8th Annual Legacy Soiree - Black Student Union

Black Student Union’s 8th Annual Legacy Soiree

Estimated Amount to be requested from the CSF: Max $1,000

Project summary

The primary purpose of the Legacy Soiree is to display the success of different African-American professors, students, and professionals within the Seattle community.This year will be our 8th year hosting this event. It will be held on February 1st, 2020. And for the past 8 years, through this event, we have fund raised enough money to officially start our endowment and last year we finally awarded our first $1000 scholarship for one exemplary students! We plan to continue and award our second scholarship. For this year, we have centered our objective around service and transformative justice. We will honor/recognize exemplary Undergraduate,graduate, faculty and community members who embody this theme in their work and studies. This year's soiree, held in the Intellectual House, will involve a night of live music, musical performances from a prominent Seattle artist as well as dance performances including a stroll/step show from Black Greek organizations on campus. This year we will feature two prominent community leaders to speak. The first is Edwin Lindo, a UW Law Alumni, School of Medicine faculty member and founder and curator of Estelita’s Library. The second and keynote speaker is former mayoral candidate for the Seattle People’s Party, activist and lawyer, Nikkita Oliver. BSU will also be continuing their tradition of recognizing ten exemplary high school students with our Talented Ten Awards, in the hopes of inspiring them to attend the University of Washington. We will include a catered dinner for our attendees. We hope to attract undergraduate, graduate, faculty and community members from the greater Seattle area to join us in recognizing and promoting black excellence both inside and outside of the classroom. For students who are not part of the Talented 10, we hope they learn about the work that is being done by community members and UW students, build connection with the upperclassmen, graduate and community members that will lead to lasting relationships, a sense of community with the Black folks at UW and in Seattle.

Estimated Project Budget: $13,898.00 (See next page for budget breakdown)

Environmental and sustainable impact

Aligning with our theme, by tapping into the network of young, Black students and professionals in Washington, our event seeks to inspire service for a sustainable future within UW and the greater Seattle area. We hope to bring together driven individual to realize how their skills can be used to serve the sustainable growth of their communities. Afterall, the biggest impact we can make is in our own communities. We aim to do this through recognition of the achievements and contributions of underrepresented students and minority community members. This event promotes social sustainability by removing some of the financial barriers to higher education through awarding our second scholarship. As well, providing high school students with guidance, potential mentors and exposure to university. In addition, we will have our keynote speaker will speak on social sustainability in our communities through service and the work that she’s done.

This year we are making an effort to reduce the carbon footprint of our event. So we plan to cut the number of program pamphlets we print for our event in half. We will use compostable utensils and dinnerware as well as donating any leftover food from our event to reduce waste. Instead of purchasing new ones, we will recycle our table clothes from last year. We have also decided not to print paper flyers for our event and instead chosen to advertise through TV monitors, social media, newsletters, and emails, and word of mouth.

Student leadership and involvement

This event is a student initiated and student led project. Our advisers, Reesha FLavors of the ECC and faculty member Brukab Sisay, provide guidance and support throughout this process. We, the executive board of the Black Student Union, consisting of ten undergraduate students, are in the process of planning and executing this event.

Our roles and duties include:

• President/Program Coordinator - Safiya Bansfield
• Treasurer - Tayah Greene
• VP of Campus Affairs - Julian Cooper
• VP of Community Affairs - Jordan Jackson
• VP of Communications - Betellihem Ghebretinsae
• Chair of Outreach and Recruitment - Ruth Mulugeta
• Senator - Ebsitu Hassen
• SAB Representative - Mahilet Mesfin
• Webmaster/Historian - Kiana Reynolds

Education, outreach, and behavior change

As mentioned above, a key part of our event is dedicated to recognizing the academic achievements of ten young minority high school students in the greater Seattle area in our Talented Ten ceremony. We spend months reaching out to high school counselors and principals to recommend to us their stand out students. Once we have chosen these ten students, on the day of our soiree we give students a tour the UW Seattle campus and share with them what it is like attending this university. These efforts are all in hopes of inspiring these young talented students to attend UW.

Feasibility, accountability, and sustainability

The Black Student Union has successfully hosted this event in the past. This year will be our 8th annual Legacy Soiree. Our advisers, Reesha Flavors, staff member of the ECC and Brukab Sisay, a UW faculty member, provide guidance, support, and mentorship throughout this process. Jon Solomon is our SAO adviser. We will also be consulting previous BSU executive board members. This executive board has successfully planned and hosted an Art Showcase last October and we plan to use the skills we have learned in the process to this project.

Contact information

• Primary Contact: Safiya Bansfield safiyabansfield@gmail.com 734-239-0973
  • Campus Affiliation: RSO
• Secondary Contact: Tayah Greene tayahg@uw.edu
  • Campus Affiliation: RSO