Photo by Halley Requena-Silva
George Brown College (GBC) has officially announced the inception of its long-envisioned Black Futures Hub, a space intended to promote Black excellence. The hub will be available for access for all students and staff members who identify with the Black community and are searching for opportunities to grow their success.
Jennifer Grant, the director of equity and human rights at GBC, shared her views on the innovation and her work to support minority communities at the college with the Dialog.
“We know that Black students often feel isolated, like they don’t have a space that affirms who they are, and we know that microaggressions exist. So these are not things that I have to test whether they’re true,” she said on the new initiative.
“Had this come out of an incident? No. But it comes out of reality.”
The idea behind the creation of the Black Futures Hub cannot be attributed to just one person.
“The hub was the child of many folks who are at the table. It started from ideas about how we can celebrate Black excellence and Black innovation during Black History Month,” said Grant.
A lot of effort went into the decision-making process, including elaborate discussions with the Black Student Success Network on how to make it an inclusive space for students as well as staff members of the college.
Since becoming a student at GBC in 1999 and joining as a professor after her studies, Jennifer Grant has been working professionally with the college for almost 15 years now. Grant says that GBC has always held a special place in her heart.
“My experience is really watching George Brown evolve and noticing the difference between what the community looked like and what it looks like now,” she said.
As the Black Futures Hub is in its early stages, community members are currently working hard to make it the best it can possibly be. The hub is unique in the fact that it is more connected to the upper hierarchy of management, the Anti-Racism community at GBC, which will produce opportunities for students as well as the staff members.
“We’re going to do it in a thoughtful way, to make sure that we’ve taken the right steps so that vision can be sustainable. The goal is not to have a hub, the goal is to have a sustainable place that students and staff and community can rely on,” Grant said.
On GBC’s role in inclusivity, she stated that the college is going through a dynamic change and is constantly trying to seek new opportunities on how it can make itself more inclusive.
“I really look forward to the future that we are heading to. We have the opportunity to create together, and all the prospects including the anti-racism action plan, Black Futures, Indigenous education – all those are tools, mechanisms, opportunities, that create the future we all see and envision for George Brown.”
