After a soft launch in February, a center dedicated to promoting the success of African American students will host its grand opening at El Camino College’s Communications Building Room 110 on Wednesday, April 26, from noon to 2 p.m.

The center’s grand opening is a part of Black Student Success Week which takes place on April 24-27 and community colleges throughout California will be participating.

The event is an open invitation for the campus community to learn about the different services and resources that are available to support students within the space, Student Success Coordinator Keiana Daniel said.

“The grand opening is special in the way that this is inviting the entire campus to come to see how important it is to start building these spaces for students, based on what the [Black and African American] students are asking for,” Daniel said.

Daniel added the larger part of the grand opening will be an art exhibit by two student artists at the Black Student Success Center.

Daniel said the idea of Black Student Success Week is to take the time to think and reflect on how people engage with African American students. This year’s theme is “Vision to Action: Building Systems and Structures for Black Student Success.”

“It is important as the state of California, as well as California community colleges, [to recognize] that Black students are one of the more and probably the most disproportionately impacted group across so many different student success metric factors,” Daniel said.

During Black Student Success Week at El Camino College, there will be daily webinars and discussions hosted by Student Equity and Achievement Counselors Robert Williams and Chris Hurd at the Black Student Success Center and Social Justice Center.

Daniel hopes people learn about the resources that are built for students and show support by coming to the events.

“I’m just inviting others to engage in the week, as best they can, whatever that looks like for them,” Daniel said. “Because as they continue this, they’re only benefiting both themselves and other students.”