Sacramento nonprofit helps send kids on college tours, including HBCUs. Here’s what they learn

Malea Wallace takes college courses as a sophomore, and at her pace she’s on track to graduate high school with her associate degree.

Wallace attends Rex and Margaret Fortune Early College High School in Elk Grove. It is her hope to go to a historically Black college or universityupon graduation.

She was afforded an opportunity to visit multiple campuses during Voice of the Youth’s Black Excellence College Tour in spring 2023.

Voice of the Youth is a nonprofit organization that was created in 2008 to provide mentorship and support to youth in the Sacramento region. The organization has hosted college tours, starting with Southern California institutions, since 2013, according to founder Berry Accius.

On her tour last year, Wallace visited Virginia State, Morgan State, Howard, Hampton, Norfolk State and Coppin State.

After touring all the schools, Wallace said she was intrigued with Hampton’s campus and is looking into attending the school. She wants to major in architectural engineering.

“(It) helped by showing me the real experience from a student’s perspective,” Wallace said. “Our tour guides really helped and walked us through the campuses, showing us all the different resources and centers built for us. The whole experience made me feel more comfortable and ready to go to college, knowing that I won’t be alone.”

Wallace said she recommends the tour for the friendships formed and having an eye-opening experience of seeing different colleges and universities and the cities they’re in.

“While some students have social anxiety issues or some have just never been away from home, these tours help to push you out of your comfort zone and into a place of growth,” Wallace said.

Origin of the tours

Accius said the tours began with taking four students from the Sacramento area on a journey through different colleges and universities starting in their home state.

He wanted to offer them “a glimpse into campus life, academic programs and potential career paths.”

Accius always believed it was important to expose Black children to colleges. He also wanted to ensure they were in places that served them well. So in 2022, he added historically Black colleges and universities to the tour guide.

“This annual tour has since become an important tool for empowering youth and helping them make informed decisions about their future education,” Accius said. “Our motto (is) ‘expose, experience, excel.’ We have a 90% success rate from students who have gone on the tour, attended college and graduated from the college they attended.”

Accius most recently took students on a SoCal College Tour last month visiting San Diego State, UCLA, USC, UC Irvine and UC San Diego.

He anticipates taking students on tours next month for the organization’s “HBCU edition” visiting Texas Southern, Prairie View A&M, Xavier (Louisiana), Dillard, Southern and Grambling State. The trip is planned for April 21-27.

The tours can last up to a week, depending on where they travel. There is no cost to students, parents and members of VOY for travel expenses, according to Accius.

Voice of the Youth pays for the tours through sponsorships and direct donations. Some of those sponsors include Double Popcorn, Applebee’s, See’s Candies and VOY’s annual crab feed and snack bar.

A new family tradition?

Amiya Davis is a freshman currently attending Wallace’s dream school, Hampton. She’s majoring in architecture, which Davis said takes most of her time.

She went on VOY’s Black College Excellence Tour last year before graduating from Monterey Trail High School in Elk Grove. It was her first time visiting Hampton.

Davis is the first in her family to attend an HBCU. It’s something she always wanted to do, she said.

“I wanted to learn and experience more of my Black culture,” Davis said.

Of nearly 63,000 students in the Elk Grove Unified School District, 10% are Black, according to the district’s website.

HBCUs are defined as historically Black colleges or universities established prior to 1964, whose mission is the education of Black Americans, according to the U.S. Higher Education Act of 1964.

There are more than 100 HBCUs in the U.S., according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

The recent tour, Davis said, exposed her to more options and educational opportunities.

Her advice: don’t limit yourself.

Davis tells her younger sister, Layliah, to research and learn about the schools. She encourages her to attend VOY’s Black Excellence College Tour to experience different schools and make the best decision for her.

Layliah is currently a junior at Las Flores High School, an independent study program in the Elk Grove Unified School District.

She is contemplating either going to San Diego State or following in her sister’s footsteps and attending an HBCU.

She said if she does go to an HBCU, it won’t be with her sister. Layliah is interested in Texas Southern University, Grambling State and Xavier.

She’s hoping to go on her first VOY Black Excellence College Tour this spring. The nonprofit intends to visit her desired colleges, among others in Texas and Louisiana.

She wants to major in nursing and hopes the tour helps her narrow down her college choice.

“I’m looking forward to seeing life around campus and if they offer my major because I haven’t found a school that I can call home,” Layliah said. “Knowing my junior year is ending and senior year is approaching, I think (the tour) will help me choose where I want to apply.”

A different culture

Emoni Durham is a senior at Laguna Creek High School in Elk Grove.

She went on VOY’s SoCal college tour last month. However, she said she felt an “eye-opening experience” after attending the Black Excellence College Tour with the nonprofit organization last year.

She’s since applied to 11 HBCUs: Norfolk State, Howard, Hampton, Virginia State, Morgan State, Jackson State, Coppin State, Florida A&M, Texas Southern, Prairie View A&M and Southern.

So far, she’s been accepted into Jackson State, Virginia State and Norfolk State.

“I just wanted to keep my options open as a senior,” Durham said. “I just wanted to be able to explore the different options that were out there instead of the pipeline of applying to only UCs or California state schools.”

She added: “it’s a different type of culture and it’s a different education or feeling that you experience at an HBCU versus a PWI…I feel like an HBCU brings you closer to your people and deeper to your roots as being African-American.”

Josiah Hayes Garcia, a junior at Laguna Creek, has never been on a tour with VOY, but he’s excited to go.

In previous years he was either too young or too afraid to leave home, he said. Now Hayes Garcia is looking to get over that phobia and see different cultures in other states.

He doesn’t have any specific HBCUs in mind. He just wants to get out and venture to different campuses.

“(Just) getting to be on my own,” Hayes Garcia said about leaving California for an HBCU. “I want to make connections with people who have similar interests, as well as finding people who support me and my future.”

VOY is still accepting sponsorships and donations for its college tours. More information is available at www.voiceoftheyouth.org.