The 6th Annual Girl Legacy took place on Wednesday, November 9, at The Fillmore Silver Spring. The event was a sold out evening with over 300 guests in attendance to celebrate 25 years of Creating Opportunities, Cultivating Potential and Achieving Dreams. The evening kicked off at cocktail hour with DC’s #1 Party Band, Secret Society. Guests networked while listening to songs such as “Don’t Stop Believin’,“ by Journey.
The program began at 7:15pm with Host and Co-Emcee Jummy Olabanji, News4 Anchor. Our first group of talented CB Girls took to the stage with a dance titled, “Timeless,” dancing to songs reflective of girl empowerment over the last 25 years.
Honorary chair Julie Statland shared “What an honor it has been to be able to help girls to advocate for themselves and to become strong leaders.”
Secret Society provided music during cocktial your
CB Executive Director Shannon Babe-Thomas said, “The story that really resonates with me this year is one of college access! We’ve worked so hard in the last few years to build a truly comprehensive college access and success program.
Jummy shared with guests the success of CB over the last 25 years, including;
- In 25 years Community Bridges has helped to shape the lives of over 5,500 diverse girls in grades 4-12.
- Last year 100% of CB Girls Graduated High School and 100% were accepted to a college or university with over $2,899,664 in institutional aid and scholarships awarded. 94% of our graduates are attending a 4 year institution.
- Last year, CB Mentoring Program had 48 mentoring matches with over 1,250 hours of mentoring.
Host & Co-emcee Jummy Olabanji
Fatou Touray receives the CB Alumna Award
CB Girl Hadassah Alabi shared her original spoken word, “If I Walk on Your Block.”
Co-emcee D. Carter, DJ WPGC 95.5, joined us on stage to announce our first award of the night. CB Alumna and AmeriCorps member Fatou Touray was presented with the 2022 CB Alumna Award.
CB Girl Hannah Germain then joined us on stage to sing, “Greatest Love of All” by Whitney Houston and then she was joined by Madison Perkins and Michkeltha Bobo to sing “Girl on Fire” by Alicia Keys. The performance was so moving that many had tears in their eyes.
Councilmembers Evan Glass and Andrew Friedson joined us to present Community Bridges with a proclamation to honor 25 years of Community Bridges. We then took a short break for dinner that was catered by All Set Restaurant and Bar.
Councilmembers Andres Friedson and Evan Glass presenting proclamation honoring 25 years of Community Bridges to Shannon Babe-Thomas
After dinner D. Carter presented Jenny Abramson, Founder & Managing Partner, Rethink Impact, with the 2022 Girl Legacy Award. Jenny shared words of advice for our girls:
- Pick something you’re passionate about.
- Be the best at whatever you do.
- Surround yourself with people that are different from you; both different backgrounds and interests. It’s not only good for the world, it’s smart business.
CB Girls and alumnae Christy and Jam Ramos shared a beautiful rendition of “Man in the Mirror” before presenting the 2022 Legacy Award to honor the legacy of Edward “Ted” Geier to his three daughters, Julia, Gabrielle and Caroline. Shannon Babe-Thomas shared that the award recognizes that “Ted will be missed but never forgotten as his legacy will live on for many generations to come.”
Jenny Abramson, recipient of the 2022 Girl Legacy Award
Christy & Jam Ramos sing “Man in the Mirror”
CB Girl Just Love Alabi shared an original spoken word, “Differences.” A line from her moving piece, “The girl is beautiful, the girl is wonderful, the seed is magnificent, the girl is Different.”
Before Shannon Babe-Thomas and CB Girl and Alumna Etsube Yitbarek started the appeal for support, we watched the 2022 Girl Legacy Video highlighting the story and journey of CB Girls and alumnae Christy and Jam Ramos. To date we have been able to raise over $120,000 in support of the 25th Anniversary of Community Bridges. Every dollar raised is helping the organization to expand and serve more girls in grades 4-12.
As guests were writing checks and making online donations, CB Girl Chinaza Amagwula shared a monologue from Northwood High School’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Our 2022 Building Bridges Award was presented to Senator Chris Van Hollen. Senator Van Hollen ended the night with moving words, “As I look back over the history, I’ve seen this organization grow overtime. As I look out into this room it is amazing how they’ve amplified their power to help change our community and to help girls.”
2022 Girl Legacy Video featuring Christy and Jam Ramos
Senator Chris Van Hollen, recipient of the 2022 Building Bridges Award
Before we closed out for the night, we had our final performance by CB Girl Tanisha Vainqueur, who shared a dance to “God Must Have Spent (A Little More Time on You)” by *Nsync and from the Northwood High School Production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
The guests at this time were thinking the evening has ended and it’s time to say our goodbyes, but in fact Honorary Chair Julie Statland and Executive Director Shannon Babe-Thomas had a surprise for guests. They presented a new award this year: the 2022 Role Model Award. This was presented to Councilmember Elect Laurie-Anne Sayles. After having a minute to process the award, Laurie-Anne shared, “I’ve always been a huge supporter of this organization because of the legacy they are leaving for young women, especially young women of color.”
While Girl Legacy has ended, the celebration of our 25th Anniversary will continue for months to come. If you were not able to join us, it is not too late to invest in a CB girl and make an impact on your community today!