Our Story

An Unlikely Start

After defending her dissertation in 2016, our founder, Dr. Maisha Beasley was invited to come back to the community where she was raised to facilitate a conversation of inspiration for African American high school girls at a local high school Livermore, California. As a result of one conversation, Dr. Beasley was asked to continue the conversation bi-monthly as a volunteer.

The gap for representation and support programming for all African American students in the district was quickly realized and Dr. Beasley was asked to develop a full program for the district.

Supporting students and families

Knowing the work would need to be a community effort, Dr. Beasley enlisted the co-founder of MEBCG, Ashley Carter to create and implement wrap-around programming for the district, with the goal to provide students and their families with the opportunity to create community.

The tenants of the original programming model centered around college preparation, social and emotional well-being, and cultural awareness at the high school level. Word of our work with Livermore grew quickly and within a span of six months the program was active in eight schools within four school districts in the tri-valley.

The Impact

As a result of the program, districts saw a decrease in disciplinary interactions, an increase in CSU/UC requirements met, an increase in positive interactions with teachers/administrators/staff, and an increase in self-esteem/identity development. 

While the success with the students and families was just the starting point, the MEBCG team sought to further its impact by providing training and professional development opportunities to district educators to confront and address areas of cultural competency, diversity, equity, and inclusion in challenging and engaging ways.

Additionally, wIth a large demand for diversity, equity, and inclusion training in the workplace, MEBCG has expanded its suite of programs to meet the needs of professionals in various industries.  

We are proud of the impact that MEBCG has made throughout the years and grateful to our community of professional experts who have assisted us in our mission to Make Education Better for future generations.