What's going on family.
I'm just here to brainstorm and chat a little bit with y'all today. I have so many thoughts throughout the day and seemingly no one to share them with. So who better than to share it with my family! Now continuing from my last post about us needing to build up our community and offering support to one another, I want to share some of the things that I've done and plan on doing to do my part in that.
This summer, a close friend of mine and I volunteered at a leadership conference for a non-profit organization called Ladies Learning to Lead (L3). It was a weekend long program for teen girls in middle-high school and taught them about networking, leaderships, and identity. It was a very awesome and powerful experience for the girls as well as an inspiring one for me. L3 is program local to Tallahassee that I think is much needed in our community. Most of the participants were black girls (yay!) and the program was founded and is ran by an amazing black woman, Samantha Vance.
Majority of the participants are black females ranging in ages from 3 to about 9. I have seen some of the smartest kids and some of the most challenged ones as well. It gives me hope that things like this program are helping even in the slightest to bridge the gap of education. It's also put some things into perspective for me and how I plan to raise my children. Seeing all those kids who live in the shelter and just thinking about how they must feel makes me even more appreciative over the things that I have and can provide. It also shows me to teach my babies empathy and humility because you just never know what someone can be going through. I plan to stay with BBHC throughout the fall semester if my schedule permits just because I've grown attached to a few students lol.
This academic year, one of my plans was to be more involved on campus and in my community (I've been working on that somewhat). I applied through FSU's Center for Leadership and Social Change for their Community Ambassador Program. This program is designed similarly to an internship in that I would work continuously with one agency, but some of the logistics of it are different (not 100% sure on everything). My potential agency placement is with the Boys and Girls Club of the Big Bend (BGCBB). There are discussion of placing me in Gadsden county, at either their Havana or Quincy locations. At first I was thinking "Man, I do notttt want to have to drive all the way out there multiple times a week!" But then I thought about it as an awesome opportunity to support the black community because Gadsden county is unique in that over 50% of its population is black. It also has a very high percentage of those below poverty and only three public schools (one elementary, one middle, and one high school).
We all know the power behind education (and if you don't know then now you do). One of the best resources that we can give to anything or anyone is time. A little bit of your time overtime and can make so much of a difference. Me giving my time to these students is just one of the few was I can help uplift my community.
Think about getting involved in your community, knowing that it serves a greater purpose. Find out where there is a need that you can fill, then fill it!
I'm just here to brainstorm and chat a little bit with y'all today. I have so many thoughts throughout the day and seemingly no one to share them with. So who better than to share it with my family! Now continuing from my last post about us needing to build up our community and offering support to one another, I want to share some of the things that I've done and plan on doing to do my part in that.
Ladies Learning to Lead (L3)
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| Two of my L3 participants (ik they were bigger than me) |
I stumbled across this organization while researching a few of the shadow opportunities offered by FSUShadow this summer. L3 was listed as one so I looked them up with hopes to apply (I did the application but didn't get the position). Me being me, I contacted them via their website about potentially volunteering with them, you know just to get my face seen. A representative replied to me within the week about the conference and I was ecstatic to get started.
As I said it was an inspiring experience in that I was able to connect with future black female leaders. The drive and determination that some of the girls had was powerful to say the least. I didn't know about this until about a week after the program, but one of the participants was a teen mother. It made me happy that she was there, learning all she could to create a better life for herself and her baby. I wish I would've met with her just to encourage her even more.
Big Bend Homeless Coalition
This summer semester, I have an internship with the Big Bend Homeless Coalition (BBHC) as their Bedtime Stories Intern. Bedtime Stories is a program implemented by the coalition at their Hope Community to increase school readiness and literacy to their youth population. The Hope Community is an awesome campus for families who need emergency housing. If you don't know there is a large population of kids that are either homeless or living in temporary housing. These demographics are hit the hardest when it comes to education inequalities as they often don't have the resources to be successful. Being a part of something like Bedtime Stories is just fuel to my fire that what I want to accomplish is necessary to my people.
Majority of the participants are black females ranging in ages from 3 to about 9. I have seen some of the smartest kids and some of the most challenged ones as well. It gives me hope that things like this program are helping even in the slightest to bridge the gap of education. It's also put some things into perspective for me and how I plan to raise my children. Seeing all those kids who live in the shelter and just thinking about how they must feel makes me even more appreciative over the things that I have and can provide. It also shows me to teach my babies empathy and humility because you just never know what someone can be going through. I plan to stay with BBHC throughout the fall semester if my schedule permits just because I've grown attached to a few students lol. Boys and Girls Club of the Big Bend
We all know the power behind education (and if you don't know then now you do). One of the best resources that we can give to anything or anyone is time. A little bit of your time overtime and can make so much of a difference. Me giving my time to these students is just one of the few was I can help uplift my community.
Broken Conversations Podcast
So my good friend Nastassia Janvier aka Tazzy, created this wonderful podcast focused on the empowerment of black women. Straight from her mouth, this is an awesome summary of what Broken Conversations is:
The podcast serves as the awareness piece as it where we discuss the issues and opinions felt by black women. She has recently invited me to join her in developing the accountability piece. We plan to do this through creating a year long mentorship program for girls of color to teach them sisterhood, empowerment, and positivity. We haven't gotten all of the kinks out quite yet for this part of our journey but I am hopeful because Tazzy is a go-getter. I would encourage you all to subscribe to the podcast as we'll be coming out with some new content very soon. Hopefully featuring a guest speaker who's message is so unique yet very relatable.Broken Conversations is an effort to produce a platform for women, specifically women of color, with a space to vocalize and express their thoughts, comments, and concerns about issues they face daily. The podcast's mission is to foster an environment based on a three-part process of awareness, accessibility, and accountability.
Teen Parent Support Program (Coming Soon)
And finally, I want to share my own personal contribution to my community. As most of you know I was (am?) a teenage mother. Throughout high school, I was involved in groups for girls like me such as YoungLives where we found some respite and camaraderie. I was also very close with my case manager from the teen parent program in my school district, Ms. Anderson. All of these experiences combined, plus my time with the girls at L3, really encouraged me to try to develop something for teenage mothers of my own. I think teen parents get a bad rap when in reality there are so many of us who are hard working and go-getters.
My ultimate goal is to form a non-profit organization that educates young parents, supports and encourages them to not only receive a diploma but also to go through higher education, and create a network of young women (and hopefully men) who can hold one another accountable and push them towards success. I want to hopefully remove some of the stigma surrounding teenage mothers and to uplift them towards emotionally intelligence and prosperity. If my high school model is successful, I would love to eventually branch out into a collegiate model because I feel it's harder for me being a parent in college than it was in high school.
This goal is still in its infancy, so I don't have much else to say about it. Even though nothing has been written on paper, I wanted to share this with y'all so y'all could hold me accountable and motivate me to its completion.
Think about getting involved in your community, knowing that it serves a greater purpose. Find out where there is a need that you can fill, then fill it!
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