Black Girl Freedom Week begins on Monday! From February 13 – 19, organizers of the third annual celebration of Black girls, femmes, and gender expansive youth will host free virtual events including panel discussions, film screenings, music performances, as well as resource sharing on how to support and engage Black girls and move investments in a meaningful way. Visit Black Girl Freedom Week online for the schedule of events, information on featured speakers, and the virtual mainstage, and follow along on social media @blackgirlfreedomfund and @BlkGrlFreedom.
Dr. Monique Couvson, President and CEO of Grantmakers for Girls of Color and co-founder of Black Girl Freedom Fund, and Cidra Sebastien manager of the fund, recently spoke with The 19th about how the weeklong celebration will advance their mission to raise $1 billion for Black girls and young women over the next 10 years. Says Sebastien: “This is not about . . . Black women raising the money for Black youth. This is about everyone contributing to the investment of Black girls and gender-expansive youth because everyone benefits when we invest in them.”
The theme for this year’s events centers on the artistic vision, activism and innovation of Black girls and gender-expansive youth and will feature artists and innovators including award-winning director, writer and producer Gina Prince-Bythewood, director of “The Woman King,” and Leila Mottley, author of Oprah’s Book Club pick and Booker Prize nominee “Nightcrawler.” In a piece for theGrio, Sebastien explains that these “luminaries not only light the way for the next generation of Black artists and innovators, but they are the cultural influencers who help us see the full embodiment of Black girls’ and Black people’s lives, beyond tropes of tragedy and sadness, to include the infinite possibilities that await them and the liberated futures they are creating.”
Alicia Garza, founder and principal of Black Futures Lab and the Black to the Future Action Fund shared with The Hill’s Cheyanne Daniels about the policy priorities that President Biden outlined in the State of the Union and what is needed to transform the agenda shaped by Black voters into material change for our communities: “It’s time to ‘finish the job’ and build the power to translate policy into real progress, felt by each of us in our daily lives.”
Change Learning Hub
The Change Consulting team shares tips, tricks, wisdom, and lessons learned from working with changemakers in the movement for racial justice.
Narratives are how we make meaning of our world. How can we wield this essential building block of human relation and connection for meaningful social change? Our Communications Director of Strategy Kay Cuajunco shares guidance for building narrative power for racial justice in a new post for our blog.
Change We Applaud
Earlier this week, Los Angeles Assemblyman Isaac Bryan partnered with Initiate Justice to introduce a constitutional amendment that, if passed, would restore the right to vote to incarcerated people who have been convicted of a felony. Initiate Justice co-founder Taina Vargas weighed in on ACA 4 for the Sacramento Bee: “If our intention is to keep our community safe, then we should be focusing on ways to help people feel connected rather than just trying to punish our way out of social problems…People inside understand how important it is to be civically engaged.”
ICYMI
Each member of the Economic Security Project’s Guaranteed Income Community of Practice, a collective of policy experts, advocates, researchers, leaders, funders, practitioners, and elected officials, has a powerful story to tell about the impact that giving people cash, no strings attached, can have. The Economic Security Project recently launched a storytelling guide to equip members with the tools they need to tell their stories at community events, in the media, or at a legislative hearing to shape the narrative around guaranteed income. The guide is available online at the Economic Security Project website.