African American History Awareness & Resources

Thank you to all staff, teachers, parents, and students who promoted African American Awareness month as an integral part of our history and cultural identity during the month of February! Here are a few of the inspirational events, recognition and resources that I was fortunate to see. I want to share these out and remind everyone that though the awareness month of February has ended, African American history is something that we should all be incorporating into our lessons and activities all year long:

Concord student wins Humanitarian of the Year!
HBCU fair
Dr Carrie Frazier, Ruah Community Outreach
MDUSD Parents for Multicultural Education
Resources on Equity & Diversity
East County NAACP Membership & Scholarship Gala

Contra Costa Humanitarian of the Year – Christina Mazzi

Did you know that a student from MDUSD’s Concord High won a countywide recognition of her work? Yes! Christina Mazzi is a senior at Concord High who decided to build a more positive culture on Instagram by featuring successful women of color. Visit ProjectWOC to be inspired by women of color athletes, academics, artists, and more. https://www.instagram.com/projectwoc/

Not only that, she was named a 2018 Buck Scholar and has won a scholarship from Chevron. "In my 10 years working at Concord High School Christine is the first student that has left me speechless when I think of all that she has accomplished and how she is changing lives for women of color; I can honestly say that I have never worked with a more selfless teenager than Christine," said School Counselor Becky Heindlel.

HBCU Fair

Thanks to Brian Brown, college and career counselor at Mt Diablo High, our school district hosted the HBCU (historically black colleges & universities) Fair for the 2^nd year in a row at Mt Diablo High. Students from all over our district attended, and over $2 million in scholarships were awarded on the spot.

Dr. Carrie Frazier, Ruah Community Outreach

Ruáh Community Outreach is a non-profit, community service organization founded by Dr. Carrie Frazier. https://www.ruahoutreach.com/

Dr. Frazier has been bringing her African American history exposition each year to Bel Air Elementary! Here she is in action:

MDUSD Parents for Multicultural Education

Students and parents at Valhalla Elementary took the initiative to celebrate Black History Month by putting up posters around the school, and from there it grew into a full on event on Feb 28^th including activities, inventions, books & book marks! I recently met parents Cri and Michelle, who started a Facebook page to share out resources and ideas to all families, teachers and staff in Mt Diablo schools. Follow them here: https://www.facebook.com/multiculturalparents/