Mission Statement:

The SJSU Black Leadership and Opportunity Center (The BLOC) serves to holistically empower, uplift, and develop all students in the African Diaspora through strengthening and building community bonds, encouraging a positive Black identity, and providing social and academic support.

Our center serves as a home for all of our Black students and welcomes a diverse array of voices, opinions, cultures, and experiences. We provide services which aim to promote academic and personal success starting with recruitment through graduation. We work closely with our campus and local community to foster a sense of pride in being a Black Spartan.

The BLOC formally opened on February 21, 2018, and is the first of its kind on SJSU’s campus.

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Nicole Taylor is the president and CEO of Silicon Valley Community Foundation – the world’s largest community foundation with over $2.5 billion in annual grantmaking and a deep commitment to solving its region’s toughest challenges through advocacy, research, policy and grantmaking.

Nicole brings together a rich background in Bay Area philanthropy, nonprofit and higher education administration and fundraising with extensive experience in both the private and public sectors.

Since taking the helm at SVCF, Nicole has led the organization to renew its focus on the many challenges facing residents of San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. She has championed efforts to increase local giving from SVCF donors and offer donors new avenues for working with the community foundation so they can be effective philanthropists. In the first year of the pandemic, SVCF raised over $60 million for funds to meet the needs of individuals, families, nonprofit organizations, small businesses and education systems across 10 counties in the Bay Area.

When Nicole joined SVCF in December 2018, she returned to the Bay Area from Arizona, where she had served as vice president of the ASU Foundation. She also previously served as deputy vice president and dean of students at Arizona State University. Prior to her time at ASU, Nicole was the associate vice provost of student affairs and dean of community engagement and diversity at Stanford University, after serving as president and CEO of Thrive Foundation for Youth in Silicon Valley.

Nicole also spent more than 15 years with the East Bay Community Foundation, eventually serving as its president and CEO for six years. Nicole received both her M.A. in Education and A.B. in Human Biology from Stanford University, and she began her career as an educator in Oakland public schools. She served on the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco for six years and is currently a board member for Common Sense Media, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and Top Hat, a market leader in student engagement solutions in higher education. She is on Stanford University’s Advisory Council for the Graduate School of Education and served on the university’s 2022 Visiting Committee for the Computer Science Department.

In 2022, Nicole was named to the annual Forbes 50 over 50 list and recognized by Inside Philanthropy as “Community Foundation Leader of the Year.”

My name is Mohamed Fofana and I was born in the Ivory Coast, west Africa and raised in Memphis, TN. I am a ticket sales account manager for the San Jose Sharks and I work with prospects to create memorable experiences through the use of our ticket products. In addition to ticket sales, I am an artist and I hosted my first solo art exhibition in August 2023 which can be viewed on my website MFTheBrand.com. I created the first artwork for the San Jose Sharks celebration of Juneteenth in June 2020 and designed the Sharks first Black History Month jersey worn during pre-game in February 2021. I am the chair of Black In Teal which is the San Jose Sharks Black Employee Resource Group and I also host the Teal For Change podcast which aims to expand the San Jose Sharks organization's efforts in support of diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice, both within the organization and throughout the Bay Area community.

Social handles for Instagram, Twitter, Facebook: MFTheBrand

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Assemblymember Ash Kalra represents California’s 25th Assembly District, which encompasses the majority of San José, including downtown and open space areas in southeast Santa Clara County. He was first elected in 2016, becoming the first Indian American to serve in the California Legislature in state history, and was re-elected to his fourth term in 2022.

Assemblymember Kalra is the Chair of the Committee on Labor & Employment and also serves as a member on the Housing & Community Development, Judiciary, Transportation, and Water, Parks, & Wildlife committees.

Assemblymember Kalra is Chair of the California Legislative Progressive Caucus to help guide a strategic, thoughtful approach to advancing a compassionate, inclusive agenda for Californians. He has established himself as a leader on issues ranging from criminal justice reform to environmental protection, and has championed legislation on health care reform and sustainability, housing affordability, growing transportation infrastructure, and expanding economic opportunity for all.

In the State Assembly, he has authored successful legislation promoting secure and peaceful communities for all residents, including protecting and preserving civil rights and civil liberties, and has dedicated his tenure in public service to equity and social justice issues.

To confront racism and systemic bias in our systems of justice, he authored the historic California Racial Justice Act of 2020 (AB 2542), a landmark bill addressing racial discrimination in criminal sentencing and convictions and a follow up bill in 2022 (AB 256)to apply the Act retroactively for persons with past convictions. As a longstanding champion of a single-payer health care system, Assemblymember Kalra introduced AB 1400 in 2021 – the statewide legislation also known as CalCare – which would guarantee comprehensive, high-quality health care for all Californians as a human right.

He previously served on the San José City Council for eight years and was formerly a Deputy Public Defender for Santa Clara County for 11 years, representing clients in dozens of felony jury trials. As a public defender, he represented indigent clients in both felony and misdemeanor matters, and a majority of his time was spent in drug treatment court where clients were given the opportunity to complete a rehabilitation program and turn their lives around.

Assemblymember Ash Kalra was born in Toronto, Canada, and moved to California as a young child, residing in the same South San José neighborhood where he grew up. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Communication from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a law degree from Georgetown University.

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Al-Shaair grew up in a family of nine, with his mother, Naadhirah, supporting him and his seven siblings. In 2012, struggling to make ends meet, the family moved into their grandmother’s home in Tampa, FL. One night, Al-Shaair awoke to the smell of smoke encompassing the house. He was able to wake up and lead the rest of his family to safety, as they watched the house burn down. The family moved from place to place before settling in a long-stay motel. Al-Shaair chose to sleep on the floor, as the family had to fit into one room. He trekked two hours by bus each day to attend school and football practice, often only eating once a day, making sure any leftover food went to his mom and siblings. His work ethic on and off the field grew in that adversity. “My mom always told me, ‘What’s meant for you is meant for you,’” Al-Shaair said. “All you can do is put forth the effort, and I believe that I’ve done that.”

Al-Shaair went to Hillsborough High School, and football was an outlet from life's tribulations. Although Al-Shaair did not start playing until his junior year, he caught the attention of scouts by putting up impressive numbers,  and was named the team's Defensive MVP honors twice, NUC All-American honors and played in the Hillsborough County Blue & Grey game. He received offers from South Florida and FAU and committed to the latter. In his first season with Florida Atlantic University, he was named FAU's Co-Newcomer of the Year, Freshman All-American by USA Today and Scout.com, and earned a spot on C-USA's All-Freshman team. As a sophomore, he led the team with ten tackles versus Ball State, including a 0.5 TFL and a quarterback hurry and took the preseason C-USA All-Conference. While at Florida Atlantic, Al-Shaair decided to move his two younger brothers, Abdul-Lateef and Abdur-Rahmaan, into his Boca Raton apartment. Constantly worrying about whether they were eating or getting into trouble, Al-Shaair began to serve as the father figure of the household. “They were doing bad in school with their grades. I moved them here to put them in a different environment,” said Al-Shaair.

In his last year, Al-Shaair was presented with the Recipient of the Wilma Rudolph Student-Athlete Achievement Award by N4A. After graduating, Al-Shaair went undrafted during the 2019 NFL Draft, but later on, he signed a three year, contract with the San Francisco 49ers. In 2019, the Al-Shaair packed 30k meals to fight hunger in the Bay Area as part of 49ers Huddle for 100. Al-Shaair entered the 2021 season as a starting linebacker for the 49ers. He started 13 games, finishing second on the team with 102 tackles, along with two sacks, five passes defensed, an interception, a forced fumble, and two fumble recoveries. In 2023, Al-Shaair signed with the Tennessee Titans in 2023.

Marcus Washington is an Emmy Awards winning journalist, currently working as the morning anchor at NBC Bay Area (KNTV) in the San Francisco Bay Area.

In addition to anchoring the morning newscasts, Marcus is co-host of NBC Bay Area’s Emmy nominated series, Race in America: The Conversation. The show explores racial equity and social injustice, attempting to bridge a divide between backgrounds and generations.

Before joining NBC Bay Area, Marcus served as anchor and reporter at WJZ in Baltimore, Maryland. While working in “Charm City,” he covered a broad range of stories, but his life and approach to reporting were most deeply impacted by Freddie Gray’s death and its aftermath. In the midst of Gray's funeral, explosive unrest in the city, the political fallout, and community rebuilding, Marcus was there reporting live from the front lines and continued the months following. David Zurawik with the Baltimore Sun writes, "Marcus Washington again did solid and authoritative reporting for WJZ from Penn and North avenues, the epicenter of protests following the funeral of Gray last year." His careful and caring coverage of the unrest earned him an Emmy nomination.

Dreams of becoming “one of the people who tells the news” came early for Marcus. He still remembers sitting in his living room at the age of 5 and telling his mom, “I want to do that,” referring to the work of veteran Memphis journalist Joe Birch. Marcus' career in media began while he was a student at the University of Memphis, after inquiring about reading news for Memphis’ WUMR-FM (now WYXR) morning show. On his third day of orientation, Marcus received an invitation from the station manager to fill-in to host Thursday's 4p-7p slot. After just 5 minutes on-air, the station manager was so impressed with Marcus’ voice and personality that he walked into the DJ booth and told Marcus, "from now on, this is your slot." Beginning in that moment, Marcus became one of the hosts of Memphis' only jazz station.

He went on to work as an associate producer in Memphis, Tennessee; and as a reporter in Nashville, Tennessee; Tulsa, Oklahoma; and Charlottesville, Virginia.

Marcus has been acknowledged by outlets like the Baltimore Sun and the Washington Post for his reporting. He is also flattered (and amused!) to be named one of “Nashville's 25 Most Beautiful People” (per Lifestyles Magazine in 2011) and number fourteen among “The 50 Hottest Anchors in the World” (according to Buzzfeed.com in 2017).

Marcus is also member of The National Association of Black Journalists, Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Incorporated, and the Church of Christ.