“...Sankofa means community. It’s how I found community at DePaul. My freshman year, I didn’t necessarily feel like I had found the Black community until I went on the retreat and bonding with a whole bunch of people.” - Kayla Arnett (Senior, Sankofa Student Leader, 2018-2020; Vincentian Heritage Tour Participant; member of Delta Sigma Theta)
“Sankofa is something that I’m super passionate about because I got into it my freshman year, and I didn’t really know a lot of Black people on campus. It was really hard to find a community here at DePaul, and Sankofa did that for me. They opened me up to a whole new world that I didn’t know was [at DePaul].” - Dominique Prince Points (Senior, Film & Television Major in the College of Computing and Digital Media; Sankofa Student Leader, 2018-2021)
Mission Statement:
The Sankofa Black Student Formation Program dives into the diverse aspects of Black identity, empowers Black students to lead and live well, and provides skills for the development of spiritual and holistic wellness.
Students who experience Sankofa not only get the opportunity to engage how they see themselves in the world around them more deeply; they gain a more profound sense of belonging here at DePaul. Sankofa provides a connection and sustained community for students of African descent. They thrive in that community and are determined to ensure that it is available to others. Their identities are celebrated, affirmed, and fed through the family they build with other Black students. Students build trust with each other, staff, and faculty. They engage resources and help-seeking habits that foster retention and allow for intervention in moments of crisis. Sankofa students that find the Black community through our program go on to become leaders at DePaul after discovering a sense of their commitment to other students.
For more information:
Email: sankofa@depaul.edu
Follow us on Instagram: @depaulsankofa
Find us on Facebook: facebook.com/sankofadepaul
You can also contact the staff leads for the Sankofa Program:
Min. Jené Ashley Colvin (Religious Diversity and Pastoral Care) is the staff lead for Mission and Ministry