Fundraising
BK2BAMA is possible thanks to the generosity of funders like you.
BK2BAMA is funded entirely by student and faculty fundraising, including individual appeals, grant writing, bake sales, basketball tournaments, and more. The school provides no aid. To ensure the program is affordable for all students, guardians are not asked to contribute anything. Student fundraising remains a cornerstone of the program. Each student creates a fundraising page, sets a goal, and is held accountable for reaching out to loved ones in their communities for support. These young people recognize and deeply appreciate the integral part our donors play in this program. They understand that without your generosity, this unique opportunity would not be possible. I promise these students will make the very most of every cent you contribute. BK2BAMA proudly patronizes only Black-owned and operated businesses while in South (aside from lodging).
Family and friends,
BK2BAMA is back for its eighth year with a team of fourteen incredible students, who have been preparing for our trip since September. Because of your help, we have re-established this program stronger than ever at our new school!
This year’s cohort’s citizenships and curiosity set it apart. MacKenzie and Aissata aspire to be neurosurgeons and run bake sale fundraisers. Passionate feminists, Ashira, Ixarely, and Deyea have read John Lewis’ March books. Jaunaye and Joahan can’t wait to visit the Equal Justice Initiative after studying Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy in class. Zaniah and Muheez value community, and admire their parents and siblings. Jermani and Sam love helping others. Jermani organizes block parties to raise money for local children in need and Sam looks up to Ida B. Wells for exposing the horrors of lynching. Finally, Aïché, Isaiah, and Jaiden are proud of their Malian, Burkinabé, Guyanese, and Guatemalan heritage. To learn more about each student, click their name!
To support our team, DONATE HERE or mail checks payable to “Michael Pavlis” to:
702 Fulton St., Apt 1F
Brooklyn, NY 11217
You can also contribute through Venmo, @Michael-Pavlis, or Cash App, $MikePavlis. Please note BK2BAMA in the memo line.
For more information on BK2BAMA and our school, click here, follow us on Instagram at @bk2bama, or browse this website. You can also review last year’s trip itinerary here.
By the end of this year, BK2BAMA will have provided seventy-two students with a unique opportunity to learn from some of America’s strongest leaders, greatest organizers, and most courageous citizens. This now sizable – and growing – community does not exist without your generosity.
Best wishes and many thanks,
Mike
This experience will help me build a better future for Black people
I joined BK2BAMA to learn more about what my people went through from the 1400s through the present, both the horrors and triumphs. So far I’ve already gone on multiple field trips around New York with BK2BAMA and this April we’re traveling to Alabama or Georgia to visit important sites and meet with veterans of the Civil Rights Movement. This experience will help me build a better future for Black people and people of color in general. This experience will help me build a better future for Black people and people of color in general. I’m especially excited to go to Alabama to learn more about slavery and the Jim Crow Era.
Only kindness will truly overcome the world’s darkness
My favorite Civil Rights figure is Martin Luther King, Jr. My favorite quote of his is “Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that.” This quote reminds me to drive all hate out of my heart because hate will only consume you. Only kindness will truly overcome the world’s darkness. I joined BK2BAMA to learn more about our history and become a role model for those around me. I’m especially excited to visit HBCUs like Morehouse and Tuskegee when we travel down south.
I joined to understand my true past
BK2BAMA engages their young students in the effort to make America a better, safer, and more equal place. I joined BK2BAMA to understand my true past and dig deeper into my history as a proud Black American. I’m especially ecstatic to meet some foot soldiers who played a big part in the Civil Rights Movement.
I can’t wait
I can’t wait to meet and speak with Mrs. Jean Graetz, who with her husband and many others helped organize the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Even though the Graetz family were white, and not Black like Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., they still fought for what is right even though this led to their house being bombed. I applied to this program to continue my exploration for the truth because I really love learning about the true roots of African Americans.
If there is no struggle there is no progress
One my favorite quotes is Frederick Douglass’ “If there is no struggle there is no progress” because in life you will always face obstacles in order to learn and succeed.
I descend from these activists
I’m very happy to be going to Alabama because I descend from these activists who fought and protested so that I could have the education and rights I have today. They fought so I can vote when I’m eighteen and all Americans have equal opportunities. This program will give me a firsthand account of what we read about in history textbooks.
It is amazing to learn the creative techniques used to protest
I’m really excited to try the food down south, but also can’t wait to meet Dr. Valda Montgomery because she was a female participant in the Montgomery Bus Boycott and also participated in the Selma to Montgomery Marches.
I’m capable just like the Freedom Riders
I want to show the world what I’m capable just like the Freedom Riders and other protesters during the Civil Rights Movement. Visiting these sites where historic events took place will help me better understand what happened. As Black Americans we still face a lot of discrimination, but we need to step up and show the world we’re not inferior and that we’re all humans. Going on this trip will inspire me to become a better person and help others in the community.
Witnessing those experiences firsthand
There is so much history in Alabama: the Montgomery bus boycott, Selma Marches, Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing, and more. Alabama was the base of much civil rights activism. Going there will be like witnessing those experiences firsthand.
This program is much more
This program is much more than just a four day trip. It’s a full year program with a constant flow of new information and work. Every week we meet to have intellectual discussions, listen to lectures, watch film, and analyzes documents on the Civil Rights Movement.
what African American activists did to make Americans equal
I want to go on this trip to learn firsthand about the Civil Rights Movement and what African American activists did to make Americans equal. I think this trip will help me connect the problems of the past to present-day problems, and allow me to help solve those problems.
This is not just another trip.
This is not just another trip. It is a unique learning opportunity because it allows us to go deeper into American history and the Civil Rights Movement by meeting some of the foot soldiers of the movement like Catherine Burks-Brooks, who was a Freedom Rider.