By Anyla McDonald
For the past two decades, a Tri-Cities nonprofit has been working to highlight the accomplishments of the Black community.
The African American Community Cultural & Educational Society celebrated its 20th anniversary last year. AACCES began as a group supporting the history and recognition of African Americans and has since expanded to support the Mid-Columbia community through educational activities and outreach programs for African American youth, as well as economic opportunities for residents.
Vanis Daniels, president of the AACCES, said that the group’s work is important for the Black community for many reasons.
“We do all this to promote the contributions that the small percentage of African Americans have committed. We have had to bear through a multitude of discrimination and segregation within the Tri-Cities area in the past. Therefore, we needed more recognition and appreciation amongst those who had the same trials as us while being Black in America. During many occasions, we have felt pushed to the side and swept under the rug. So we decided to take matters into our own hands and make sure our Black heroes had a step stool and a canvas in order for them to be the community’s anchor,” Daniels said.
Scholarships
Recognizing the academic accomplishments of African American students is important to AACCES. Ten students received AACCES scholarships totaling more than $25,000 this year.
In all, the nonprofit has honored more than 100 students with more than $700,000 in scholarships since its inception in 2003.
Cecilia Randolph, a founding member of AACCES, recruitment chairperson and membership chairwoman, helps oversee several scholarship programs for the group, including credit retrieval scholarships for middle school and high school students.
The program pays for half of summer school tuition in Kennewick and Richland so students can make up credits to graduate on time. AACCES also offers scholarships to attend Columbia Basin College in Pasco.
The group’s Martin Luther King Jr. scholarship and the William Owen Bush scholarship provide $2,500 each to WSU Tri-Cities students in any field of study.
It also gives out awards.
This year’s AACCES Civic Excellence Award went to Michael Watson and Micah Fitzgerald. Watson recently graduated from Delta High School and Columbia Basin College with high honors and plans to attend WSU.
Fitzgerald recently graduated from Richland High School and Columbia Basin College. She was the founder of the Black Student Union at Richland High and received $1.2 million in scholarships and 24 college acceptances. She plans to major in pre-law.
Helping to lift up, support and recognize the Black community is important to Randolph.
“The organization’s work is significant to me because it gives us a safe place and refuge amongst what Black culture looks like on a front page. We are now able to have a mirror reflection of ourselves that upholds the same aspirations as us. With AACCES, we don’t feel as though we have to be accepted or fit in. We have the ability to set our own tables and bring our own chairs with those who have the same kinky strands, big lips, big noses, and melanated pigmentation,” Randolph said.
AACCES Treasurer Vanessa Moore, center, shakes hands during the nonprofit’s second annual Senior Awards Night in 2023. Leonard Moore, founding member of AACCES, is at far left.
| Courtesy AACCESConnecting to the community
AACCES offers a variety of activities to connect the community.
It has organized community concerts for the public, and it recently held a black tie gala, attracting African Americans from all over the state
“With these outings you can give back to the community, support influential voices, dress up and feel your best, applaud those that uphold optimism and high expectations for themselves, have a unit to expose their creativity, dance, laugh, sing, and listen to live music as well,” Randolph said.
AACCES also has done its part to highlight local civil rights activists, including Art Fletcher and Katie Barton, who were the first African Americans to serve on a city council in the Tri-Cities.
AACCES worked with WSU Tri-Cities on an oral history project highlighting the contributions of African Americans who worked at Hanford during the Manhattan project.
The group also brought Hall of Famer Buck O’Neil to the Tri-Cities in 2000 as part of a Black History Month event, thanks to the help of local contractors. O’Neil played in the Negro League baseball.
In 2022 Leonard Moore, AACCES history and recognition committee chair, collaborated with the Washington State Historical Society to place a monument honoring William Owen Bush on the WSU Tri-Cities campus.
“With our successes, we have been able to plant and water a variety of seeds that will last for many generations to come, creating a garden of longevity. Filled with soil and sunlight, roots that possess strength and dignity,” said Vanessa Moore, treasurer of AACCES.
To learn more about AACCES, go to aacces.com.
Freelancer Anyla McDonald of Richland, a 2023 Walla Walla High School graduate, has written for Tumbleweird and other publications. She was recognized as one of the Walla Walla Union Bulletin’s “39 under 39,” which recognizes young leaders in business, health care, arts and culture, education, public service, nonprofits and advocacy.