In preparing our community statement in calling out the acts of police brutality and violence against Jacob Blake and the heinous killings of protesters in response to Jacob's shooting, I was at a loss for words.

How many more statements must institutions continue to release to mourn the Black lives lost and the Black lives harmed?  Shouldn't our goal be eliminating the need for these statements instead of finding new ways to say and to affirm that Black Lives Matter? We, alongside our allies and partners, have already said what needs to be said:

"When unarmed and nonviolent Black [and Brown] people are confronted, more often than not, their lives are in grave danger at the hands of police and the criminal justice system because their guilt and criminality were decided the moment the color of their skin became visible."

I wrote these words merely a year ago, in response to the acts of domestic and racial terrorism that took place in Gilroy, California; El Paso, Texas; and Dayton, Ohio. And even before that, we wrote about police brutality and systemic racism back in March 2018, in response to the killing of Stephon Clark, and how media coverage "[...] perpetuates the inane assumption that Black and Brown lives matter less, and that white perpetrators are more human, less guilty, and their crimes less egregious." All of these words still have the utmost relevance today.

But the unstoppable civil rights movement continues. We won't stop repeating ourselves and taking action until every Black life matters.

#InDefenseOfBlackLives

AiLun Ku

OppNet President & CEO

“We want to see a world where Black lives matter in order for us to get to a world where all of our humanity is respected.”

– Alicia Garza, Principal of the Black Futures Lab

Dear OppNet community:

Since its beginning, America has been known as the land of opportunity.

But we have fallen short of that foundational ideal. For Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), access to opportunity has never been universal. The overt abominations of the pre-Civil Rights era created a subversive system of repression that we have allowed to fester, and even worse, that we have allowed to become cultural.

The Opportunity Network was founded in part in recognition of this harmful reality and continues to work to challenge the historical oppression and racism that make our work necessary in the first place.

And while we are proud of the work we have done and continue to do, this is a watershed moment we will not allow to pass without our active involvement.

In closing, a word to our current and alumni OppNet Fellows: Stay encouraged and active. Structural, enduring change is often led by our youth. You are the future of this country. The foundational ideal of America as a land of opportunity is yours to inherit. Nothing makes us prouder than to watch all you will achieve. Know that we stand next to you and always will.

Your fight, is our fight.

OppNet Board of Directors

Cosigned by: OppNet Associate Board of Directors

In celebration of National Pride Month, OppNet is pleased to highlight members of the LGBTQ+ community below for their valuable contributions to broadening and deepening the representation of their lived experiences and communities through comedy, art, and entertainment. 

Bowen Yang

Comedian 

Bowen Yang burst into public consciousness with his brilliant lip sync videos uploaded to Twitter, miming along to famous movie scenes such as the cerulean rant in Devil Wears Prada performed by Meryl Streep. However, Bowen had long been making his mark on the comedy scene. While a member of the famed Upright Citizens Brigade improv troupe, Bowen began co-hosting his podcast Las Culturistas launched in 2016 which quickly became a cult-favorite and was nominated for a Best Podcast Shorty Award in 2019. As the podcast hit its peak, Bowen was hired as a staff writer at Saturday Night Live and the following year was named as a full cast member—the first Chinese-American cast member in the show’s history, and one of the few who have been openly gay.

Bowen was born in Australia to parents from rural China and, upon his father finishing his doctoral studies, the family moved to Montreal, Canada where Bowen grew up. While popular, and voted by his high school classmates “Most Likely to End Up on SNL, ” Bowen struggled with his parents views on his sexuality, which ultimately resulted in his father sending him to conversion therapy as a requisite for being allowed to attend New York University. With Sandra Oh’s character on medical drama Grey’s Anatomy as an influence, Bowen was a pre-med major, but after graduating, he ended up in graphic design before launching his podcast with a former college classmate.

Having successfully pivoted full-time into comedy, Bowen resides in Brooklyn and is unabashed about his identity. Bowen has quickly become an audience favorite on SNL for his zany, off-the-wall impressions of public figures such as Kim Jong-Un and former presidential candidate Andrew Yang. He has been named to Forbes magazine's 30 Under 30 Hollywood & Entertainment list in 2019, and currently co-stars alongside actress/comedian/rapper Awkwafina in her Comedy Central show Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens.

Mickalene Thomas

Artist

Mickalene Thomas came into fame in 2012 for her show “Mickalene Thomas: Origins of the Universe,” featuring abstract mixed-media collages of black women styled in arrangements reminiscent of French modernist paintings, using photography, paint, fabrics and other materials to create richly hued works. As a black woman who identifies as a lesbian, Mickalene focuses the bulk of her work on female figures, often featuring her friends and romantic partners. Originally shown in Los Angeles, and then at the Brooklyn Museum, Mickalene’s first show was well-attended and critically acclaimed, but ultimately was not accepted to be shown beyond those initial institutions.

In 2019, Mickalene re-emerged with her two-story installation in the Baltimore Museum of Art, an exhibition to which she also invited eight Baltimore-based, black artists to join her. The show, “Mickalene Thomas: A Moment’s Pleasure,” will be open through spring 2021. With roots in the city on her mother’s side, Mickalene has created a space within the exhibit that honors the traditional architecture of Baltimore, and helped to design the sets in which the artists are displayed. She also currently has an exhibit at the Bass Museum in Miami, Florida, and has shown in New Orleans—a reversal of luck from the slower momentum after her prior show..

Mickalene considers her mother her original muse, a former model who ensured her children were exposed to art through programs at the Newark Museum and Henry Street Settlement. Originally determined to be a lawyer, Mickalene got into painting professionally in her twenties, attending Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, and later Yale University for her master of fine arts. Born in Camden, New Jersey, Mickalene currently resides in Brooklyn.

Mj Rodriguez

Actress

Born in Newark, New Jersey, Mj Rodriguez had early dreams of becoming a star. By seven years old, she was already enrolled in the New Jersey Performing Arts Center theater program. At age 14, Mj began to process her sexuality, while also becoming involved in the ballroom scene after being discovered by the head of a house. She found a sense of family in this new community, and also learned how to vogue —a stylized form of house dance—which gained her notoriety throughout the New Jersey ballroom scene. As she deepend her involvement in ballroom, Mj also continued her traditional acting education, attending the Newark Arts High School and the Berklee College of Music.

Mj landed her first role in an off-Broadway production of Rent where she received favorable reviews, and was cast in several small television roles. Her breakout moment came when she auditioned for a role in the hit musical Hamilton. Despite not getting the role, her audition had broken barriers as Mj had recently emerged from transitioning, auditioning for the first time as a female actress. Mj was subsequently invited to audition for and join a number of theater productions in the United States and United Kingdom. Fifteen years after her entry into the ballroom scene, Mj was cast in a starring role on the mega-hit FX series Pose. In the show, which  is set against the backdrop of the ballroom scene in New York City in the ‘80s and ‘90s, Mj plays protective house mother Blanca Rodriguez-Evangelista. The role has garnered her extensive praise, bringing attention to her social activism within the LGBTQ+ community, earning her prestigious speaking roles and, in 2019, a contract with Olay Body as a spokesperson for the brand.

In reflecting on the National AAPI Heritage Celebration, The Opportunity Network would like to spotlight three individuals who have had significant moments in May. A television adaptation of Celeste Ng’s New York Times bestseller Little Fires Everywhere was met with critical acclaim. Journalist Weija Jiang was commended by fellow journalists for directly confronting President Trump’s racist rhetoric in press briefings. Comedian and actor Kumail Nanjiani co-stars in a top-streamed romantic comedy on Netflix.

Celeste Ng, Novelist

Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to a chemist and a physicist from Hong Kong, and raised in Shaker Heights, Ohio, Celeste was deeply influenced by the role class and identity played in the suburban neighborhoods. She explored those complex social dynamics in her 2014 debut novel Everything I Never Told You, which rocketed to the top of the New York Times Bestseller list, and her follow-up novel Little Fires Everywhere which followed the same trajectory in 2017. Everything I Never Told You has been optioned for adaptation into a feature-length film starring actress Julia Roberts, and Little Fires Everywhere has been developed into a top-streamed, critically-acclaimed HULU series. Despite her success and a large advance, Celeste has discussed struggling with the publishing industry’s approach to promoting novels by writers of color only to audiences who share their same identities. In addition to speaking out on bias within publishing, Celeste has consistently leveraged her success into the creation of pathways for other Asian and non-white writers, consistently providing blurbs -- coveted promotional quotes published on the covers of books -- and providing advice to up-and-coming authors.

Weija Jiang, Journalist

Though Weija Jiang has been a professional journalist for fifteen years, she has recently attracted the public’s attention for her confrontations with President Donald Trump. As a CBS News White House Correspondent, Weija attends press briefings with the President, who has on multiple occasions directed derogatory remarks toward her. Most notably, after calling out the President’s suggestion that she -- a Chinese-born woman -- direct her line of questioning on COVID-19 to China, he abruptly ended the briefing and left the room. Her consistent efforts to hold the President accountable has been lauded by fellow journalists and viewers alike.

Weija’s passion for journalism began early, at age 13, when Weija won a competition to become a student reporter and anchor for Los Angeles’ Channel News One. After graduating from college, Weija went on to earn a master’s in broadcast journalism from Syracuse University, and began her career as a reporter in Baltimore, Maryland. Her work at local stations in Maryland earned her an Edward R. Murrow Award and an Associated Press Award for feature reporting. She later moved to New York to become a general reporter, covering Sandy Hook school shooting, the Boston Marathon bombing, Hurricane Sandy, and other regional events. Born in Xiamen, China, Weija immigrated with her parents to West Virginia when she was two years old. She currently resides with her family in Washington, D.C.

Kumail Nanjiani, Comedian, Screen and Voice Actor

After several years of podcasting, guest starring, and voice acting, Kumail Nanjiani’s first big role was as a coder on the HBO Series Silicon Valley. In 2017, his 2017 romantic comedy The Big Sick, written by Kumail and his wife about their relationship, was nominated for Best Original Screenplay at the Oscars and was selected by The American Film Institute as one of the year’s top ten films. Originally from Karachi, Pakistan, Kumail immigrated to the U.S. to attend Grinnell College in Iowa. After graduation, Kumail moved to Chicago to launch his comedy career, and later to California to begin acting. His voice and screen roles have been wide-ranging, showing audiences that brown men can be romantic, comic, and soon, superheroes. Kumail will be playing the role of Kingo Sunen in Marvel’s Eternals, a character who has learned the art of the samurai and goes on to become a Hollywood action star, in the film that will be released in February 2021. In the meantime, Kumail is currently co-starring in the romantic comedy Lovebirds with Issa Rae, which has consistently been in the top ten streamed films on Netflix since its May 22 release.

For the past seven months, we have been sending out updates about our work and our communities at the beginning of each month. In preparing my heartfelt letters that opened each Opportunity Report, it has always been easy to look to the OppNet community for stories of inspiration, joy, celebration, and tenacity. I have the honor and privilege of working with bright minds, kind souls, and dynamic personalities that I know will build a safer and more equitable future for all of us.

But this month’s writing was clouded with profound grief and anger. And as a non-black, immigrant woman of color leading an education and career success nonprofit, what am I to our community if I cannot speak and face hard truths?

The truth is: while the incredible black and brown young people we serve continue to do their part in being diligent learners, creators, and leaders, their lives are in grave danger. How much will their college degrees be worth if they get killed?

Every day, black lives are brutally extinguished, families are heartlessly severed, and communities are traumatically shattered. Our young people continue to push through systemic barriers and give everything they have to hold on to their right to be the makers of their destinies. At the same time, they are constantly contending with the persistent threat of deeply rooted racism and brutality—the type that can take it all away, in an instant, for simply living while black.

We will resume our regular Opportunity Report next week because our young people deserve to be celebrated and to have their stories amplified. But right now, we mourn for every black life that has been senselessly taken. Our world will never be enriched by their fullest stories and humanity and what a tragic and shameful loss that is for the rest of us.

This week, we highlight a few black-led organizations and initiatives that we respect, admire, and learn from. I implore all of us to follow their lead, so we can make unraveling racism a daily practice, starting with our own education.

AiLun Ku

President and CEO

Black Futures Lab

Black Teacher Project

Chicago Beyond’s “Why Am I Always Being Researched?” Guidebook

Center for Racial Justice in Education

Equal Justice Initiative and Bryan Stevenson’s Ted Talk

Fund II Foundation and internX

TandemEd

The 1619 Project

Third Settlements

This past Saturday, I was invited to speak at the Slashie Summit on entrepreneurship by Brown Girl Magazine, an incredible South Asian Diaspora publication. This event pushed me to think deeply about “How do we move beyond just speaking about issues facing our communities and actually manifest change?”

In light of #NationalPhilanthropyDay and the month of gratitude and giving, I’ve found myself reflecting on how important it is to stay true to your personal narrative and values by investing into the communities that have shaped you and supported your journey. As a Bangladeshi, first-generation immigrant, I see grassroots work in my local community as something near and dear to my heart, so this question about “manifesting change” is something I’ve asked myself countless times. 

As I navigated through high school and continue to navigate my junior year at Barnard College of Columbia University, I’m constantly wondering how I might be able to make an impact in my community.  Anyone that has met me knows that my eyes light up when I speak about The Bronx, my bustling immigrant neighborhood, and how the students from local, underserved schools are deserving of far more than what our current education system gives them. To put it another way, our system fails them.  

The Bronx and Harlem are two of the most underserved communities in New York City. Many public schools in these areas of NYC fail to fully address the needs of students, which is often a result of budget cuts and a disproportionate guidance counselor-to-student ratio. As an OppNet Fellow, I’ve been made more aware of the inequities around education through seminars and my own intensive research, which show the proven correlation between mentorship and academic success. Thus, I spent the better half of my years putting that idea in action — cultivating a team of 6 staff members and 12 mentors — to move beyond just talking about what needs to be done in our current public education system to creating solutions. 

At the age of 17, that is exactly why I founded The Link Scholars, a nonprofit dedicated towards equity and education access. We firmly believe that early intervention is key to academic and professional success, so we start our support for NYC students in middle school to help them on their journeys to rigorous high schools and academic enrichment programs through bi-weekly academic and professional workshops. This year, our youth-led team of 3 expanded to a staff of 6 and that number continues to grow. Our cohort of 6 scholars in 2016 expanded to 25+ by 2019, and students ranging from all the 5 boroughs have successfully gained admission to rigorous high schools and programs after completion of our program. This kind of tremendous growth reminds me of the ways we, as members of the Gen Z community, can disrupt the systems holding back equity. More importantly, it reminds me of the platform and voice that I have to initiate dialogue about the gap that hinders underserved students from their full potential.  My experience with OppNet has played a critical role in my vision for The Link Scholars because OppNet has taught me how to cultivate and foster a supportive community conducive to success. This magnitude of my impact (OR these initiatives) became more possible when I built and found a community here at OppNet, one that continued to provide me support and resources to pursue these endeavors. 

In light of National Philanthropy Day,  this month, we are laser focused on fundraising and increasing partnerships with other organizations so we can maximize our impact and serve more students. See us in action and how you can support and get involved by heading over to thelinkscholars.org/get-involved and following our IG @TheLinkScholars.

Maesha Shonar is an OppNet Fellow and junior at Barnard College of Columbia University. 

In honor of National Native American & Indigenous Peoples Heritage Month, OppNet honors three individuals who have dedicated their careers in academia, advocacy, and activism to the empowerment and recognition of their communities.

Malinda Maynor Lowery (Lumbee)

Professor, Scholar, Filmmaker

Malinda Maynor Lowery is one of the most lauded voices in the country on American Indian identity and history in the South. A North Carolina native born in Lumberton and raised in Durham, Lowery is currently a Professor of History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Director of the Center for the Study of the American South. Her first book Lumbee Indians in the Jim Crow South: Race, Identity, and the Making of a Nation garnered Lowery extensive academic recognition. The book explores how the Lumbee people uniquely conceptualized their identity as American Indian, during a time of stark racial segregation and against a backdrop of the black/white racial binary prevalent in the South. In addition to perceptions of Native American identity, Lowery has also written a number of essays, produced films and television series focusing on American Indian migration; federal recognition; music, food, and culture; and more. Lowery has been featured in a number of publications including The New York Times and Oxford American literary magazine and has had two of her films premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.

Corrina Gould (Ohlone)

Community Organizer and Activist

Corrina Gould plays a critical role in advocating for her community's right to their ancestral lands that have been urbanized and gentrified in the San Francisco Bay Area in California. In 2011, Gould and other organizers sought to prevent the construction of a waterfront property project in the Bay Area, which was also the site of the Ohlone people's ancestral home. The occupation lasted 109 days and yielded the Sogorea Te Land Trust, an agreement to allow community use of these lands and the buyback of parts of the property. Through her work as lead organizer for the Indian People Organizing for Change (IPOC), a nonprofit based in the Bay Area focusing on social and environmental justice, Gould is currently at the forefront of the fight to preserve a site in Berkeley, California that is the earliest known settlement in the region at nearly 5,000 years old. Gould also sits on the California Indigenous Environmental Association Board, and the Board of Directors for the Oakland Emiliano Zapata Street Academy Foundation.

Mattee Jim (Diné/Navajo)

Community and Public Health Advocate

For nearly twenty years, Mattee Jim has been a leader in transgender advocacy, focusing her HIV/AIDS prevention work on First Nations communities in her home state of New Mexico. Jim has been a prominent voice, having presented at several national and international conferences, as well as serving in a number of community-based organizations and state-wide agencies. Jim is one of the community co-chairs for the New Mexico Community Planning and Action group, an entity founded with the purpose of expanding HIV/AIDS treatment and support services to a diverse range of communities within the state. She also serves in a leadership capacity with the Transgender Resource Center of New Mexico, which seeks to provide direct services, advocacy, and education to those who identify as transgender, gender nonconforming, and non-binary. Jim is frequently asked to speak on behalf of the LGBTQ+ community in forums dedicated to issues within Native American and Indigenous communities at large. She was most recently honored by the Transgender Law Center for working to liberate transpeople and people living with HIV.

On Thursday, August 29, The Opportunity Network’s Career Fluency® Partnerships team held their first Partnerships Convening in New York’s Financial District. Bringing together current and former partners, the team and educators from across the country led in-depth conversations about critical topics that influence their day-to-day work in accelerating postsecondary and workforce readiness in students. 

There were 12 organizations from across the country represented at the convening, from The High School for Global Citizenship in Brooklyn to College Track New Orleans to “I Have a Dream” Foundation’s national office. The diversity of Partners that attended helped to generate rich discussion, insight-sharing, and network building.   

OppNet’s Partnerships team engaged Partner organizations in two workshops over the course of the day: “Culturally Responsive Teaching: What, Why, and How” and “Engaging Your Community: Conversations for Sustainable Student Impact.” In the first workshop, the OppNet team introduced a working definition of Culturally Responsive Teaching, derived from the work of Gloria Ladson-Billings, Zaretta L. Hammond, and Cherry A. McGee Banks and James A. Banks. Educators were guided through a number of reflective activities aimed at clarifying what being a culturally responsive educator means in today’s changing education landscape, and how to center students in the learning environment thoughtfully. In the second workshop, OppNet’s Partnerships team supported convening attendees develop and refine implementation plans for ensuring all members and stakeholders of their community – students, families, local organizations/institutions, and more – are integrated throughout the work of their organization. This workshop was founded on Dr. Joyce Epstein’s Spheres of Influence Model, the idea that young people grow in three key areas - school, family, and community - and these three spheres must work together to support a student.

As we continue to deepen our institutional commitment to educational equity and postsecondary opportunity for all students, the work of OppNet’s Partnerships team and spaces created like that of the Partnerships Convening will remain critical. Through both, we are able to exchange solutions and clarify a path forward to realize our vision of a nation where college, career, and postsecondary opportunity is abundant.  

Further Reading:

• • “Yes, But How Do We Do It?” Practicing Culturally Responsive Pedagogy, Gloria Ladson-Billings, 2006
  • Culturally Responsive Teaching and The Brain: Promoting Authentic Engagement and Rigor Among Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students, Zaretta Hammond, 2014
  • Equity Pedagogy: An Essential Component of Multicultural Education, Cherry A. McGee Banks and James A. Banks, 1995
  • School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Preparing Educators and Improving Schools, Dr. Joyce L. Epstein, 2001