African Community Education (ACE) will host its 15th annual ACE Gala Thursday, November 18 to celebrate ACE accomplishments over the past decade and a half and look forward to the future of the organization.

“The Gala has always been our biggest event of the year to bring the community together and celebrate students and families,” said Tim O’Neil, marketing and fundraising manager. 

Since opening in 2006, ACE has served thousands of African refugee and immigrant youth and families within the Worcester community in their pathway toward achieving educational and social stability. This comes in forms of academic support, leadership development, cultural expression, and community outreach. 

ACE has a partnership with Worcester Public Schools for an after school program and summer reading and workforce development program for kids 10 years and older. There’s also a mentoring opportunity.

For parents, ACE offers English as a Second Language and Citizenship class as part of its Family Education Program. 

The Gala’s theme this year is “Stories of Home,” which O’Neil said he hopes people will recognize how the definition of home changes for people, particularly immigrants and refugees, throughout their lives.

“A lot of our families might be born in one country and then they might move to a refugee camp that’s located in another country before they eventually move here,” O’Neil said. “So we’re exploring how that definition changes…and really how ACE tries to be a home away from home for these students and their families.”

O’Neil said that he hopes that guests take away from the Gala how instrumental their support is in terms of allowing ACE to continue to do its work within the community and create a safe space for students.

Money raised from the event will go toward launching ACE’s new Career Development Program. This is the first year, O’Neil said, that the organization has had a very specific initiative that all of the funding will go to.

“We are very passionate about starting this program,” O’Neil said. “We currently have a workforce development program that takes place over the summer, and we’ve seen a lot of success with that…We want to take that and create it into a year round program for particularly old ACE high school students…and ACE alums.”

Students are already supported in the summer through resume building, meeting with businesses in Worcester, and learning the ins and outs of jobs. O’Neil said that with the new program, the high school students and recent ACE alums will also be able to gain support in internship and first job placements.

The Gala’s fundraising goal is $150,00 which will help launch the Career Development Program and support it through at least one year, O’Neil said.

The third ACE student fashion show will also take place as part of the Gala, which O’Neil called the “staple” of the show for the past few years. ACE works with an African designer to custom design clothes for the students. With the help of the Black Student Union from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), who act as coaches and mentors for the students, the kids model the outfits.

“Really it’s just such an amazing experience for them to put on these amazing, beautiful clothes that are patterned and created in a lot of traditional outfits that they might have seen in their home countries before coming here that they don’t have as much access to here anymore,” O’Neil said. “It’s just a fantastic feeling for them to walk down the stage, to gain the confidence that comes with that, and have people cheering them on.”

O’Neil said that the WPI students create a mentorship aspect to the fashion show as well. The college students are a few years older than the ACE kids, making a meaningful connection and allowing for relationships to be built and benefited from both sides.

ACE has partnered with Gold Coast Catering for authentic African meals and Redemption Rock Brewing for alcoholic options to provide at-home dinner and drink options to add to the ambiance of the virtual event.

Redemption Rock Brewing Company is producing a beer, called KAHAWA, specifically for the Gala. KAHAWA, which is Swahili for “coffee,” is a coffee pale ale brewed with the Three Africans blend coffee from Acoustic Java. It features an aroma of coffee with hints of cocoa, vanilla, pine, and lemon. KAHAWA is on tap and is served in four packs, and the can features artwork from local Tanzanian-artist Abu Mwenye.

“We work with the brewers to come up with a concept,” O’Neil said. “It’s a really cool collaboration, bringing together multiple people in the community.”

To specifically order a four-pack of KAHAWA to enjoy the gala, order it at redemptionrock.beer/ace-gala. A portion of the sales will go to ACE.

Live West African music will be performed by Crocodile River Music.

There will also be guest speakers, including Arop, a recent ACE graduate who will share his personal journey. Winston (Wole) Soboyejo, the provost and senior vice president of WPI, will be the keynote speaker.

“(Soboyejo) was born to Nigerian parents and has a really similar story and thoughts on life that is shared with a lot of the families that we work with at ACE,” O’Neil said. “He will reflect on his own personal journey and the importance that he sees, working in higher education, on education in the African immigrant community.”

This is the second year the Gala will be held virtually. Despite being virtual again, O’Neil knows that the program will be meaningful. ACE focuses on creating an event that goes beyond “sitting down at your laptop and being on Zoom for a few hours,” he said.

“We’ve been able to change things up to account for the ongoing pandemic and still provide guests with a really great experience despite not being able to host the traditional in person event,” O’Neil said.

Registration for the event continues up to the day of the event. If attendees would like the food and drink at home option, they must register by Wednesday, November 17.

To get tickets to the ACE Virtual Gala, go to donate.acechildren.org/event/stories-of-home-the-15th-annual-ace-gala/e347237/register/new/select-tickets. 

The event is made possible by Unibank.