A Notre Dame College graduate is serving his Southern Ohio community and standing up for social justice with entrepreneurial spirit.
Rico Blackman, who graduated from Notre Dame in 2020 with a degree in political science, has returned to his hometown of Cincinnati where he is feeding the hungry with home-cooked meals. He also has founded a nonprofit organization called Black Power Initiative, which is hosting free and open political discussions on the group’s Facebook site each Monday and Thursday at 9 p.m. Eastern.
“With the 2020 presidential election looming,” Blackman said, “I figured it would be a good time to put my degree into use.”
He developed his advocacy skills while at Notre Dame as a member of the College’s nationally recognized moot court team. Students in the program, like Blackman, litigate hypothetical Constitutional law cases in a simulated appellate court environment. The Notre Dame team competes against colleges and universities from across the country, including Division I schools.
Blackman’s Black Power Initiative aims to provide open forums for public discourse with governmental leaders, law enforcement and other groups to create positive change, promote awareness and address inequalities in cities across the country. The organization proposes to assist from within the current civil rights movement, by directly working in communities to deliver resources and to provide opportunities to diverse individuals and businesses, as well as to promote discussion.
Cincinnati has been considered one of the more racially unequal cities in the U.S. and has experienced recent civil unrest in 1979, 2001 and 2018, as well as in 2020.
Since graduating from Notre Dame, Blackman has been working as a preschool teacher in Southern Ohio and is pursuing a Master of Public Administration degree with an emphasis in social justice at the University of Cincinnati. He regularly prepares homemade meals to distribute at local parks.
Through this service and the group he has founded, Blackman said he is carrying on the legacy of activists in his family and others in his home city by aiding those who are food insecure and supporting educational programs.
Blackman said that it is “pure emotion” that put him in the position of wanting to help his community.
In addition, he said he wants to be the change called for in the tradition of the Black Lives Matter movement, the Blank Panthers, Angela Davis, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, W.E.B. DuBois, Harriet Tubman and “everyone who wanted freedom for the Black community.”
Information about the Black Power Initiative is available online at BPInonprofit.org.
Anita Yoder contributed to this article.
October 2020
About Notre Dame College
For almost a century, Notre Dame College has educated a diverse population in the liberal arts for personal, professional and global responsibility. Founded by the Sisters of Notre Dame in 1922, the College has grown strategically to keep pace with the rapidly changing needs of students and the dramatic changes in higher education. But it has never lost sight of its emphasis on teaching students not only how to make a good living but also how to live a good life.
Today, the College offers bachelor’s degrees in 30 disciplines plus a variety of master’s degrees, certification programs and continuing and professional development programs for adult learners on campus and online. Notre Dame College offers NCAA Division II intercollegiate athletic programs for men and women and is located in a picturesque residential neighborhood just 25 minutes from the heart of Cleveland. Hallmarks of the Notre Dame experience include stimulating academics, personalized attention of dedicated faculty and staff, and small class sizes.
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