October 16, 2024

WSU Black alumni groups sponsor volunteer service project at D-Town Farm for Homecoming weekend

For Wayne State alumna and Detroit native Eboni Ford Turnbow, Ph.D., Homecoming isn’t just about going back — it’s also about giving back.

Eboni Ford Turnbow, Ph.D., said the Organization of Black Alumni launched the volunteer project at D-Town Farm "to do some physical service out in the community."

As chairperson of the planning committee for the second annual WSU Black Alumni Homecoming Weekend, Ford Turnbow will join fellow members of the Organization of Black Alumni (OBA) and the Alumni of WSU’s National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) to kick off Homecoming festivities with a volunteer community service project in Detroit.

On Oct. 25, OBA and Alumni NPHC members will gather at D-Town Farms on West Outer Drive for immersive, hands-on lessons about the goals and challenges of urban farming and to assist with work at the city-based farm, which was established in to combat food insecurity in local Black communities.

“We wanted to support a Black, service-oriented business and make support for the Black community a theme for our alumni during homecoming weekend,” said Ford Turnbow, who plans to return for Homecoming from her current home in Los Angeles, where she serves as Vice President for Student Affairs for California State University Channel Islands. “We want to spread the word that D-Town Farm exists and share information about their goals and passions. Urban farming is not often talked about in the Black community, so it is also a chance to expand insight for volunteers.”

The Organization of Black Alumni is one of the university's oldest affinity groups.

Ford Turnbow credited Wayne State’s Office of Alumni Relations for supporting the effort and providing resources to OBA, which is one of the university’s oldest alumni affinity groups, to start Black Alumni Homecoming Weekend in 2023.

Lyndsey Crum, assistant vice president of alumni relations and executive director of the WSU Alumni Association, hailed the project as illustrative of the group’s — and the university’s — unwavering commitment to Detroit.

"When we think about welcoming alumni home, it looks different at Wayne State because many of them *are* home," said Lyndsey Crum, assistant vice president of alumni relations and executive director of the WSU Alumni Association.

“The majority of our alumni live within our region,” Crum noted. “So, when we think about welcoming alumni home, it looks different at Wayne State because many of them are home. They are here, building and making our community better every day. Homecoming give us a chance to shed light on how Wayne State alumni are shaping Detroit, the region and our campus for the better. That OBA has organized a service project as part of Homecoming shows their commitment to being leaders in this community and on this campus. I can’t think of anything that’s more authentic to building community in Detroit.”

Ford Turnbow said that plans to host a community service project had been in development since last year, when OBA and Alumni of WSU’s NPHC — the umbrella organization for the popular Black Greek-letter fraternities and sororities collectively known as the “Divine 9” — joined to launch the first-ever Black Homecoming Weekend.

The groups worked to host a social and a tailgate event to raise money for scholarships and lay the groundwork for expanded festivities in 2024. “With the Divine 9 fraternities and sororities, a big staple is community service,” said Ford Turnbow, who also belongs to Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Incorporated. “So, when we were planning, we asked, ‘What are we missing this year? We need to do some physical service out in the community.’”

Last year’s efforts raised more than $5,000 for a scholarship fund. The Black Alumni partnership hopes to increase that to $12,000 this year and begin awarding the scholarship money to students.

Alumni relations officer Myron McWhite hailed OBA for seeking to engage with current students: "They want them to know that the space they’ve created wasn’t always there, that they had to work for it and fight for respect.

“The Organization of Black Alumni is endowed with knowledge and able to give our students the courage to continue on,” explained Alumni Relations Office Myron McWhite, who serves as the direct liaison to OBA. “They want to get engaged with students who attend WSU. They want them to know that the space they’ve created wasn’t always there, that they had to work for it and fight for respect. And they want to encourage today’s students to keep that legacy going.”

Ford Turnbow added that OBA and WSU’s Alumni NPHC plan to make community service projects a permanent facet of Black alumni Homecoming celebrations.

“Homecoming is a good time because you get to come back to your alma mater, see the changes, reconnect with folks from your era and meet current undergraduates,” said Ford Turnbow. “But for us, it’s not just a good time. We're going to enjoy one another, but we're also going to give back. We want to make sure we're always doing something to serve our city.”