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SHANNON: I think what we've done here with Collegiate Luxe is really, given other small Black-owned businesses in Baltimore the courage and the inspiration to go out and get it.

Like, we're still on the come up, we're still on the rise, but again, we've been seeing different food vendors, different, you know, people who are Black-owned on the grind in Baltimore, elevating the city, changing the narrative of Baltimore.

And I feel like Collegiate Luxe, we are on the forefront of that, and we're proud to be on the forefront of that.

So yes, with our designs, we try to keep it minimal, you know what I mean?

We always like to represent the schools on the back.

Um, it's pretty much standard, "HBCU made."

We have to put that, I mean, we gotta put HBCU made.

Well, we all know the history of CIAA, like with it being in North Carolina and now in Baltimore, it's insurmountable, right?

So we're just excited and we're honored and grateful to play a part of that.

For us, the impact is seeing our children who are at CIAA helping us sell shirts.

Like for us, it is really about empowering the future, continuing the CIAA tradition and history and promoting the Black culture and the Black excellence that HBCUs bring.

BRANDON: Happens every time, I saw your eye go, I'm like it's about to happen.

CHARLIE: Charlie Neal.

C-H-A-R-L-I-E N-E-A-L. Just in case you want to do graphics.

See, I'm familiar with it.

AZIKIWE: All right.

All right, I'll do my best.

SHELONDA: Ignore the cameras.

Test, test, mic check.

AL: You want me to look at you?

DIRECTOR: Yep.

Yep.

JANET: I'm well.

How are you?

ALMA: Test, test.

AMINTA: Today was, uh, exceptionally, um, very impactful for me.

MICHAEL: Test, test.

VALERIE: Test, test.

CURTIS: Test.

Can you hear me?

Testing 1, 2, 3.

I'm in the lovely land of the great PBS.

JACQIE: Jacqie, J-A-C-Q-I-E. McWilliams, M-C-W-I-L-L-I-A-M-S Parker, P-A-R-K-E-R, Commissioner of the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association, CIAA.

(theme music).

♪ ♪ BRANDON: When you think about it, right?

In this very arena that we're in, Barack Obama's spoke, Prince has performed here, Michael Jackson has performed here.

Uh, that basketball team known as the Wizards used to play here, right?

Earl the Pearl Monroe, a CIAA legend, played for the Baltimore Bullets in this arena.

This just shows Baltimore has always been a center place for sports and entertainment.

We're now seeing the next evolution of that through the CIAA, in the renovations at the CFG Bank Arena.

Which we are sitting in the Fearless Club, which is a Black-owned business in Baltimore, who has the suite area named in its honor here in Baltimore City.

You don't see that when you go to other arenas around the country.

SHELONDA: My name is Shelonda Stokes, and I'm the president of Downtown Partnership of Baltimore.

Downtown Partnership of Baltimore, CIAA, one plus one equals five.

Boom.

We're taking it to another level.

JACQIE: I mean, I'm here before everybody gets here on the ground, getting greeted by the band in the airport, seeing the signage.

I mean, it's exciting to see the lights on the street, the signage on the walkway.

I mean, there are signage everywhere.

I mean, if you don't know that CIAA's in Baltimore, then you're missing something.

SHELONDA: Part of what we are excited about is CIAA is just the manifestation of what we're already implementing in Baltimore, in downtown.

It's Black excellence at its finest.

It's figuring out how you support not only the scholar athlete, but the community in which you serve.

And those things are things that we're working on in partnership.

AL: I'll tell you a little brief history.

So in 2018, when we made the initial pitch for the CIAA, we committed to the presidents and we committed to the commissioner of the CIAA, that if we were fortunate enough to win the bid for them to come to Baltimore, then not only would we celebrate great basketball of the institutions, but we would also make sure that the fans, the student athletes, would celebrate our small Black-owned businesses here in Baltimore.

JACQIE: Baltimore is a basketball city, and your mayor is a Baltimore guy that loves to play basketball.

And so there has been a intentional effort from this community to ensure that basketball is the primary reason why we're here.

But they also understand that we have, we're very intentional about building outside of that as well with our community efforts.

We're doing some great community work and we do it for all of our championships.

Basketball is the biggest event that we have the opportunity to bring in everybody.

Our bands are in your community, our cheer is in your community.

We got 24 student athletes are here for programming that will be giving out shoes to Samaritan's Feet.

I think it's 500 pairs of shoes that will be distributed.

Education day, 2,500 students, you know, or more.

I think it was more, not enough room.

We're gonna have to figure out what to do next year.

You know, our colleges are here to recruit students from the city, um, which we should, you know, we want Baltimore children and youth to see CIAA as the opportunity to get their education.

And if they wanna play sport, you can do all of it.

If you wanna be in the band, you can do that too.

If you want to cheer, you can do that.

If you want to take pictures and be a media person, you can do that too.

What, you wanna market?

We got space for you in the CIAA.

BRANDON: And that allows, uh, those wonderful student athletes this conference to put on what they're putting on to make sure that we are taking care of those student athletes, that they're having a successful tournament.

That makes it easy for us as the city of Baltimore and the state of Maryland to invest in this as well.

This is about us showcasing everything that these schools and institutions represent.

We know that's Black excellence.

It's not just about the battles that are happening on the court, the wins and losses, but what these young people will do once they're done playing basketball, getting them the jobs and opportunities that they can get here in Baltimore, around the country showing off to the world, a group of folks of young people that we know oftentimes are ignored or they always being pushed down as less than.

We can beat our chest, show them how proud of them we are, and very thankful to folks like Nationwide and Food Lion for believing and bettering the CIAA as well.

JACQIE: CIAA has some longstanding partners.

So if we just talk on the national side, right now, Food Lion is 30 years.

Now, they are the title sponsor for the CIAA.

We haven't had a title sponsor, I can't tell you how long or if ever since I've been here, I know.

Nationwide has been with us for a very long time.

Coca-Cola has been with us.

We just brought on Wells Fargo.

Under Armour is our national partner.

Home Depot just came on.

I mean, our national partnerships are real-time and they're investments so that they can be a part of all 14 of our championships.

Also give funding and money, scholarships back to our schools is a big deal.

But when you talk about the tournament, when a host wants to host the tournament, they have money to raise.

So now you have these local partnerships that have been instrumental for Al Hutchinson, the leader of Visit Baltimore, who's a dear colleague and I admire his leadership in trying to bring this community together.

And so it can't just be one entity.

You know, you have the professional sports, the Ravens, the Orioles, they're all involved.

You have your banks that are involved, Bank of America, I mean, the airport is involved, and the list goes on.

You have all these partners locally that are willing to invest into this tournament so that it can be a great experience for the community, but also for the CIAA.

We can do a lot of good work if everybody makes the investment.

We're all investing in some way, even the conference office.

We have to invest.

Everybody has to invest if you wanna see the outcomes that you want and the results.

AL: Yeah, at the end of the day, all these big companies, whether it's Nationwide or whether it's Home Depot.

Here in Baltimore, it's Bank of America, it's CareFirst, it's Whiting Turner.

There, that are investors.

They do that to really support the tournament, but they also do it to show this younger generation that there are opportunities in their workspaces.

JANET: My sister was a Hampton graduate, and I had visited her and understood the sense of camaraderie and belonging that Black students have at HBCUs.

And I knew I wanted to go to an HBCU.

So I visited Spelman College over a weekend.

I fell in love.

I was like, this is my place.

These are my people.

I applied early decision.

I got in.

I didn't write another college application, because I knew that's where I wanted to go.

It's important to invest in the CIAA because we have to show up for these students.

We have to let them know that they matter, that we see them, that we're here for them.

And so, first and foremost, these scholar athletes deserve that.

AL: We felt that it was extremely important for us, because if basketball is here, fans from all the over the country are in Baltimore City, we wanted to make sure in a, you know, predominantly African American city, that they would celebrate and support our small Black-owned businesses.

SHELONDA: So having large corporations invest in the CIAA is extremely important.

One of the reasons we believe they selected us, and we're gonna keep them here, is because our, our businesses have really raised their hand.

And they said, how can I lean in?

So everything from sponsoring directly to creating opportunities like the, like the Black-owned restaurant tour, and some other things to opening their doors and figuring out how they... whether it's marketing assistance or just giving them a platform, that those businesses do it.

A lot of this is also post-COVID that you really see an alignment, I think more than I've seen in my lifetime, between the business community, the organizations like ours, and the community community, which includes all of our entrepreneurs and others to really make it meaningful.

AL: Obviously this is Black History Month, so because of that, we have a BoP pass, which is, um, allows discounts at Black-owned, uh, restaurants at our Black attractions, uh, here in Baltimore.

So when visitors come to the tournament, they can go to those establishments and get great discounts.

But in addition to that, we also created a Black-owned, uh, business directory.

So when folks came to Baltimore, we wanted to make sure they knew where to go to really, um, support these small Black-owned businesses in Baltimore.

So we didn't want to just talk about it, we wanted to do it intentionally, put some structure to it and, uh, make sure these businesses are celebrated and supported.

AZIKIWE: It's a glorious place, a beautiful establishment, and it is just one of 14 stops on the BORT tour.

Azikiwe Deveaux, proud, proud alumni of Morgan State University, the National Treasure.

BORT is an acronym for the Black-Owned Restaurant Tour.

And it is the week leading into the CIAA tournament, every year for the last three years.

It's a wonderful thing.

Um, for one, it's changing the narrative, because before BORT the nar, narrative was, we don't have enough.

We don't have many, we don't have any opportunities, and where do we go to support each other?

And now the narrative has been "All these Black restaurants!"

You know, so people forget just that quickly, which is fine.

Um, on the perception has changed.

Some of the reality has changed.

There have been some new restaurants, but a lot of it has just been perception because the, there's no Little Italy for Black-owned restaurants, so they're typically operating on individual islands on different parts of the city.

So BORT helps to bring all of those restaurants together on one marketing page, and people to see a collective of quality Black-owned restaurants, uh, working together for cross-promotion and collaboration and not in competition.

PAUL: Well, my name is Paul Thomas and, um, I'm the current owner and chef here at the restaurant.

We are EDR, Eat Drink Relax.

Um, we're located at 1001 Cathedral Street in Mount Vernon, Maryland.

It's really the heart of Baltimore.

For the most part we try to make feel-good food.

Um, our menu is primarily like Latin Fusion, so it's like Latin influence with a lot of soul food.

The BORT group to me means like synergy, like, um, it's I guess pairing a lot of restaurants that necessarily wouldn't work together or be bonded in some way.

Um, it puts us together and it it puts us on the forefront of a lot of other restaurants so that we can get recognition and so that we can be seen and heard.

And so that, you know, we can show what we have.

MICHAEL: The legacy would be, not just the name or brand, but the feel, the ethos of the company, uh, helping others, bringing quality products like our coffee to market, but also doing it with some value in character.

And that would be the legacy that I will want to leave with my company, uh, long term is that we're gonna make plenty of money, sure, but what did we do as a company?

And what is the trail that we blazed?

And what is the path that we set for others that are coming behind us?

What we see is, um, an institution and organization in CIAA that sees the value in Baltimore, to keep coming back, to keep promoting, to keep partnering, and to keep growing this event.

It, it means that the CIAA as a conference, uh, sees the value in coming here specifically.

'Cause they could go anywhere.

They've been other places, uh, down south.

But, uh, this is the place that's built the most momentum.

AMINTA: Well, what it means for Bowie State University to serve as the host university is, uh, it's very much about preserving the legacy and the history, uh, of these amazing organizations.

First of all, Bowie State University is the oldest HBCU in the state of Maryland.

And the CIAA is the oldest African American athletic conference.

And so the combination of the two raises awareness about the history and the legacies of our institutions and what they've meant to African Americans in this country, and for Bowie State in the state of Maryland.

But it's also very much about raising awareness about the history and the culture, and what it's meant to this nation.

JACQIE: The legacy for the CIAA is huge.

I mean, I'm standing on the shoulder of a lot of GOATS.

Lincoln, Howard, Hampton, Shaw University, the first HBCU of the South, and Virginia Union.

So if you just think about who's been in this conference and the history, and the players and the athletes that have come out of this conference, it's tremendous.

The John B. McLendon, our Hall of Fame is named after him.

The Bobby Vaughan, "Big House Gaines", you know, the Dr. Peggy Green, the Jeanette Lee, when you talk about history and the impact and even football and who's come out of this conference, it's huge.

I remember when, um, Baltimore came and they did the pitch.

There's so much history, you know, and if you think about HBCUs, there's so much obvious Black history that we can match why it's so important for our HBCUs and why it's important for Baltimore to celebrate us if we're here.

Because, your Reggie Lewis Museum that I've gone to several times.

And every time I go, I, I get excited because he was a Virginia State alum.

You know, there's just so much connection around our HBCUs historically, if you research what's behind the name, somehow it leads back to CIAA.

JOY: Reginald F. Lewis was Baltimore born and bred.

Baltimore is unique because it is one of the largest urban cities in the country, but it attracts a unique group of individuals from all walks of life, from all races, creeds, religions and ethnicities that build the melting pot that come into this amazing city to see what we have to offer.

Whether it be our wonderful museum here, the Reginald F. Lewis Museum, one of the other amazing museums.

Port Discovery for kids, the aquarium, the amazing food, and the downtown harbor.

It's a place for individuals to come and really enjoy what our city has to offer.

So, Reginald F. Lewis, he started at St. Francis Academy and was all-American at Dunbar High School.

And he went to the CIAA institution, Virginia State University, go Trojans.

And he was able to continue his educational studies there, even though an injury stopped him from continuing his athletic scholarship.

But he still went on to graduate top of his class at Virginia State University, a CIAA institution.

So he took that, he went out into the world, he went on to Harvard.

TERRI: Reginald Lewis was the only individual, uh, who Harvard Law School admitted without an application.

JOY: So when you think about it, and you think about what Reginald F. Lewis became, he went on to start TLC, The Lewis Corporation, and to acquire Beatrice.

Wonderful leader of an international conglomerate that was the first of its kind to be led by an African American.

ALMA: Reginald F. Lewis is a giant among economic entrepreneurs, among athletes, among hometown heroes.

Uh, having leveraged the, uh, largest buyout, private buyout of a company for an, an African American at the time that he made his giant buyout.

As the first Black billionaire, it was pr, practically unheard of that we would be buying out a Fortune 500 company such as Beatrice Foods, uh, and to do it in the most elegant of ways where he was, uh, the legal advice, the entrepreneur and the hometown and national hero made him a giant.

He was in the forefront of this, uh, whole wealth creation, uh, movement that we find ourselves in.

And to do such a thing, he is our hometown hero.

TERRI: Well, the museum opened its doors in 2005, and it opened its doors as almost a collaborative, interestingly, between the public sector, the state of Maryland, and the private sector, those individuals and donors that actually contributed to, uh, the establishment of the museum.

Uh, one of the largest donors was the Reginald F. Lewis Foundation.

And prior to his passing, he had made the statement that he really wished that he was able to do something around history and culture, and a museum.

So when the family, with him being from Baltimore, when the family learned that the state had an interest in establishing, um, an African American museum in Baltimore, they said, this is a perfect fit.

And they, uh, made a contribution, a significant contribution, and the museum was actually named after Mr. Lewis.

ALMA: The significance of this museum, especially in this current environment we find ourselves, is preservation and the advancement of the history and culture of African Americans in the state of Maryland.

JOY: When I think about that, um, and I think about, you know, the six degrees of separation with sports, Reginald Lewis was all-American as a teenager.

And so it is wonderful that the CIAA is here in Baltimore, and I'm grateful that there is a connection to the Reginald F. Lewis Museum.

I think our name fits.

Um, and we try to embody the spirit of the gentleman.

And I think being here is important because he was the most successful graduate, as this has been discussed here of a CIAA institution from the state of Maryland and the city of Baltimore.

It's a beautiful thing.

TERRI: As an institution that relies on people coming through the door, CIAA is an incredible boom to the organization because there are more people in town.

When there are more people in town, there are more people who potentially come to the museum.

We are not a museum, uh, that is free to the public every day of the year.

We do have some free days, but we ask people to pay an admission.

So, when there are more people in town, more foot traffic in the building, more revenue for the museum to be able to continue to put it back into the organization and tell more of the stories that are so important to our community.

So as far as I'm concerned, there's a direct tie between the person whose name is on the building and CIAA.

But also the foot traffic that CIAA brings to Baltimore, which is majority African American foot traffic in a majority African American city.

Why not come to an African American museum?

So it's a good thing for us.

CURTIS: People ask me all the time, why did you create HBCU-Go TV?

I'm tired of talking to African American kids and saying to me, "I can't go to an HBCU school because it's too Black", or "I can't go to an HBCU school because I can't get a good job".

And I say to people all the time, look, I'm a PE major coming out of, uh, Central State University, small college, no more than 3,000, uh, students, and I'm in four hall of fames.

So, you know, it, it's about what you wanna make out of it.

And so the goal of HBCU-Go is to really try to stall the lifestyle, the education style, the sports, but really the history, the value, the legacy of these universities.

CHARLIE: Basically, a lot of people consider me the voice of Black college athletics.

CO-HOST: I'm ready to jump out the booth, Charlie, I tell you.

CHARLIE: Alright.

It should be a whale of a ball game here.

It's homecoming, 1990 Jackson State and Texas Southern, and we'll be back with the opening kickoff in just a moment.

Started, uh, doing a lot of Black college sports back in 1980 with BET, Black Entertainment Television.

Then I came aboard ESPNU when they came in existence in 2005, but more frequently with HBCU-Go.

And that, uh, network does a lot of Historically Black Colleges and Universities' athletic programming.

Well, the CIAA has been, uh, tremendous as far as my life is concerned.

The fact that I'm able to come back and be a part of it.

Uh, I did a lot of the, uh, games and was part of the CIAA for many years, and to still be able to come back and be a part of this, this, uh, tournament each and every year, and be a part of the Hall of Fame, uh, induction ceremonies is, is tremendous.

And, uh, I'm honored that they, they asked me to come back each and every year and be a part of it.

VALERIE: So this is my first CIAA.

I was a student at Johnson C. Smith in the 90s, I'm now president and this is my very first CIAA.

And when I tell you that it's lived up to everything that I thought, it's been an amazing experience.

Being here in the city of Baltimore, being in a community with other leaders and students and alumni from HBCUs.

It has been a community forming experience, and I'm just really excited to be here.

SHANNON: I think Baltimore represents resilience.

I think the people in Baltimore are, they have a certain level of pride that comes with it.

And for us with the Collegiate Luxe brand, we wanna emulate that.

We wanna embody that same passion, that same, you know, uh, pride as it relates to the cities.

SHELONDA: Everything that I've worn all week has been Collegiate Luxe.

That's an example, right?

Of a business who is able to come in, build on what we have.

The excitement of the games.

When you walk down the streets, all you see is CIAA in representation from all of the CIAA schools.

JANET: So again, you think about economic mobility and all of that plays a factor because you have people coming to the city, enjoying it, staying in hotels, spending money in restaurants, shopping.

And the really good news is once they have that incredible experience during this historic tournament, they'll come back.

It's an incredible economic impact.

I think last year's number was 30 million or just up under revenue to the city and, and the area, you know, you definitely see a boost to our Black-owned businesses, our Black-owned restaurants.

You have more jobs for people.

BRANDON: Well, listen, we have to own our own narrative.

We can't let national media tell us what Baltimore is.

We know that we're a great city.

We've always been that.

And when you think about the things that we've done, having the largest single year drop in homicides in Baltimore's history last year, doing things like investing in and being able to purchase hotels for homeless, having our lowest unemployment rate ever.

This is now one of the top 10 grossing arenas in the country.

If people don't recognize that Baltimore, is it, it's gonna be too late for 'em when they do.

AL: Well, I, I'll tell you this.

Look, I've been knowing about the CIAA since I was probably eight or nine years old.

I went to high school in Richmond.

My high school is right next door to Virginia Union University.

So I grew up with this tournament.

I knew what it could do for Baltimore, the history of it, um, the fun of it, the energy.

There's nothing like the CIAA when you compare it to other conference tournaments because it combines family reunion, it combines great cultural activity, energy.

You have music, you have style, right?

You have basketball, all coming together.

And I don't know if there are any other sporting conference that can say they bring all of that together.

It's like the greatest sporting tourism event in the world.

NARRATOR: Stem City, USA.

Bridging the digital gap for millions of underserved through community and education.

An immersive digital world that provides personal and professional development tools and resources.

Details at stemcityusa.com.