African Youth League – Who We Are

The African Youth League (AYL) is the oldest and largest African student organization at The Ohio State University, founded in 1994 with a mission to celebrate, share, and preserve African culture on campus. Over the past 30 years, we have built a lasting legacy through three annual signature events — African Night, Up-A-Bae, and the African Distinction Gala — as well as weekly General Body Meetings every Wednesday from 7–9 PM that consistently draw students from across the university.

Why We're Fundraising

Like many student organizations, AYL has been impacted by recent funding cuts that threaten our ability to deliver the programming our community depends on. This makes it difficult to host highly-anticipated events like African Night and puts a real strain on our executive board — a group of students already balancing AYL alongside demanding academic and personal responsibilities. Financial hardship makes it exceedingly difficult to deliver the high-quality experiences our community loves and deserves.

Our three signature events draw remarkable attendance each year — African Night (1,000+), Up-A-Bae (500+), and the African Distinction Gala (200+) — but funding cuts have made it increasingly hard to accommodate audiences of that size while maintaining the quality they expect. Beyond the celebrations themselves, these events also serve a greater purpose: we use them as platforms for community service and to fundraise for causes directly impacting communities across Africa. What we do extends far beyond campus.

Every dollar raised goes directly toward keeping our events, meetings, and initiatives running for the hundreds of students we serve — and toward the broader mission of giving back that has always been at the heart of AYL.

We've sustained this community for over three decades, and with your support, we can keep it going. Any contribution, big or small, means the world to us. Thank you for standing with AYL.