In The News
2024-2025 BSI Season Begins!
BSI Members Learn How To Purchase First Home
2024-2025 BSI Season Begins!
The Black Suit Initiative launched the 2024-2025 school year with excitement, welcoming 57 returning and new members from over 40 Triad schools. This year's program is set to empower young leaders through engaging workshops, mentorship, and community service projects. With a dynamic blend of talent and passion, BSI is dedicated to inspiring these RIGHT NOW leaders to create meaningful change in the Triad area.
Planting & Podcasts
BSI Members Learn How To Purchase First Home
2024-2025 BSI Season Begins!
Seventh-grade members, along with two new high school members, kicked off the school year by planting an autumn crop of greens. This hands-on activity not only fostered teamwork but also connected them to the importance of sustainable practices. Additionally, other members eagerly signed up to launch a new podcast titled "Brothers Beyond Reality," aimed at exploring diverse perspectives and experiences. Together, these initiatives highlight the group's commitment to growth and community engagement as they embark on another exciting year.
BSI Members Learn How To Purchase First Home
BSI Members Learn How To Purchase First Home
Youth Grant Provides Emergency Bags For Youth In Crisis
June concluded our “That’s Life” workshops with a visit to a new home development in High Point. Patrick and Brittany and the Radiant Realty- Keller Williams One Team facilitated a facilitating a Homebuyers 101 #GrabTheKeys event at Boulding Branch Estates in High Point.
Youth Grant Provides Emergency Bags For Youth In Crisis
Youth Grant Provides Emergency Bags For Youth In Crisis
Youth Grant Provides Emergency Bags For Youth In Crisis
Several BSI youth members wrote and were awarded a state grant which allowed BSI the opportunity to purchase drawstring bags. Inside of these bags were personal hygiene kits, snacks, underwear, and books. Sixty of these bags were delivered to 3 organizations that deal with children and teens in crisis and to homeless families with children. An additional 50 were shipped to Mississippi to help those hardest hit with recent tornadoes.
BSI Members Learn How To Take A Deep Breath
Youth Grant Provides Emergency Bags For Youth In Crisis
Middle School Members Enjoy The Great Outdoors
Being a teenager can be stressful, so we enlisted the assistance of The Activation Lab, LLC to host a yoga session for our middle & high school members. At the end of these sessions, members partook in a refreshing glass of seamoss lemonade.
Middle School Members Enjoy The Great Outdoors
Youth Grant Provides Emergency Bags For Youth In Crisis
Middle School Members Enjoy The Great Outdoors
Middle school students enjoyed a Saturday of fishing and outdoor ropes courses to help unwind during the last few weeks of school.
En Garde! BSI Learns Fencing
Moms, Members, and Mentors At The Matinee
Moms, Members, and Mentors At The Matinee
In an effort to bring reading content to life, we allowed members to participate in a fencing class to correlate with a novel they completed last school year called,, "Black Brother, Black Brother". This novel's theme was based around two brothers and their love for fencing.
The Greensboro Fencing Academy allowed our members to participate in a workshop which provided students with basic fencing techniques and equipment knowledge.
Moms, Members, and Mentors At The Matinee
Moms, Members, and Mentors At The Matinee
Moms, Members, and Mentors At The Matinee
The NC A&T Theater Department and one of its directors, Miller Lucky, invited BSI members, moms, and mentors to see the flawlessly executed play, "Dreamgirls". Suprisingly, most of the members had already seen the movie adaptation with their moms and were very familiar with the content and songs.
A Day Of Outreach At Maple Grove
Moms, Members, and Mentors At The Matinee
Charles Aris Hosted BSI For Career Exploration Day!
Middle and high school members spent a Saturday creating craft items to deliver to elderly residents at Maple Grove. Members visited rooms delivering creative artwork, smiles and listening ears. Residents were eager to share their stories with these kind-hearted young men.
Charles Aris Hosted BSI For Career Exploration Day!
The Activation Lab Sparks Excitement For Healthy Eating
Charles Aris Hosted BSI For Career Exploration Day!
Charles Aris, international executive recruiting and staffing firm located in downtown Greensboro, hosted the middle and high school members of BSI to a morning filled with exploring unique career opportunities. Rebecca Conway, a Charles Aris Associate Practice Leader/DEI Manager, developed a 4 hour workshop allowing BSI members the opportunity to hear the personal stories and triumphs of men in working in the areas of engineering, law enforcement, law, technology, marketing, construction/cabling, and medicine.
What Is BSI?
The Activation Lab Sparks Excitement For Healthy Eating
The Activation Lab Sparks Excitement For Healthy Eating
Often when we travel, we’re asked, “What Is BSI?” Although every member has his own version of what BSI means to them, there’s not always enough time to go into a long discussion. They needed the perfect elevator pitch!
We enlisted the help of Jenn Hensel, founder of ElePitch. One of her specialties is helping individuals/companies develop effective elevator pitches. For 2 weeks she worked with BSI Youth Ambassadors in developing their pitch, which in turn they will take skills learned to share with other members.
The Activation Lab Sparks Excitement For Healthy Eating
The Activation Lab Sparks Excitement For Healthy Eating
The Activation Lab Sparks Excitement For Healthy Eating
Akeem White and Jamal Haizlip of The Activation Lab hosted a morning committed to healthy eating and healthy thinking for our middle school members. Jamal brought his signature sweet potato hash packed with delicious goodness and health benefits. Akeem fired up the blenders and our members helped create their own blueberry blast and tropical smoothies.
BSI HOSTS SECOND MOCK ELECTION
On June 22, The Black Suit Initiative hosted its 2nd mock election at Mt. Zion Baptist Church. Nine youth members were competing for the offices of Mayor, Governor, and President of the United States. For the past 3 months, these young men and their team of supporters have worked diligently to do research and develop compelling speeches to gain votes from the community. These teams also developed podcasts which were judged by corporate Apple team members from across the country judged their podcast. A member from the corporate team also came to Greensboro to make the formal presentation.
BSI Receives Major Equipment Grant From Apple
Creative Expressions On iPad
BSI members spent a Saturday being trained to work on Apple Apps, Garage Band, iMovie, and Keynote.
Apple Training Day
Carlos, one of our high school ambassadors, LOVES Apple products! Not only can he identify all Apple products, model specifications, and features, but he admires the executives who run this technology giant company. Carlos began reaching out to the top executives of Apple to share his love for the company, when one day, his email got noticed. Carlos shared with this executive about his involvement with The Black Suit Initiative and within a matter of weeks they contacted us and the journey began.
In August, Apple provided iPads for all BSI members, MacBooks for staff/volunteers, Apple TV and charging stations. They sent representatives from their corporate offices in Cupertino, California and Atlanta, GA to help celebrate the unveiling of this equipment.
Apple is also providing in-person training on their devices throughout the school year. Who knew a simple email would have been so rewarding?!
Granville Capital Returns To Teach Wealth Building Principles
Granville Capital Returns To Teach Wealth Building Principles
Granville Capital Returns To Teach Wealth Building Principles
For 4-years, Granville Capital has been a supportive community partner.
Granville Capital specializes in providing managed portfolios of alternative investment strategies for high net worth individuals/families.
Some of their team members spent a Saturday morning providing wealth building techniques to our 8th-12th grade members to better prepare them for wealth building strategies after graduation.
Members Spend Spring Break Exploring College Campuses
Granville Capital Returns To Teach Wealth Building Principles
Granville Capital Returns To Teach Wealth Building Principles
During spring break, high school students and middle school ambassadors went on 2 college tours; NC State University and North Carolina Central University.
We were very blessed to have one of our BSI graduates and current NCCU student, Joee Starke, to conduct the tour of his campus.
Members Spend A Morning In Luxury
Granville Capital Returns To Teach Wealth Building Principles
Greensboro Municipal Federal Credit Union Hosts Credit Building Workshop
Damien Mills, CEO of Mills Automotive Group, hosted BSI members at his Bentley/Rolls Royce Dealership in High Point. With 24 dealerships across the country, Mills is the largest Black-owned automotive group in the country and the only Black-owned Bentley/Rolls Royce dealership. His words of wisdom were life-changing.
Greensboro Municipal Federal Credit Union Hosts Credit Building Workshop
Graduate Returns To Do Two Virtual Cooking Demonstrations For BSI Members
Greensboro Municipal Federal Credit Union Hosts Credit Building Workshop
In support of our financial literacy curriculum, Heather Lyons, from the Greensboro Municipal Federal Credit Union, facilitated two Credit/Financial Literacy workshops for our middle and high school members.
These very detailed workshops provided members with strategies on safely building credit, a breakdown of how credit is calculated, how to avoid collections, and ways to rebuild credit if credit mistakes are made.
BSI Travels to DPAC To Attend Black Violin Performance
Graduate Returns To Do Two Virtual Cooking Demonstrations For BSI Members
Graduate Returns To Do Two Virtual Cooking Demonstrations For BSI Members
Two bus loads of BSI members traveled to the Durham Performing Arts Center, in February, to see Black Violin, a Grammy nominated, hip hop duo from Florida, comprised of two classically trained string instrumentalists, Kevin Sylvester and Wilner Baptiste.
Graduate Returns To Do Two Virtual Cooking Demonstrations For BSI Members
Graduate Returns To Do Two Virtual Cooking Demonstrations For BSI Members
Graduate Returns To Do Two Virtual Cooking Demonstrations For BSI Members
Back by popular demand, 2012 graduate, Chef Julian, hosted 2 virtual cooking demonstrations for middle and high school students. Middle school students made Shepherd's Pie and high school students, Chicken Milano. Generous donors allowed us the opportunity provide members with all the ingredients needed to cook each meal.
Be A Supporter Of These "Right Now" Leaders!
Meet The Founder
Evainna W. Ross
Born in Lynchburg, VA, Evainna W. Ross has dedicated most of her life to helping youth secure better educational and economic opportunities through the development of her nonprofit organization, The Sparrow's Nest, Inc.
Upon graduating from North Carolina A&T State University with a B.S. in Public Relations in 1991, Ross began her journey working with youth under the leadership of the late civil rights pioneer, Rev. Prince E. Graves. Ross spent six years volunteering as the youth director of St. James Baptist Church increasing their youth programs' participation substantially.
Ross took what she learned at St. James Baptist Church and developed a community based model and launched The Sparrow's Nest, Inc. in Claremont Courts, a public housing community in Greensboro in October 2008. The Sparrow's Nest , Inc. was a mobile service which provided free programs on Saturdays such as ballroom dancing, sculpting, culinary arts and public speaking directly to youth in 4 of the largest public housing communities in Greensboro. Because of the growing popularity of these programs, Ross felt she wasn't making a lasting impact only seeing youth in these communities once a month. For that reason, in 2010, Ross, with a panel of educators and business owners, interviewed and selected 50 middle and high school youth to be members of a leadership program called The Chosen 50. The majority of these youth were selected from the communities she had served prior. These youth remained in the program until they graduated high school.
During their time in the program, these youth were empowered to make positive decisions for their lives as well as their communities. These youth have developed their own small businesses, developed political campaigns, created a stock portfolio and learned how to purchase their own homes and cars.
In 2014, Ross was recognized nationally by the Ascena Retail Group as an "everyday hero" who has dedicated her life to making the world a better place by empowering children in the areas of education, social support and self-esteem.
The Sparrow's Nest, Inc. has continued to evolve into a program which addresses the need of an ever-changing society. In 2016 they launched their newest division, The Black Suit Initiative, an all male leadership and community engagement program for middle and high school students.
Ross has been married to Kevin for 34 years and they have one daughter, Amariah.