Like many programs that operate beyond school, YGB has had to shut down in the face of the Corona Virus. We had our last physical rehearsal for our program in Berkeley in early March and have since been sheltered in place, unable to continue to engage members of YGB or the larger community with our brand of Black pride. With support from the Akonadi Foundation, and encouragement from Berkeley Unified Schools District we have developed a series of lessons around the songs, poems and historic figures that YGB studies and presents to community. In this way, YGB Online is not only taking the place of our physical engagement, but also offers us broader opportunities to provide service for African and African American youth around the world.
Fortunately we had limited our engagements to the Kids of YGB after spending the last two years transitioning to and deepening our engagement with Berkeley Unified Schools District. We have closed down the Black Sheroes and Kings, all of whom now serve as the Alumni of YGB along with the former members of Black Gold. Currently our Berkeley program is led by our Associate Director Ikera Davis who was an original member of YGB Oakland, Black Gold and the Black Sheroes. She is joined by two assistants, Austin Marshall, also former YGB Oakland and Black Gold founding member, and Nyame Imani who is a recent alum of the Black Sheroes, and is a senior at Oakland School for the Arts. In the past we have had alumni serve as a support system for the kids, including YGB alum Zoe Krause, Alonzo Henderson, Kahlil Chatmon, Nia Lundkvist, and some others. All of these students are currently attending or recently graduated from College. Its amazing to think YGB has been in operation for that long.
Our initial launch of this Online platform will be exclusive for the youth of YGB, but we hope in time to be able to make these lessons available to a much broader audience, and provide further engagement opportunities for young people in Black History. These lessons are currently aimed at youth grades 2 - 7, however in time we plan to load lessons for High School as well. We will be adapting work we have been doing for the past 3 years around Mr. Davis Classroom into these lessons, and work to create a robust place for online Black History curriculum that is relevant, compelling and inspiring.
If you would like to help us in the creation and decimination of curriculum that uses Black History as a foundation, contact us at 123ygb@gmail.com. We plan to develop an online database of lesson plans for educators, parents and youth development professionals to share with the young people they work with. Though this project is being developed in response to COVID-19, we will continue its development long after this particular crisis is over.