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All members of the group working at registration table.

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We helped:

Filling registration forms.

Information about the BSSE (Black Student Support and Engagement).

Providing merchandise to registrants.

Providing tickets for food.

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We were located at the entrance of the Melanin Market 

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We were located at the entrance of the Melanin Market 

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Actively participating in school activities.

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Our group actively supports school activities, and attending these events inspires us to volunteer even more.

Recently, we all participated in Black Heritage Month, which was a great opportunity as it led us to volunteer for the Black Heritage Month for Melanin Market, celebrating culture and unity together!

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The Story of Black History Month in Canada 

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The Story of Black History Month in Canada 

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This video explains the origins of Black History Month and why honouring the achievements, culture, and contributions of the Black community is essential. It is a great resource for better understanding the significance of this month and why events like the Melanin Market play a key role in uplifting Black entrepreneurs and fostering inclusivity.

References:

Freedom Is Mine Official. (2024, February 5). The Story of Black History Month in Canada (In 60 seconds!) [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReKqO7VtiaI

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The Story of Black History Month in Canada (In 60 Seconds!)

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Celebrating Black Entrepreneurs and Culture.

This video showcases the power of community and economic empowerment through Black-owned businesses. It highlights how the Melanin Market in LA that creates opportunities for Black entrepreneurs in celebrating culture, heritage, and resilience.

References:

OurCrenshawTV. (2020, February 13). Melanin Market LA: Black History Month Edition [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqPtrKIgWfM

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Melanin Market LA: Black History Month Edition

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The BSSE (Black Student Support and Engagement) Program seeks to provide students who identify as Black, African, and Caribbean with community, resources and support to help them fully maximize on their campus experience. Our programming is open to students within Humber College and the University of Guelph-Humber.

-Bsse. (n.d.). BSSE - Humber Polytechnic. https://humber.ca/bsse/

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This is the insight View From the Melanin market in the humber college North Campus.

Instagram. (n.d.). https://www.instagram.com/p/DHJ21f2xL0e/?img_index=1

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Black Student Support & Engagement (BSSE) Humber on Instagram: "✨ Melanin Market is coming to LAKESHORE! ✨

North Campus showed OUT, and now it’s time for Lakeshore to bring the vibes! 🛍️🔥

🗓 March 18th
📍 Lakeshore L Building
⏰ 12-4 PM

Come through for a day of shopping, community, and celebrating Black-owned businesses. 🙌🏾✨

Shoutout to all the amazing vendors from North Campus! They’re tagged—go show them some love. 💕

Who do you want to see at the next Melanin Market? Tag your fave vendors below! ⬇️⬇️ 

 #SupportBlackBusiness #MelaninMarket #ShopBlack"

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111 likes, 4 comments - bssehumber on March 13, 2025: "✨ Melanin Market is coming to LAKESHORE! ✨

North Campus showed OUT, and now it’s time for Lakeshore to bring the vibes! 🛍️🔥

🗓 March 18th
📍 Lakeshore L Building
⏰ 12-4 PM

Come through for a day of shopping, community, and celebrating Black-owned businesses. 🙌🏾✨

Shoutout to all the amazing vendors from North Campus! They’re tagged—go show them some love. 💕

Who do you want to see at the next Melanin Market? Tag your fave vendors below! ⬇️⬇️ 

 #SupportBlackBusiness #MelaninMarket #ShopBlack". 

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View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Black Student Support & Engagement (BSSE) Humber (@bssehumber)

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"Celebrating the Contributions of Black Volunteers in our History"

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"Celebrating the Contributions of Black Volunteers in our History"

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​The article shows Volunteer Toronto's blog highlights the significant impact Black volunteers have made in shaping Canadian society. It features stories of influential figures like Mary Bibb, an abolitionist, educator, and co-editor of the "Voice of the Fugitive" newspaper, who played a pivotal role in advocating for the rights of Black individuals in Canada.

References:

Celebrating the Contributions of Black Volunteer in our History. (n.d.). Volunteer Toronto. https://www.volunteertoronto.ca/blogpost/1302191/365845/Celebrating-the-Contributions-of-Black-Volunteers-in-our-History

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Celebrating the Contributions of Black Volunteers in our History - Volunteer Toronto

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Volunteer Toronto is a charity that builds caring communities by connecting volunteers to the causes that need them.

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Volunteering at the Melanin Market for Black Heritage Month was such a fun and rewarding experience! 

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We were at the reception, where we got to welcome attendees, hand out tickets, and provide some merch. It was such an interactive role because we had the chance to engage with so many students and professors.

The event itself was amazing! There were Black-owned businesses showcasing their products, from handmade crafts to delicious food. The energy was vibrant, and everyone was so engaged!

I truly enjoyed being part of this event, and if I had more free time, I would definitely love to do more volunteering. It’s a great way to connect with people, learn new things, and support meaningful causes. 💛✨

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Say It Loud Young Gifted and Black GIF by Devon Blow - find & share on GIPHY. (n.d.). https://media.giphy.com/media/byUj8Ephng1qEUqZhP/giphy.gif?cid=790b7611nkuqbzc3rky3l03vbik7ayawwivo5fkiom4y41ds&ep=v1_gifs_search&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g

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It was a truly great experience to be part of the Melanin Market of Black Heritage Month at Humber as a volunteer. We were at the reception area, where we were distributing tickets to the guests and providing information about the market. We also enjoyed the market ourselves, and I personally ended up buying a great aromatic oil, as we learn in our class how supporting the local vendor can be very helpful for the economy, and it can promote the sustainability within the community.

More than that, it was really a great opportunity for me, who come from a different background, to get to know more about the community. Also, it was a really amazing experience for me to do the volunteering as it was my first time doing so, and I felt like I should do it more often because I really liked the experience of talking to new people and providing information regarding Black Heritage Month. It was a very educational opportunity with a broader cultural perspective outside from my own.

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Picture of the Melanin Market from the entrance 

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Was composed by 7 stands of black owned business selling multiple products such as jewelry, skincare, food, drinks and essences with aromatic oils.

Inside the market there was also one stand from Ignite offering free haircut to students and one from Humber students providing free patties to the assistants.

This event attracted multiple students and professors to enter the event and enjoy getting their favorite products and trying free samples!

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The importance of this department in Humber is that you have the opportunity to learn about the different cultural backgrounds. This is a big support for the community and to promote diversity and inclusion in college, where everyone is encouraged to celebrate their own cultural Heritage.

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The first step to finding this opportunity was approaching the first-year experience office and learning about upcoming vacancies for volunteering we were excited about learning more about, and Nicholas was so kind to explain to us that during the month of February we get the chance to be a part of the Melanin Market, which is getting hosted at the Humber College North Campus in the LRC. After our first meeting, we keep in touch through email, where we confirm our availability for attending to this event, which is Thursday, February 20th, from 12pm to 4pm. After our completion of this volunteering, Nicholas provided us with feedback under our names to let us know how we did; we were truly proud of our contribution after exceeding his expectations.

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SCHUELLER, M. (2022, February 22). Black History Month- 5 Ways to celebrate. Concordia University Wisconsin. https://blog.cuw.edu/black-history-month-5-ways-to-celebrate-2163/

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Picture at The Black Student Support and Engagement Centre in LRC level 2

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It was a great experience and learning opportunity for me. I volunteered for Black Heritage Month’s Melanin Market, where I provided people who want to attend it with the general overview of the event and guided them to the front desk for registration, and assisted with the registration process itself. I tried to help and ensure the smooth event flow and enhanced participants’ experience by offering support and answering questions throughout the event. We went to the BSSE office on LRC 2nd floor and got to learn a lot more about the event and the history seeing murals and art on the walls. It was a great enjoyable event for me.

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"Sucess of Unity" Digital Illustration Mural At Humber

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"Sucess of Unity" Digital Illustration Mural At Humber

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The inspiration behind this mural is Love, family and education. This work takes a traditional approach to what I believe are the pillars to success: strong loving family support and the value of a good education to fulfill Passions, dreams and desires.

This mural was inspired by moments in the timeline of success. There are in total seven vignettes or small murals, the murals are meant to be viewed from right to left. The first wall features family structures rooted in unity and love that foster healthy foundations and the second larger wall highlights the fruits of a strong foundation and the value of education. On this wall is seen the student body of Humber in various fields of interest ranging from science to sports. The entire mural is aimed at fostering a sense of joy and reflection, the colour palette consists of soft pastels contrasting against saturated tones to inspire and excite positive moods in the viewer. (Phillip Saunders)

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We are pleased to share that we received positive feedback from FYE regarding our recent volunteer efforts. They appreciated our dedication, teamwork, and commitment to making a meaningful impact. The feedback highlighted our professionalism and the positive experience we provided to those we assisted. We are grateful for the recognition and look forward to continuing our contributions in the future. The person who gave us feedback from FYE is Nicholas Medeiros. We have a attached photo of his email that he sent to our group regarding the feedback.

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The experience volunteering with BSSE for the Melanin Market during the Black Heritage Month was important for me because, apart from giving me the opportunity to improve my skills in customer service and communication, I was able to be part of the Black culture promotion, learning more about their gastronomy and their amazing department inside Her Polytechnic, the BSSE (Black Student Support and Engagement). After this experience, I learned how important the support and promotion of the culture is even if you aren't part of it. The importance of this is to show support to all cultural groups. This makes strong our sense of multiculturalism and also gives us a better understanding about the world and how all need respect and recognition!

My thoughts about the relation with tourism

When tourists are visiting different places they are interacting with new cultures, there is the importance to know when you are promoting and supporting other cultures possitively always avoiding entering into cultural appropriation! as discussed in class this can be harmful for communities, saddly this can happen due to travel activities, our duty as professionals is to educate our clients, colleagues, friends and family about the importance of this matter, spreading the information as much as possible.

My Highlights are the importance of cultural awareness, support to communities and local culture preservation.

My reflection lies on the power of travel professionals to to create cultural awareness, the importance of preserving traditions from locals that are exposed to tourism and the economic support that can be driven by tourists choosing small local businesses into their destinations.

My takeaway from this experience is never think you need to be part of a culture to be able to support and promote it, because you will always be encouraged to embrace it and celebrate respectfully! 🎉

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Us At "Sucess of Unity" The Digital Illustration Mural Art Humber

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Us At "Sucess of Unity" The Digital Illustration Mural Art Humber