For the entire month of February, I dedicated my Facebook status messages to Black History Month.  My posts have covered Black History tidbits from Madam CJ Walker being the first African American woman millionaire, to the current inhumane treatment The Angola 3 face by being in solitary confinement for nearly 40 years in a Louisiana State penitentiary, to local events going on in the Metro DC area.

I have always exalted a sense of pride when I referenced my blackness.  Everything from the pain of slavery to the constant struggle for freedom leaves me prideful.  I believe this sense of pride resides in all black people although at times it becomes too hard to express.  This is what prompted my Facebook status updates.

We wear our blackness every day, but most people don’t know what that means or feels like for us.  Indeed, the burdens are heavy but our pride goes deep.  The status messages allowed me to help share and celebrate our triumphs in America, which in turn reinserts that pride into our everyday lives.  Black History Month is a great vehicle for that but my hope is that my status messages help us all to think more deeply about the importance of our heritage and our culture year around.

Although my Facebook status messages can do very little to change the world, they can however, evoke feelings and thoughts into the readers who can then in turn make change.

Latricia Allen is the grants manager at Washington Area Women’s Foundation.

My initial introduction to mentoring started with my own experiences with my mentors over 20 years ago.  Two decades later, I still have strong relationships with both of my female mentors.  Those relationships have inspired me to continue to make mentoring an important part of my life.  I have formed new mentor/mentee relationships in the areas of professional development and personal finance, and for several years I’ve been mentoring young girls.  Some are family members, some are girls I meet through programs, but most of them are from the metro DC area, so I can relate to many of the issues and challenges they face growing up in DC.

I’ve always felt the need to share my time and energy with young girls because I grew up as an only child, and also raised an only child – my son.  Mentoring gives me an opportunity to utilize parental skills on the opposite sex.  I’ve raised my son alone and it’s interesting to see how I only have to advise a female mentee once.  Whereas with my son, I might have to give him the same advice two or three times!

My mentee relationships have been very enriching.  We share stories about our pasts, plan for our futures, and work on strategies that enhance the overall quality of our lives.  It’s a two-way relationship.  I never approach any mentoring situation from the perspective of knowing it all.  I value their opinions and I recognize that we both have something enlightening to share.

In my most recent mentor experience, I decided to mentor a female student in her last year of high school through the College Success Foundation (CSF).  The program helps inner-city kids with less than desirable grades achieve college success through grants of up to $50,000.  Most of the students are from low-income, single-parent households, and are often the first generation to attend college.  Because of this, CSF matches students with mentors to assist with some of the challenges students without support at home often face.  I was particularly drawn to this program because I just sent my son off to college and felt I have the skills to help a student in need. 

Before taking on an additional mentee, I asked my son why he thought I would be a great mentor and he said the following: “You give great advice, you are fair, you’re fun to be around, and someone (apparently not him, lol) could really learn from you.”  With that in mind, I keep giving back!