Infinity in Motion Gives Back With the Black Tie Scholarship Affair

In the stepping community, there are several organizations that dance and work for a cause. They help to care for and support our community in different ways. This was a chance for me to sit and talk to Terrence Martin with Infinity in Motion. His organization hosts the Black Tie Scholarship Affair in Charlotte – November 12 – 14, 2021. Infinity in Motion is an organization doing great work to support our children.

What birthed the idea of the Black-Tie Scholarship Affair?

I am an educator by trade, and I have been in the field of education for 22+ years. Having taught, having been a high school principal and an Assistant Superintendent, I have done a lot in the field of education. I’ve had an opportunity to see a lot of kids that matriculate through the K-12 experience who have a desire to go to college to continue their education. Unfortunately, their parents didn’t always have the financial means to afford for them to go to college. To see the number of kids with an incredible aptitude and good transcripts, not being afforded the opportunity to continue their education because of financial barriers or restrictions, was something that really touched my heart. It became a passion for me to want to address.

“How can I help and support our youth that could do well at the next level of education but don’t have the financial means to do so?”

Terrence Martin

This was important to me. I am a part of the stepping community, and I know some brothers. Eric Gordon, I knew, had a project selling calendars and he was giving the proceeds to Howard University – one of our nation’s HBCUs. I thought maybe he might be one that might touch and agree with the work that I’m trying to do around providing scholarships for kids. Mr. Greg Nell is my fraternity brother. Our fraternal bond and the principles of our fraternal organization quite naturally speak to giving back and providing opportunities for kids to continue their education through scholarships. When I talked to them about what I wanted to do and why I wanted to do a black-tie event around raising money for scholarships, they were certainly on board.

The need and want to gather, touch and agree with like-minded brothers around providing scholarship opportunities for our youth were at the heart of what birthed the idea of us doing The Black Tie Scholarship Affair.

You mentioned your team has expanded. Who else is involved?

Our first year it was three of us – me, Eric Gordon, and Greg Nell. After our first event, I recommended that we look at adding one additional board member. We added Miss Vanessa Jenkins to our Board of Directors. She is a phenomenal young lady who has done stepping events in Charlotte, NC. She was a stepping and ballroom dance instructor. We thought she would be a good person to add to our board. We had projected going to the city of Charlotte in 2020 prior to the pandemic coming into play. Vanessa, being from Charlotte, being a phenomenal person, having a great spirit, being instrumental in the dance community, and being there in the city of Charlotte, were the reasons we wanted to invite her to be a part of our team.

How long has the Black Tie Scholarship Affair been going on?

Our first annual, inaugural year was held in 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia, and it was a sold-out event. We provided two scholarships. The event was planned to be in Charlotte in 2020, but of course, the pandemic created a situation and we rescheduled for 2021. We decided to push for our event to be in Charlotte in 2021. This will be our second annual event.

What is the community impact that you’re looking for the Black-Tie Scholarship Affair to have?

We want to make sure that that we are investing in our youth. To be a part of a situation where we’re assisting and supporting young people to have the financial means to afford to go to college. The impact is when we look at different industries. We want to make sure that our students, our minority students, have an opportunity to pursue various careers, but then have the education to go into whatever that career field is.

For example, in Atlanta during our first year, our scholarship was about helping those students that have an interest in going into the Finer Arts. In Charlotte, this year, our scholarship is for students that are going into Health Sciences, Pre-Med, Dentistry, in those types of fields. Everywhere we host our event, we plan to look at the talent the industry is calling for and to theme our scholarships around whatever that might be in that state. We want to make sure that people are clear and understand that our collective investment in our children has a profound effect on them individually, and it also contributes to making sure that we are represented in various careers and industries across the country.

You mentioned HBCUs earlier in the conversation. Are you targeting HBCUs for your event and locations?

You know what? That’s a great question. We started in Atlanta because that’s home for me. Our focus was to look at cities that didn’t really have a strong event – a black-tie event.  We looked at Charlotte as one of those places that we could bring the black-tie experience to. It could be an attraction and a draw for the dance community and others. We are looking at coming to Chicago next year because that’s Eric’s backyard.

There are a lot of kids in the city of Chicago and the Chicago Public Schools. I started in Illinois teaching and was an assistant principal and principal in the burbs of Chicago. I was a high school principal in Kankakee and Assistant Superintendent in Rock Island, Illinois. Having professional roots in the state of Illinois, I’m excited about going back to Illinois to give.

There was no structured approach to choosing a state. We want to go to places where our students need the most help. We don’t want to isolate on the east side of the country and want to go across the country. New Orleans and either Los Angeles or Oakland are on the radar. We want to provide scholarships where our students are and where the greatest needs are. In most cases, we look at metropolitan cities such as Charlotte, Chicago, Oakland, New Orleans, and Atlanta, or Los Angeles.

What is left for your organization to do?

Immediately in front of us is to continue to fine-tune and to make sure that we’re set and ready to go for November the 12th, 13th, and 14th. We have pretty much everything set up. About 125 tickets are left to sell. We try to sell out at about 400 to 425. Immediately, we want to get everything locked in and set up, and ready to go for this year’s event. Beyond that, we’ve already started planning for Chicago. Eric is planning and connecting with people who will have a supporting role as part of our event.

We continue to look for sponsors – people that want to contribute to our cause. There is a sponsorship component to the work that we do, so that’s next-level work for us as well. We have a couple of sponsors, but we want to continue to cultivate those relationships so that they can continue to be connected and partner with us and our efforts. However, we are always looking for new sponsors and opportunities for people to contribute toward the scholarship.

We are spreading our brand around the country so when people hear about Infinity in Motion and The Black Tie Scholarship Affair, they know that we are serious about helping and supporting our children.

How does the public engage to support the scholarship?

In multiple ways. We have a text to donate. You can also donate on our website. The website is www.infinityinmotion.org. and the donate button is right on the homepage. Sponsorship information is there too with the different levels of sponsorship. Anyone can call one of us – myself, Eric Gordon, Greg Nell, or Vanessa Jenkins and we can provide perspective and direction as it relates to how individuals may want to contribute. If you cannot make it to our event – but we’re hoping that you can make it out in November – you can always contribute to our cause.

Did the Black Tie Scholarship and Infinity in Motion become what you imagined it would be?

Yes. I envisioned that eventually once we began to get the ball rolling and to pushing out what our vision and our mission were, I was hopeful that people would want to be part of what we were doing. Our first year, I was really surprised that we had people writing checks on the spot. We had at least two people write $1,000 checks on the night of our event. Other people were writing $700 checks. Some wrote checks for $100, $50, $300. That was verification and validation for me to know that we’re doing the right work. There are a lot of people with giving hearts that want to see our young people have a fair, equitable opportunity to continue their education.

I was a little shocked, and it was surprising to me at first. It was a nice surprise to have that type of love coming our way. That really created a lot of encouragement and enthusiasm for us. The board- me, Eric, Vanessa, and Greg – know that we’re doing the right thing. We have to keep going.

Would you entertain opportunities for on the spot, formal opportunities to give? For example, a silent auction?

Yes. We’ve talked about that and we have planned a silent auction this year. We have a black artist out of Atlanta that wants to show about two or three of his authentic pieces for a silent auction during the main event at the Black Tie Scholarship Affair in Charlotte.  He is going to work with us and all proceeds are going to the scholarship.

There will be different ways to contribute during the weekend. There will be a lot going on other than dancing. A signature fundraiser during the weekend is going to be our casino night where people will pay a certain amount and those contributions go toward the scholarship.

We are selling T-shirts throughout the weekend. Those contributions go towards the scholarships. All those numbers add up to the scholarships that we give. In Atlanta, it was about $6,500, just in scholarship proceeds that we gave to two young ladies – Erin Gates at Georgia State and Kennedy Scruggs, a student at the University of Southern California, UCLA. These are our kids coming from the state of Georgia going to these fine institutions. We can say that we contributed to their ability to have the financial means to do so.

Tell us about the application process for the scholarships.

Now that we’re in North Carolina, the application process was wide open. We had about 15 students apply. We’ve narrowed it down to our top two or three. Those are the students that we will be recognizing and honoring at the main event. We’re so excited. These are some kids that I know that once they hit that college campus they’re going to do well academically.

Is any donation too small and is it tax-deductible?

No donation is too small. We’ve taken $5, $10, and all the way up. Whatever people want to give. Every dollar counts. Every cent. We take all contributions regardless of the amount. It’s all going to the same place and it’s going for a worthy cause. All the donations or contributions are tax-deductible because we are a 501c3 entity. We have a tight, structured process for how we provide documentation for tax purposes. All contributions, regardless of the amount it is tax-deductible.

Thank you for all your work. Your team is doing a great job in our community to help make a difference. I look forward to the Black Tie Scholarship Affair in Charlotte and in cities to come. I am excited about the opportunity for Chicago in 2022. You and your team are doing a great job! Steppers, please support!

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Welcome! I am the writer Sonji Stewart. These are my travel stories about my Chicago Stepping experiences, traveling from city to city to dance. I hope my stories encourage you to join me in the adventure.

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