Black Education Expo Returns to Pasadena Convention Center on October 3

The Black Education Expo returns to the Pasadena Convention Center on Saturday, Oct. 3, and this year a complimentary bus will carry families from South Los Angeles to the free K-12 education fair, organizers said in a news release.

The expo runs from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. inside the Conference Center on the lower level at 300 E. Green St. Admission is free and open to the public, and the event is built for students ages 5 to 18, their families, educators, schools and community organizations. Organizers are inviting attendees from across Los Angeles, the Antelope Valley, Orange County and San Bernardino County.

Pasadena Councilmember Tyron Hampton is a co-presenter, organizers said.

Los Angeles City Council District 8, We Grow LA, Education Is Key and Mor Girls With Goals partnered to provide the bus. Riders board at 9 a.m. at the Chase Community Center on Crenshaw for transportation directly to the expo.

“Access is at the heart of BEE,” said Victoria Williams, who founded the expo. “It’s not enough for great resources to exist—we have to make sure families can actually get to them and know they’re available. When community organizations, educational institutions and businesses bring their resources together, we can create something much bigger for families.”

Organizers say the expo hall will bring more than 70 resources under one roof, with colleges, employers, educational organizations, health and wellness providers and community organizations on hand through the day.

The Teen Zone will include an artificial intelligence literacy workshop presented by Google, mental health and resilience programming, a teen-led career panel and college access information. The Wellness Zone will offer mental and physical wellness resources along with “Know Your Numbers” screenings, including blood pressure, glucose and cholesterol. In the Parent Zone, families can explore financial wellness, scholarships, college pathways and family engagement.

The Educator Lounge, hosted by the Black Educator Advocates Network, gives teachers a place to connect and recharge and opens with a restorative sound bath with Coach LaLa, courtesy of STARS. The BEE Joy Zone, presented by the California Black Women’s Collective Empowerment Institute with support from Russell Westbrook’s Why Not? The foundation will offer free books, face painting and family games.

Two parent and educator workshops are scheduled, from 10 to 10:45 a.m. and from 11:15 a.m. to noon. At noon, Dr. Ray Cunningham of UNCF Los Angeles will host a program in the expo hall featuring raffles and partner highlights.

The partner network includes Pasadena City College, the California Black Women’s Collective Empowerment Institute, the Los Angeles Community College District, the Why Not? Foundation, Citizens Business Bank, Athens Services, the Pasadena Community Foundation, the California Black Women’s Health Project, IBEW Local 11, PCL Construction, the Los Angeles Urban League, the Los Angeles Public Library, NCNW Southern California, NCNW SGV, the Pasadena NAACP, Community Women Vital Voices, the Black Clergy Civic Alliance, DENA D9 and STARS, organizers said.

The expo began in Pasadena. Williams, of BWP Enterprises and a 2020 graduate of Leadership Pasadena, held the first one at Lake Avenue Church on Feb. 24, 2024, moved it to the convention center that October and returned there in October 2025. The most recent edition ran outdoors on Feb. 28 on the Graduation Lawn at West Los Angeles College, where more than 600 free books were distributed with the Kiwanis Literacy Club Foundation. Williams was honored by NBC4 Los Angeles in March during Women’s History Month.

Organizers billed the 2025 Pasadena expo at more than 70 exhibitors, among them UCLA and California State University, Dominguez Hills. That program included a teen career panel with PCL Construction, a book corner run with the Kiwanis Foundation and five scholarships awarded to BEE Scholars at 12:15 p.m.

Need to know: The Black Education Expo takes place Saturday, Oct. 3, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Pasadena Convention Center, inside the Conference Center on the lower level, 300 E. Green St., Pasadena. Admission is free and open to the public. Paid parking onsite in the subterranean structure shared with Hotel Dena is a flat $15 per day, good for one entry, with entrances on Euclid and Marengo avenues between Green and Cordova streets; the structure holds 600 spaces with about 2,500 more within a block, has eight EV charging stations and a 6-foot-6-inch height limit. The venue is Metro accessible, with A Line service to Memorial Park and Del Mar stations, each about four-tenths of a mile away. 

Register free through Eventbrite or visit BlackEducationExpo.com. Organizations and companies interested in partnering, and large groups traveling by bus, can email info@blackeducationexpo.com.