At Philadelphia’s Big Black Ball, community rallies behind college-bound teens

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Themed “Sophisticated Black Hollywood,” the Achievers Brunch Association held its inaugural Big Black Ball on Saturday, Aug. 9, at the Free Library of Philadelphia’s main branch.

The association, founded in 2014 by Director Mister Mann Frisby, launched with a mission to create a community that supports and mentors young Black high school seniors through life’s challenges. The mission later expanded to continue supporting the scholars as they entered and advanced through college. The network now helps students secure internships, access career-focused programming and financial assistance and build fellowship with other young Black scholars.

Randy Shine, co-director of the Achievers Brunch Association, said the goal is to counter the stigma that young Black men in Philadelphia often face. Shine joined the organization as co-director in 2019, when it began formalizing.

“It really started off as a grassroots effort,” Shine said. “It  just grew and morphed into what it is now.”

Currently, only Shine and Frisby run the group, and neither holds the position full time. “We do this because we know that there’s a need to recognize and support young black men who are going to college and who are in college in the Philadelphia region,” Shine said. He added that the association hopes to reach more young Black male scholars in the city and shift negative perceptions.

“We have great scholars and not only are these gentlemen scholars. They are actively involved in various community activities.”

The inaugural, invite-only event aimed to bring “the essence of the Met gala in New York” to Philadelphia for a good cause.

“We got together, we found a location, we reached out to several Philadelphia influencers and actually one influencer came way from California, who is originally from Philadelphia, to support,” Shine said.

With some of the program’s scholars in attendance, the event also aimed to show them the strength of their community.

“We wanted to show them that people are coming out to support them and we wanted the people who came out to support us to see the young men or the young men who are in the organization,” Shine said.

Shine said the event met its fundraising goal to support students’ college journeys. He added that interest from other organizations and city leaders has grown as they prepare for future events of similar scale.

The organization is continuing to accept donations.

“What we wanted and we just hope is that more people will pour into this organization because it’s much needed,” Shine said, “It only takes one person or two people to get something started and then the rest will follow if you’re doing good work and we are an example of that.”

Although the inaugural ball is over, supporters can still help the organization by visiting its website and making a donation.