When Ava Garr, a 16 year old from Louisville, KY, received her #BlackGirlJoyChallenge grant, she organized a “Daddy & Me Story Power Celebration” for Black fathers and their children, recruiting five other young Black girls to serve alongside her as Story Ambassadors. Together, they led a literacy celebration featuring books from BK Royston Publishing, a Black woman-owned press, and sent every family home with a free book and a professional photo, a keepsake of a moment that said: you belong here, and you are celebrated.

Ava’s project is exactly what the #BlackGirlJoyChallenge was designed to make possible. For $550, a young Black girl became a community organizer, a narrative changer, and a living example of what joy looks like in action.

There are more Avas waiting. More ideas ready to become movements. More families waiting to be celebrated. Your gift to the Southern Black Girls and Women’s Consortium makes it possible. Every dollar invested in the #BlackGirlJoyChallenge puts resources directly into the hands of Black girls who are already doing the work and ready to do more.

Give today at southernblackgirls.org.