Black History Month at Nativa
As Black History Month (BHM) winds to a close, we wanted to share how Nativa is working to create conversation in our communities about the importance of Black history and culture. These initiatives are important to us not just for this month, but over the entire year.
As a multicultural marketing agency, much of our day-to-day work is to highlight different cultures and perspectives in marketing objectives. Whether we are working on internal assignments or with our clients on their multicultural research and strategies, the importance of Black culture and communities is part of our daily conversation.
Multicultural Agency Honors Black History Month
While understanding the thoughts and values through online conversations of Black audiences are a core part of our social listening business, this month we are also highlighting special emphasis projects through our clients. For example, one of our key clients, AFSAC Directorate, (Air Force Security Assistance & Cooperation) located on Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, is launching a mentoring program for Black History Month.
An article co-written by Nativa’s own Branding Manager, Jonathan Tharp, discusses AFSAC initiatives to upgrade a local school’s Black History Month curriculum. Winston Ferguson, the section chief of systems and integration at AFSAC Directorate, approached leaders at Dayton Regional STEM School about how they could reprioritize the February school curriculum to focus on Black History Month. With Ferguson’s feedback, the Dayton Regional STEM School staff arranged Zoom calls on Feb. 16 & 18 to give students opportunities to learn about Black History accomplishments and interact with speakers. He also contributed resources about Black inventors and historical figures to be used for school trivia contests.
Winston Ferguson, Section Chief of Systems & Integration at AFSAC Directorate
Nativa’s Commitment to Honor BHM Beyond February
While a February-long mentoring program to educate about Black history and culture is a step in the right direction, we at Nativa believe in making a commitment to honoring and educating ourselves about multicultural communities all year long. As a multicultural marketing firm, the conversations and opinions of diverse communities are essential to understanding culture in our daily operations. When interviewing Jonathan about his contributions to the AFSAC mentoring programs he declares, “The whole idea is not about elevating the status of one individual or group, but continuous exposure to ideas.”
‘Continuous exposure’ is the true way to acknowledge and learn about Black History throughout much more than just one month. Whether we’re working on multicultural insight projects for our clients, or internal ventures to find ways we can improve our listening and analysis of Black audiences, Nativa is consistently working to educate ourselves and our community about diverse cultures and perspectives. Jonathan closed by sharing that it’s important to seize opportunities of education and conversation “…Any time you can facilitate an open discussion to learn about other perspectives.”
