Giving Black Honours UK Black History Month

Last Black History month saw a rise in youth-led initiatives amongst Black Britain, as interest and support of autoimmune disease awareness grew with more experiences and information become widespread. For the fourth year, on October 15^th and October 17^th, community and marketing agency Nourishment, in partnership with the Sickle Cell Society, held their annual event, “Giving Black’ to raise money for research and encourage blood donation. Headed mainly by nourishment founder Tito Mogaji and events lead Leanne Sogobun, the two-day campaign struck up high success for its charitable cause. 

The social event of the duo featured a close-knit ambient evening out, hosted at Second Home Spitalfields, welcoming more than 100 young artists and creatives. The dialogue was supported by sickle cell advocate and poet Simply Sayo, who shared her insight on personal connection to the cause. Further artistic displays included a t-shirt customisation section, an art installation, food and decked out merch with the event’s title printed. Sickler and spokesperson Siliana Coelho also attended the evening gathering, highlighting her viewpoints as a patient and advocate. Thousands of pounds were raised by the incentives, doubling the initial fundraiser goal of £1,500. Picked up by BBC Radio London the following day, the campaign sought to express the importance of giving back within the Black community by promoting education on sickle cell.   Over the next few days, in collaboration with event group Sika, the Brixton Donor Centre opened its doors to 60 donors for the second half of the campaign. Over 60% of the attendees were first-time donors, with the total amount exceeding Nourishment’s original aim of 50. The campaign was also supported financially and materially by their sponsors: Wingstop, Chaps drinks, Afro Health, Sweethangzine, Jacaranda Books, C.I.M.E Lab, Seaszn Clothing, Naira and Chill, In Your Dreams and V&A East Museum.

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Creative Ira Alecia shared her experiences with Giving Black with New Wave, having worked on the campaign the year before as a volunteer and joined Nourishment again this year. “Being on the other side and working on it from concept to completion was exciting. Seeing so many people come together at the social to connect, learn and just catch a vibe! The blood drive was a wholesome way to have a real-life element of the campaign. There were quite a few first timers and walk ins and people still stayed after to hang out so it felt like an extension of the social.”  She also detailed on the extent of planning involved with this year’s events, highlighting the upscaling from last year’s to encourage new sign-ups. We spent time assessing the social from the previous year, what worked and what could have been better. We wanted guests to have more freedom in how they were able to experience the event, so we opted for stations and a panel rather than a full fixed programme that [would have] locked everyone into experiencing the same thing at the same time.”

Aiming to extend the event to fashion enthusiasts, the team took another approach to connecting popular culture to medical awareness. “The angle was to focus more on fashion and youth culture. Making sure we could find that intersection while still centring the purpose of Giving Black was a key goal. Merch was probably what we spent the most time on; brainstorming how it would look, who it was for and how we wanted it to be received. Shoutout to all the models, media team and those who let us use their home, and a very special shoutout to designer Najma and RJ at Pasimm Printers for their patience and receptiveness to all the changes Tito and I were throwing in.” Serving as events leader and producer for Giving Black, Leanne offered her perspective on the unity required to create an engaging atmosphere: “Planning Giving Black genuinely took a village. Tito and I had done it by ourselves in previous years and it was just us without the help of volunteers, and it was very taxing although rewarding. This year, it wasn't taxing in the way it has been in the previous years­­—it was energising as well. Another thing I really enjoyed about this campaign, which we haven't done with previous campaigns, is trying to do PR and get the message of Giving Black out to wider than just our community. A lot of communities in London black communities do their own version of a blood drive, which is absolutely fantastic and we should all be doing our part to help, but for Giving Black, because it was our fourth and it's something we've put a lot of love and energy into, we wanted it to be something that reached even more people.”

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Next year, the Nourishment team hope to continue expanding on relief and support for sickle cell anaemia, also headlining events with speakers and ambassadors to enlarge their supporter community.