Help Fund my Masters Black Diaspora Policy Studies

*TLDR: If 100 people donate $50 each I can finish covering tuition for my 2nd choice school. If 125 people donate $100 each, I can cover my 1st choice school’s tuition (with a loan). Ideally, I don’t want loans, so I’m going for the total (with donations, scholarships etc.) plus some for moving costs. Please share and/or donate! I appreciate it all!*

My name is Brielle, I'm 24 years old, and a DMV native, and I have recently been accepted into graduate school in London (SOAS).

I am pursuing a graduate degree in International Studies abroad because I want to learn about and connect with local Black organizers & advocates doing similar work to what I’ve done in the United States. I have spent years in student organizing and policy work, and I currently work at a national civil rights organization connecting communities across state lines on criminal justice, education, voting rights, and economic justice issues. In organizing spaces, we believe the best experts on any issue are those most directly impacted. Being on the ground in another country, I can build relationships and exchange knowledge of strategies and tactics used to change the systems that create inequity for Black communities. My long-term goal is to become a liaison between communities working on similar issues across borders, hosting convening spaces and using the lessons learned to inform my policy research for the use of the organizers. Studying abroad will be my first step toward this goal.

This is a journey untraveled in my lineage. We largely have stayed where we’re from: my mother's side moved from Georgia to New York during the Great Migration and back to Georgia due to gentrification almost a century later, and my father's side has been in Maryland since slavery. A very powerful political family in the state actually owned ours; maybe this will be part of my reparations. Many of my family members have never completed college let alone gone abroad to study for their Masters, so I truly am stepping outside of a generational comfort zone - or rather being blessed with an opportunity to travel elsewhere through the resilience of those that came before/beside me.

With that being said, I don't have any ties in England for housing and work let alone assistance with tuition, and I am asking for your donation to help cover school and moving costs. Having funds will allow me to choose the school that will provide me with the best resources both on and off campus, and give me the space to be involved in justice-related work while in school.

I am also applying for scholarships too (though I am not eligible for many being an American studying abroad). I need to decide soon or forfeit a partial grant but I need to confirm if I have the rest of the funds. I'm grateful for any bit, and caring is sharing (the GoFundMe).

Thanks y'all