The Focus for ACVB

“Nos ki sta manda gosi!” These were the words of a young Cabo Verdean boy watching the completion of a basketball court restoration project near his home in Fazenda earlier this summer. In July 2025, Associação Cabo Verdiana de Basquetbol (ACVB) completed its third basketball court restoration effort and mural project in the city of Praia in Santiago, Cabo Verde. ACVB is a nonprofit organization, incorporated in Massachusetts, that offers a number of different programs for local youth and community residents. For instance, ACVB organizes a men’s basketball league, youth basketball clinics, and community service projects, along with international service trips to the Republic of Cabo Verde each year. The organization’s primary mission is to leverage the adult male participants of the men’s basketball league and have them participate in and support with youth development and service in the community, here and abroad. Essentially, basketballs pulls them in… and the youth engagement provides a vehicle to give back.

For well over a decade, ACVB has managed to develop and implement a number of programs, services, and initiatives while bringing in only modest donation dollar amounts each year. While the men’s basketball league is self-sustainable through registration fees, the other youth and community-oriented activities at ACVB are based on volunteer time and donations (i.e. financial and in-kind). During this same time period, ACVB has continued to operate with limited financial resources. However, ACVB is not unique in this regard. Many 501c3 nonprofit organizations in the United States, especially our grassroots community organizations, do not always have the operating budget to truly achieve the mission that they aspire towards. Instead, many community organizations do their best by being creative, engaging local businesses and community members for support, and by seeking resources in a multitude of ways.

Positioning Our Culture as an Asset

While ACVB has been challenged in securing funds and facilities that would allow the organization to become more sustainable, its longevity to date has been the result of volunteered time and dedication from those in the community who believe in the mission. But even more critical, its inception and launch was fueled by an innate personal commitment among Cabo Verdean people who desired to make an impact in Cabo Verdean communities. A “for us, by us” philosophy that has been echoed by many great leaders and revolutionaries over time, such as Amilcar Cabral, Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey, Thomas Sankara, Kwame Nkrumah, and others. When ACVB was created, it was filling a void in the community and creating a unique platform and model that had not yet existed, as far as we knew. The early conversations about developing what is now known as ACVB was centered on the idea of convening Cabo Verdean men, who are fathers, who were also former basketball players in Cabo Verde, Portugal, and Angola, and who were now residing in the United States at that point in time; and positioning them to mentor youth in the community, including but not limited to Cabo Verdean youth (And since its point of origin, ACVB has grown to include men of various ethnicities and nationalities, in addition to Cabo Verdean men).

Another concept critical at the time of the founding of ACVB was to also ground the organization’s name, teams, and activities in the culture, symbols, and traditions of Cabo Verdean people, where possible. To highlight some examples, in the beginning there were teams within the ACVB men’s basketball league that were named Bairro, ABC, and Volcanico. As highlighted in these examples, the ACVB team names reflected either an actual neighborhood in Cabo Verde (i.e. Bairro as a tribute to Bairro Craveiro Lopes in the city of Praia), an homage to an existing club team in Cabo Verde (i.e. ABC organization located in Praia), or a cultural symbol of some kind (i.e. Volcanico in honor of the volcano, Pico do Fogo, on the island of Fogo). Earlier on, some ACVB basketball games even had live commentary in the native language of Kriolu, as well as batucada before the games and at half time. While some of these cultural practices have been paused for various reasons (i.e. volunteer bandwidth and/or funding), the majority have continued into the present. But an even more powerful and integral manifestation of Cabo Verdean culture lies in the ways of being, expression, and sense-making that is evident in the daily interactions and engagement among people at ACVB sponsored programs and activities. At its deepest level, culture is carried within a group of people in the ways one views the world, the way one makes sense of their environment, the way one interprets their experiences, the way we live out our communal and collective-oriented practices, and in the values and beliefs that inform our thinking and decisions each day, and each moment. And so while, ACVB aims to elevate physical and visual representations of culture, its strongest manifestation of culture is carried out in the people’s ability to be fully and authentically themselves at all times—racially, ethnically, linguistically, and culturally.

To carry out its mission, ACVB seeks partnerships that support and preserve this cultural authenticity. ACVB has relied on partnerships and collaboration whenever possible. Activities implemented by the organization have taken place in cities such as Boston, MA, Brockton, MA, and Pawtucket, RI, for instance— all locations that are hubs for Cabo Verdean residents. ACVB has also collaborated with the other nonprofits, public schools, local entrepreneurs, local universities, small businesses, elected officials, and more—both Cabo Verdean and non-Cabo Verdean. An example of ACVB work generated through such collaborations is reflected in the international projects. Since 2012, ACVB has planned and implemented over 10 service trips to Cabo Verde serving a variety of purposes, which span from donations of school supplies, to gifted athletic equipment, to park restoration, and more. Similar to ACVB’s work in the United States, the grassroots community projects in Cabo Verde also involve youth, community residents, community leaders, local governments (i.e. camara municipal), and local businesses in Cabo Verde, for example. Overall, partnership and collaboration has proven to be vital for the organization, and the cultural relevance of ACVB’s approach has been the lifeblood of the organization.

Looking Further Ahead

So, what does this all mean as we look ahead from our current vantage point in 2025? In short, grassroots efforts powered by Black and African people are still needed today in the US. In a large country like the US, the mainstream channels for facilitating change (i.e. government agencies) have their limitations in terms of reach and depth of impact. Historically, such institutions have not shown a consistent will or capacity to dive deep into the nuanced issues and needs of the Black community and African ethnic groups, and to be able to fill such a void— and history has shown this time and time again. Large governmental entities (e.g. at the federal, state, and even city level) serve a broader mandate in trying to meet the needs of a very diverse and very large populace whose concerns reflect a broad and complex set of issues. And often times, issues that are core to our community do not make it past the agenda setting process in these spheres. In other words, the delivery of wellness workshops that center our Cabo Verdean cultural norms and traditional health remedies, the implementation of basketball clinics delivered in the Kriolu native tongue, and the restoration of parks in the Terra Branca community of Praia, for example, are not priorities for the local Mayor’s office and city council. And people can debate where this line should be drawn, and whether or not this is the work of local government here, or not. But regardless, we have power as a collective and there are still steps we can take on many fronts. As Cabo Verdean and African people of a larger global diaspora, through collective action and organized efforts, we can meet the nuanced and specific needs of our own communities here and abroad. In the US, there are many historical examples— which include examples of varying scope and purpose— that demonstrate community impact designed by, and driven by community residents, such as the Black Panther Party of the 1960s; El Movimiento Chicano of the 1960s; or the Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project of present day, for example. The work of ACVB is only but one example of what we can do. Other untapped opportunities still remain in various domains, such as education, economic development, worker rights, political organizing, and more.

In order to do such work at the community level with leadership of community residents, a sustained and long-term vision is foundational. This is not moments to moments work… this is generational work. As far as we can tell, the need for such efforts at the community level is not going away. And one thing we can say for certain is that determined individuals will continue to find a way, and will continue to make things happen despite the odds, despite the adversity, and despite the lack of a historical precedence for what we want for ourselves and future generations. Cabo Verde e pikinoti, ma e di nos! If we do not move such ideas forward for ourselves, then who will?

By:

Amarildo “Lilu” Barbosa, Ph.D.Associate Teaching Professor, Tufts UniversityAdvisor, Policy and Partnerships, Cape Verdean Association of BostonAdvisor, Associação Cabo Verdiana de Basquetbol (ACVB)