Reclaiming Our Futures

This Black youth-led project seeks to empower young Black Girls, aged 14-22, who are negatively impacted by justice and educational systems. These youth are criminalized in the education system due to policing presence in schools, increased punishment through detentions, suspensions and expulsions, resulting in a school to prison pipeline. This project will equip young Black Girls* with language to better understand their experiences and provide tools to support them with advocacy while they experience compounding oppressions of both anti-Black racism and gender based violence.

The project will create space for collective healing, without the threat of re-traumatization, ensuring that Black Girls* impacted by criminalization within the education system have the tools to build allyship, solidarity and personal advocacy. Platform will do this through education, awareness and anti-oppressive leadership workshops. They are creating meaningful opportunities for their community to come together and develop a deeper understanding of their personal experiences and facilitate power to young Black Girls whose experiences of criminalization within the education system are often overlooked. This program will be developed and facilitated by Black women whose values and lived experiences reflect the lived realities of the participants.

*Their definition of Black Girls includes Black non-binary youth and Black trans girls.