Black History Month Luncheon with Charles Cole III

You are invited to our annual African American History Month Luncheon on Wednesday, February 28, 2018 at 11:30 a.m. in the Hospitality and Management Building.

The program will include a keynote from Charles Cole, III, Founder of Energy Convertors, a non-profit that supports young people developing their voices to lead change.

“I started the Energy Convertors Paid Student Fellowship to give marginalized students a voice that could improve public education,” said Cole III, who currently has 15 fellows.

Cole III began his non-profit with a listening tour of Oakland with 100 students and found out that their top three goals for education were--- fix the potholes ASAP, hire quality teachers that care about me and teach me life-relevant skills. From there he built Energy Convertors 

Cole also produced a YouTube video (https://youtu.be/x1Qut1vQIDI) on his parents, Renate and Charles Cole, who returned to college after 30 years, stating “after years of battling drug addiction, it wasn’t easy but, from watching (me), they also knew it wasn’t impossible.” 

Cole, out of Oakland, has served as a social worker, a director for Teach for America and a leader at various youth-focused non-profits. His first book, “Stop Hustling Backwards,” is aimed at black males. 

Cole is also blogger at the Huffington Post, One Oakland United, Education Post and Citizen Education.

Please RSVP to the right below the map.