COC returns to ESSENCE Festival in NOLA with “Black Women’s Brunch”
By Color Of Change staff
As New Orleans gears up for another year of the ESSENCE Festival of Culture, Color Of Change will be joining the festivities in the Crescent City with a vibrant community celebration of its own — “Black Women’s Brunch: Preserving, Honoring & Celebrating Black HERStory.”
The July 6 event promises to be more than just a meal. It’s a movement — an empowering, uplifting community celebration of Black women, Black history and Black stories that shape and inspire us.
New Orleans holds a special place in the heart, history and legacy of Color of Change. The racial justice organization was founded in 2005 in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to advocate for Black people whose lives were altered by the devastation in New Orleans and to help channel the voices of everyday people into strategic action and positive change.
In that vein, the Black Women’s Brunch serves as a catalyst for both engagement and activism, explained Corina Petty, COC’s campaign organizing director. It is more than a gathering. It is a call to action to build stronger communities through sisterhood, service and accountability. It’s about coming together to raise the floor for what’s acceptable and pushing the ceiling for what’s possible.
“It’s a space where you can branch out, network and meet other Black women and like-minded people,” Petty said. “It’s community building.”
Hundreds of Black women from all educational, socio-economic and religious backgrounds have registered to attend the event at Capital on Baronne, where they will share their experiences, discuss the challenges they face and envision solutions.
“By sharing our stories, we lean into our power,” Petty said. “We share our stories past and present and also manifest a future for ourselves.”
This year’s brunch will honor local women whose community activism and achievement continue to build our history and our future and inspire others.
COC is hosting this year’s brunch in New Orleans with the support of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Pop Culture Collaborative, Open Society Foundations, Eternal Seeds and the Tate, Etienne, Prevost Center (TEP Interpretive Center).
More than 35,000 women have participated in Black Women’s Brunches since COC initiated the event in 2017 in Detroit. Since then, brunches have been held in cities across the country, with the first held in New Orleans in 2018. The first in conjunction with ESSENCE Fest followed in 2019.
For Petty, the brunch will be a bit of a homecoming. She was COC’s first organizer in New Orleans and has seen and experienced many of the changes over time.
“I think women will leave this experience feeling inspired and then invite 10 more women in their communities to get involved,” Petty said.
In today’s climate, “it’s crucial to find joy and understand what’s at stake regarding the issues in our communities,” Petty said. “Our ancestors have been doing this for a long time. We need to continue amplifying and sharing what the history is … and fight back against what’s going on (and hurting) our communities.”
During ESSENCE Fest, COC President Rashad Robinson will participate as a panelist at the AFROPUNK BlkTopia “Brewing Change: Coffee Conversations” event on Friday, July 5, at the Ernest M. Morial Convention Center. He also will present on the keynote stage Sunday, July 7, at the Global Black Economic Forum’s Public Convention 2024 at the Morial Convention Center.