The Southern Black Girls and Women’s Consortium will grant $350,000 to two dozen Southern community organizations working in thirteen states. The grants will fund organizations that address acute challenges facing underserved Black women and girls, like maternal health, gender-based violence prevention, and educational support.

Supporting Local Communities

The funding and tour come at a moment when organizations focused on supporting underserved communities face funding crunches following the Trump administration’s crackdown on diversity, equity, and inclusion policies. Chanceé Lundy, Southern Black Girls’ executive director, stated that the organization wants to help fill some of the gaps that these organizations are experiencing.

The grants coincide with the organization’s summer “Joy and Justice” tour, which convenes community building activities, resource drives, and festivals in nine cities. Most of the tour stops take place at schools and community centers in majority-Black neighborhoods. One rally will take place at the Virginia Capitol alongside agency leaders promoting diversity in the state’s government.

LaTosha Brown, a voting rights activist and co-founder of the organization, noted that Black women have always faced discrimination and marginalization in the South despite being integral to the region’s economy and culture. Lundy recalled stories of past generations of Black women who raised the children of white families that upheld Jim Crow policies that underfunded schools, restricted voting, and enabled political violence against Black communities.

Lundy said she hoped the tour and grants would enable Black girls to reach their full potential. “You matter now in this moment,” Lundy said was her “joyful” message to young Black girls. “And you’re not a victim. You are actually the solution, that you are the antidote to what is happening right now.”

Original reporting: KTBS 3 (Shreveport) — read the source article.