IBII event brews support for local black businesses

The Institute of Black Intellectual Innovation hosted “Grounds for Black Joy” last Wednesday at Pollak Library to celebrate and share local Black owned vendors and businesses in honor of Black History Month.  Natalie Graham, the associate dean for faculty at the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, currently serves as the director of IBII which started back in 2019 and was officially sanctioned on campus in 2020. “Grounds for Black Joy” was IBII’s first event of the spring semester, following their Kwanzaa event back in December and Black Book Chat in the fall.  The social networking event’s intention was to spread awareness for small Black-owned coffee and pastry businesses. Taking place on Pollak Library’s top floor, the meeting offered pastries and coffee from the businesses being spotlighted through a slideshow playing for all in attendance to see.  “Grounds for Black Joy is an idea that we had last year,” Graham said. “One of the things we recognized is that there’s a long history of coffee-making and brewing in Africa, so there’s this historical resonance, current resonance to coffee-making and brewing, but we don’t see that translation into Black owned businesses.” With Orange County having very few Black-owned coffee shops, IBII...