Hiram Johnson High School will be hosting its first Black Family Night, taking place on Wed-2/27 at 6pm. In hopes to provide our African American youth and families at Hiram Johnson and American Legion High School students with more resources, and opportunities available to them in the community. I spoke with the event director Delecia Sydnor and she says, “its important for our teens to know about resources that they didn’t know was open to them. We’ll have vender booths to assist the teens with getting library cards, WIC vouchers, etc. We want to ensure our students have no excuse for drop-outs and not going to college.” The long term mission for the youth is to ensure students are socially and academically empowered, improve cultural competency, appreciation and acceptance between the students and the community and to improve the quality of life for our students. Delecia is also the director of their after-school program where they service 300 students a day and assist them with study hall and empowering them to the next level. She expresses, “80% of suspension are black students and we notice that most of them aren’t getting enough support of money in home and experiencing mental health issues.” Our youth are used to getting into trouble and not exceeding, Black Family Night will provide a safe place for them to socialize and gain new tools to help achieve their personal and professional goals.
Key businesses, community groups and church ministries will be in attendance to help this effort, with a special award ceremony to acknowledge Hiram Johnson students of their improvements in school. Parents are encouraged to attend and take advantage of the free resources available to them.
If your business or community group is interested in hosting a vender booth its not to late to sign up.
For more info call (916) 588-6292 or email Delecia-Sydnor@scusd.edu .
Contributing Staff Writer, Mogul Mioshi mioshi@sacculturalhub.com
