GirlsTalk/GuysTalk Program

YES! #blackgirlspectrum "Establishing a safe space for black girls to love as creative citizens."

Thank you so much to Raymond Santana, for taking the time to talk to us about your journey and experiences. We are 100% supporters of The Central Park Five!

Education is about learning to love ourselves and others. #GirlsTalkGuysTalk #GirlPower #BlackIsBeautiful #ILoveMyLips #SisterHood #Believe

#GirlsTalkGuysTalk representing at #BodiesOfRevolution @AAPolicyForum @VDay Thank you for sponsoring us. #SayHerName

#GirlsTalkGuysTalk

In #GirlsTalk today. We had an amazing heart to heart about feeling hurt. The girls chose to end the class speaking positive affirmations about themselves into the universe. It was beautiful.

Middle School alum/High School Freshman! Yes Fortune & Iaisha!

#thisiswhatcommunitylookslike

The dancer/choreographer/company owner, reaching out to meet with parents in order to initiate an internship opportunity with their child. The personal trainer, making time to build strength, physically and emotionally, at no cost. The attorney, counseling someone not to press charges against a young man, because what problem does incarceration really solve? The teacher, introducing Alice Walker to her students and lending them books to find their voice. The policemen, offering to come counsel a child, after hours. A mother, reaching out for help, because even if there's nothing we can do, there is hope and there is peace in sisterhood. This is what I witnessed today. This is what blessings look like. This is what our communities are made of. #GirlsTalkGuysTalk #TheGathering

This happened earlier this year: Talking to a friend on the phone about a student I got sponsorship for, and who's mother I reached out to, to share encouraging words about her child's hard work and what I thought was the necessity for extra curricular activities outside of academia... when my cab driver stopped the meter and said, "you can pay now." I said, "oh, we're not there yet..." He insisted, "no, you can pay now." I thought, oh shit, he heard me grumbling about him driving too slow (I was late, of course) and he's kicking me out. Before I could protest further, I realized he was still driving and still talking to me. "If I had known you were doing this kind of work, I never would've started the meter..." He went on, in the most special way, and I sat there, jaw dropped, teary eyed and grateful. This is what community looks like. This work is not financially filling but damn if it doesn't give me the fullest beating heart imaginable. Makes these broken shoes and tattered hand-me-downs worth walking in.