A beneficiary is described as the person who benefits from and experiences joy, wealth, resources, and access from a service, program, or intervention.

Our beneficiaries are you!

We seek to provide mentorship, leadership, programs and interventions that build: resiliency, courage, options, and strength from girls impacted by racism, stereotypes, gender-based violence, biases, and discrimination.

Our Beneficiaries experience an intersection of identities, social location, and experiences. We have included a broad overview. We want to be cognizant of exclusion and want to include girls who fit this main description. Our curriculum content is primarily based on African-centric, Indigenous, and culturally-informed practices and belief and value systems. The primarily beneficiaries are Black girls aged 12 to 29years old in Durham Region and surrounding area. Our mentors are young women aged 16-29 who fit their own criteria, willingness to grow. Our mentors and mentees have a shared connection of lived experiences.They have shared , lived experience of being in the child welfare and being involved in the youth justice system. We also will create content and provide leadership opportunities for Black and racialized girls who identity as LBTQ2s. Their shared commonality/dreams are: opportunity to grow/share their talents, seeking acceptance, feeling loved, and respected by others.

Barriers our girls experience

• negative feedback from others
• systemic oppression
• feeling disconnected from their family
• feeling disconnected from their schools and communities
• lack of identity support through social media
• lowered self-esteem and self-confidence
• traumatic stress, anxiety and depression
• higher rates of criminalization
• low school success rates
• risk of abusive interpersonal relationships
• risk of community violence and abuse
• higher risk of mental health concerns and unwellness

Benefits our mentors and mentees experience

We desire to inspire change and opportunity for mentors and mentees to:

• the opportunity to give back to their own community
• supporting and encouraging younger girls to achieve their goals,
• acquiring leadership skills such as coaching, social skills, decision making and emotional intelligence.
• connecting girls with professionals to increase their employability skills,
• improving their mental health, and their overall well being
• guiding girls towards greater health and wellness
• being a positive role model and representing hope and change