Introducing the 14th Cohort of A'Lelia Bundles Community Scholars
The newest Bundles Scholars will delve into community wellness, the creative use of technology, literacy, holistic spiritual care, storytelling that centers Black women, and the history of policing in urban communities.
Columbia University is pleased to welcome the newest cohort of A’Lelia Bundles Community Scholars, extraordinary members of the local community who join Columbia to grow their skills, conduct research, and continue with projects that will benefit our neighbors in the city and beyond.
As part of the 14th cohort, Bundles Scholars begin a three-year affiliation with the University. Through this partnership, they gain access to Columbia’s extensive library resources, have the opportunity to audit courses, and become part of a vibrant network of peers, empowering them to expand their research and bring their projects to life.
Scholars are selected through a highly competitive application process and are all from the Upper Manhattan community.
Meet This Year’s Scholars
Sanayi Beckles-Canton
Dr. Sanayi Beckles-Canton, is a Harlem-born educator, pastor, parent leader, and community advocate whose work centers on children, families, education, mental health, and social justice. She is the founder and head of school at Chloe Day School & Wellness Center, a progressive, trauma-informed public early childhood program in Harlem, and founder of The Healing Space, a community wellness, learning, and civic dialogue initiative addressing mental health, healing, family well-being, and community connection.
Her Bundles Scholars project, the “Harlem Whole Child & Community Wellness Project” is a three-year community-based inquiry and demonstration exploring how publicly funded early childhood education can be reimagined to support not only children's academic development, but also their social-emotional development, family well-being, educator wellness, cultural identity, community connection, and civic life. Read her full biography here.
Dario Calmese
Dario Calmese is an artist, writer, and founder whose work explores how images, stories, and institutions shape culture and how they can be redesigned. In 2020, he became the first Black photographer to shoot a cover for Vanity Fair in the magazine’s 106-year history with his landmark portrait of Viola Davis. Calmese is the founder of the Institute of Black Imagination and a Harvard Loeb Fellow. His work sits at the intersection of artistic practice, pedagogy, and civic design, investigating how imagination becomes infrastructure for cultural transformation.
As a Bundles Scholar Calmese’s research project, Building from Blueprints: Black Imagination as a Technology of Becoming, examines how Black communities have used changing technologies, cultural practices, and institutions to shape identity, preserve knowledge, and imagine new possibilities. Read his full biography here.
Alvin Irby
Alvin Irby is an award-winning early childhood educator, social entrepreneur, national speaker, and author. A former kindergarten teacher in Harlem and first-grade teacher in the Bronx, he is founder and chief reading inspirer at Barbershop Books, a national literacy organization that inspires Black boys and other vulnerable children to read for fun. His work earned the National Book Foundation's Innovations in Reading Prize and the Lipman Family Prize from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and he was named a CNN Hero.
As a Bundles Scholar, Irby will conduct research and complete a manuscript that gives teachers and caregivers a practical framework for reading identity development, while leading classroom and community-based pilots of Reading So Lit, an award-winning literacy platform for PK-3, co-designed with educators and families to cultivate reading identity, motivation, and agency among young learners. Read his full biography here.
Derrick Johnson
Dr. Derrick Shahem Johnson Sr. is a board certified chaplain, ordained minister, theologian, educator, and community-based spiritual-care practitioner whose work centers Black healing, human dignity, and collective liberation. A longtime Harlem resident, he is the founder and pastor of Black Liberation Church and the founder of Holistic Spiritual Care, an initiative addressing the intersections of racial trauma, violence, grief, mental health, spiritual distress, and community resilience.
His Bundles Scholars project explores the development of Holistic Spiritual Care as a culturally responsive, community-based model for addressing systemic racism, racial trauma, violence, grief, moral injury, mental health distress, and spiritual suffering in West Harlem. Rooted in trauma-informed care, restorative justice, and the clinical competencies of Board Certified Chaplaincy, the project seeks to document and strengthen healing practices that support spiritual and emotional care. Read his full biography here.
Magalie Kalukula
Magalie Kalukula is a strategist, researcher, community mentor, and emerging media maker whose work is grounded in a lived understanding of care, access, and belonging. While studying engineering at Temple University, Kalukula worked with the Community College of Philadelphia Gateway Program, supporting students in STEM and languages while helping them navigate the larger realities of college life, which taught her that mentorship is not only about teaching material, it is also about helping people build confidence, navigate systems, and see themselves as capable of continuing.
Her Bundles Scholar project, Studio Commons, is an evolving community-based media and cultural infrastructure project exploring how Black women in Harlem can use cinema and prototype gathering spaces to tell their own stories on their own terms. The project centers storytelling, self-representation, public memory, and community-based cultural life. Read her full biography here.
Tyron Pope
Tyron Pope, Ed.D., is a senior clinical lecturer of criminal justice and sociology at Iona University and an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Africana Studies at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York. A scholar-practitioner whose career spans law enforcement, higher education, public service, and community engagement, his work explores the intersections of policing, public safety, restorative justice, educational equity, and community trust.
As a Bundles scholar, Dr. Pope is examining the historical relationship between policing institutions and Black urban communities, exploring how historical memory, lived experience, and institutional practices have shaped perceptions of legitimacy, trust, and public safety across generations. Read his full biography here.
On October 27, Columbia will officially welcome Bundles Scholars from both the new and returning cohorts to celebrate their achievements, foster connection, and showcase their inspiring work.
To learn more about the program and stay updated on future application cycles, please visit the Bundles Scholars website.