February is Black History Month, and our young people participated in plenty of activities to mark the month honoring the history of African-Americans.

The young women at the Walsh Girls Campus participated in events all month with the theme “Embracing Our Educational Opportunities = Accomplishing Our Dreams.” The activities at the Walsh campus were designed to help the girls to focus on the educational achievements of African-Americans throughout history and prompt a sense of pride and dedication toward their own education. A Black History Month Committee at our Walsh campus, led by coworker Gewanda Monroe, put together all the activities.

Activities included a Black History Month bingo night, a spelling bee with two youth representatives from each home, a movie night, and a project where each home researched one of the first historically black colleges and universities. The girls made a poster with facts about each college, and these were displayed in the cafeteria for everyone to enjoy.

The boys campus also enjoyed a performance of “The MLK Project: The Fight for Civil Rights” as part of the Black History Month activities.

Celebrations culminated at each campus on February 22 with a special Black History Month dinner featuring a soul food dinner. Coworkers also took part in the celebrations by dressing in black, red, and green or by wearing shirts depicting Civil Rights heroes.

The Walsh campus enjoyed a special soul food dinner and each home made a soul food dessert to share.

At the West Loop Campus, a slideshow played in the background during dinner that showed figures and movements from both post-Atlantic slave trade as well as great leaders from Africa and Haiti.

“The objective was to show that their ancestors ruled nations and played an important role in society even before the Atlantic slave trade,” coworker Kevin Felisme, who put together the presentation with Marc Velasquez, explained.

Conscious hip hop also played in the background during dinner, featuring Chicago natives like Chance the Rapper, Common, and Twista.

We are so grateful to all our coworkers who worked so hard to put together a memorable Black History Month for our kids!