The Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) has found its way to Charm City, and leaders and fans in the area have welcomed the organization’s beloved conference with open arms.
“It’s only appropriate that the oldest Black conference is having this tournament in Baltimore,” Maryland Gov. Wes Moore told Blavity during the esteemed event. “I mean this is the home of Billie Holiday and Thurgood Marshall. And so we think about what that means to continue to build upon a very rich and very proud culture that we have here in Baltimore. It’s also really important because the Baltimore Renaissance has been done. We’re talking about a city that’s now designated as a national tech hub destination. Baltimore has one of the fastest growing economies in the entire country, so to have CIAA here, not just to recognize it, but for our histories to continue to build together … it’s a very big deal for us.”
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Baltimore has a rich history that has made it the official landing place for the 2024 CIAA Food Lion Tournament for both men’s and women’s basketball teams across historically Black colleges and universities included in the conference.
“It’s a place where the intersection of legacy, leadership and community all come together,” Jacqie McWilliams-Parker, CIAA commissioner, said. “There’s a connection between humanizing individuals, no matter if you went to an HBCU or not. It’s a place you can be heard and celebrated. I love that this conference means everything to a lot of people. We’re a community and a family.”
Prior to making its way to Baltimore, CIAA was hosted in Charlotte, North Carolina for 15 years. While some may be hesitant to change, Al Hutchinson, president and CEO of Visit Baltimore, reiterated how the current destination — which will be home to the conference until 2026 — has gone above and beyond to ensure that everyone, from attendees to students to faculty and leaders, feels a warm welcome from the city.
“It’s very important to note, especially in the travel and tourism business, that we know that in America right now, we’re in a very critical time period,” Hutchinson explained. “There are some communities that don’t welcome all people, and we thought in Baltimore, being a predominately African-American community, we wanted to make sure that all people felt welcomed, valued and respected.”
“We thought that would give us an advantage because that’s who we are as a community,” he continued. “But we wanted to really make this our process and our core value. So our marketing communications team led the charge, creating the ‘Warm Welcome’ program, and the business community really embraced it as well. We thought it would be important to establish it, to help us in the travel space, but we also wanted to make it a part of our brand messaging — we are a welcoming community, and I believe it gives us an advantage over most communities because some struggle with welcoming all people. It’s a part of our DNA, and it’s going to continue to grow.”
With a rich legacy of prominent Black figures from all walks of life, the city of Baltimore possesses a spirit and energy in which people who look like the students, faculty, and staff of the CIAA can see themselves reflected, from politics to art, sports and everything in between.
The Lincoln University men’s basketball team and the Lady Broncos of Fayetteville State University earned the title of 2024 CIAA Food Lion Tournament champions.
