, that says something and it means something,” Harris-Ligons said.
To donate to the Black Scholars Fund, visit bit.ly/4c52Dtl.
