Monday, November 18, 2019

The GGE Update: We’re Launching a National Agenda for Black Girls


The following announcement was submitted by Joanne N. Smith, executive director and founder of the Brooklyn-based non-profit organization, Girls for Gender Equity

 In 2020, Put Black Girls on the Agenda

Dear Community,

Many of us are bombarded daily – if not hourly – by headlines about the campaign trail, our presidential contenders, and the latest exploits of Number 45. On top of that, our communities are facing unprecedented attacks, and our rights are being methodically and systematically rolled back.

Despite a concerted effort from government, philanthropy and the private sector to advance a racial and gender justice agenda, Black girls remain virtually invisible in most major policy initiatives, philanthropic dollars, research and public discourse that focus on racial justice and/or gender equality here in the United States.

This is why we’re growing our power and fighting back by investing in the future of Black girls.

While candidates will work to appeal to the wide swath of issues that Black women and Black voters generally care about, we are launching a brand new project to make sure that Black girls are on the 2020 agenda.

Today we are launching A National Agenda for Black Girls, a collaborative project to ensure that the needs and rights of Black girls are at the front and center in 2020, recognizing that immigration, health and well-being, reproductive justice, and educational justice and opportunities are on the ballot for cisgender and transgender Black girls across the country.

In the coming months, we will host a series of digital town halls with young people from partnering organizations across the country and develop a candidate questionnaire to get the 2020 candidates to state, on the record, the ways in which they are planning to create a world that empowers and protects Black girls.

While some Black girls are indeed casting their vote in 2020, generations of Black girls are watching to see how we shape their future.

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