Civic Arts Commission Meeting Agenda Packet 030325 FINAL

Powered by ZoomGrants™ City of Pleasanton FY 2024/2025 Community Grant Program - Civic Arts Cheza Nami Foundation, Inc Black Excellence Project Requested Amount $ 7,500.00 Official Amount $ 4,000.00 Provide a brief summary of the project for which your agency is seeking funding for (no more than 3 sentences; this text will be used widely during the review and implementation process to describe your project.) Cheza Nami Foundation seeks $7500 to $15000 to continue the Black Excellence Program implemented in collaboration with Pleasanton Unified School District. The objectives of this monthly program are to create a space for students to affirm their racial and cultural identities, build upon their sense of personal and academic self-worth, and ground them in the Pleasanton Unified Black community through bolstering children’s connection to the various cultures of the African diaspora, creating an affinity space for Black children to connect with one another across school and age level, connecting with positive role models, and accessing academic support. Cheza Nami and PUSD began this program as a pilot during the summer of 2023 and continued it through the 2023-2024 school year. The Pleasanton Black Excellence Program addresses opportunity gaps in Pleasanton Unified school district by providing affinity space, Afrocentric identity development, academic support, and intentional familial community building. The Black Excellence Program also addresses multiple goals of the City’s Cultural Plan in a targeted, equitable way. First, it accomplishes goals 2.3 and 2.4, expanding arts programming partnership with PUSD. Second, the Black Excellence Program fits squarely within goal 3, celebrating diversity and connecting diverse racial/ethnic groups by celebrating the culture and heritage of the Black residents of Pleasanton, embracing an intergenerational approach so that residents of all ages get to participate. Finally, by supporting the collaboration between Pleasanton-based Cheza Nami and PUSD, the City is facilitating the development of a local arts organization to contribute to the residents of Page 45 of 116