During a visit to Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., Angela de Joseph noticed something.
As she walked around the Rayburn Office Building for the House of Representatives, very few young people in the ranks of congressional staff looked like the talented people of color, in particular women, that de Joseph knew were out there.
For de Joseph, that journey to the halls of power prompted her to start Women of Color Roar, a media nonprofit seeking to elevate women of color in government.
Monica Montomery Steppe, Angela De Joseph, Alice Pipken-Allen, Quenn Mother Kathleen Harmon, Tama Becker Verano and Paloma Aguirre hold a ceritficate honoring Women of Color Day during the 8th Annual ROAR Black History Month Breakfast at City College on Saturday. (Sandy Huffaker / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)
For eight years, the organization has hosted a Black History Month breakfast to connect young girls with some of the highest-ranking women of color in the government of San Diego County and California.
De Joseph’s already seen events like the annual breakfast bear fruit.
“They’ve gotten mentorship. They’ve gotten internships. They’ve gotten opportunities,” de Joseph said of girls and young women who’ve attended the event.
This year’s breakfast, held Saturday at Harry West Gymnasium at San Diego City College, again delivered on that core mission.
Overview of attendance during the 8th Annual ROAR Black History Month Breakfast. (Sandy Huffaker / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Speakers and other luminaries in attendance included San Diego County Supervisors Paloma Aguirre and Monica Montgomery Steppe, former state comptroller and California governor candidate Betty Yee, San Francisco Bay Area Assemblymember Mia Bonta, and many others.
“You have these women of color who have worked hard but also blazed trails for these young girls,” de Joseph said.
In remarks to the bustling gymnasium, Montgomery Steppe and others hit home that message.
“We need to always be thinking about the leadership of the next generation,” Montgomery Steppe said. “We need to also be ready to hand over that torch.”
Students in the F.A.N.C.Y program stand in front og a wall of Women heroes during the 8th Annual ROAR Black History Month Breakfast. This award breakfast recognizes 15+ years of impact through our F.A.N.C.Y. programs. (Sandy Huffaker / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)
At the assorted tables in the gymnasium, that next generation was out there.
It included the middle school and high school age girls of F.A.N.C.Y., short for Focused and Naturally Confident Youth.
F.A.N.C.Y. connects teen girls not only with each other, but with the community through workshops, special speakers and even camping trips.
The group is a part of the mentoring program DETOUR, which was honored with an award at Saturday’s breakfast.
“We want to learn what they do and how to put our work into theirs,” said Lois Westry Jones, a high school senior in the program.
Another attendee at the breakfast is already trying to take her voice to some of the highest levels of government.
Aishwarya “Sparky” Mitra is a recent UC San Diego engineering grad running to unseat longtime Democratic Rep. Scott Peters.
“I think this event has really been a place where new coalitions are constantly forming,” Mitra said. “As someone who’s running as an insurgent candidate, a lot of spaces are a little bit colder. But I think in this space everyone’s very warm.”
Dancers with Buki DSOUL perform during the 8th Annual ROAR Black History Month Breakfast at City College on Saturday. (Sandy Huffaker / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)
One of the morning’s most rousing speeches came from Ismahan Abdullahi, a nonprofit leader and high-ranking member of the Board of Directors for the San Diego County Water Authority.
To applause, Abdullahi described how “America has always been these two stories of opposing outcomes.”
“There is an America that tells people like me that we may be un-American, but there’s a facet of America that tells people like me that we belong,” said Abdullahi, who came to the U.S. as a refugee from Somalia.
“Never question whether or not you belong in America,” she said.
California Western law student Cheylise Jefferson said Abdullahi’s speech was the thing that resonated with her most at Saturday’s event.
The speech reminded Jefferson “to keep going no matter how many doors close on you.”
“You have to open them back up,” she said.