Black Girls Thrive: Jobs & Justice

Youth economic advancement

South LA

Pilot or new project, program, or initiative (testing or implementing a new idea)

Black girls in Los Angeles—especially those in foster care or disconnected from school and work—face systemic neglect, racial and gender bias, and a lack of tailored support. Too often, they are placed in environments that ignore their identities, pushed out of school, funneled into low-wage jobs, and denied access to healing or opportunity. Over 123,000 youth ages 14–24 are out of school or work—48,000 in L.A. city alone—and 30,000 children are in foster care countywide. Black girls’ access to full STEM coursework is 30–40% lower than white peers (U.S. Civil Rights Data Collection). Foster youth are at higher risk of homelessness after aging out, limiting their access to housing, education, and jobs. Cuts to programs like Job Corps may worsen these barriers. Many navigate trauma without culturally responsive care. Our programs break this cycle through healing, mentorship, and hands-on skills that support brilliance, confidence, and self-determined futures.

Black Women for Wellness (BWW) will launch Sisterhood & Success, a youth-centered initiative combining wellness, career readiness, and leadership development for Black girls and gender-expansive youth ages 14–24 in Los Angeles. The program prioritizes youth in foster care and those disconnected from school or work—groups often left out of traditional services.
The initiative has two core components:
1. Sisterhood & Success Program
Building on BWW’s Rites of Passage model, this trauma-informed track includes monthly STEAM Learning Circles with hands-on sessions in robotics, coding, game design, architecture, animation, and environmental justice. Co-led by Black women professionals and college partners, it also features a quarterly Career Exposure Series highlighting diverse fields—UX design, cosmetic chemistry, esthetics, doula care, and environmental health. Wellness Circles will support participants' growth in reproductive health, relationships, financial literacy, and joyful self-care.
2. Youth Advisory Council
A paid youth council will co-design curriculum, select speakers, lead outreach, and monitor program impact.
By year’s end, 45 participants will leave with marketable skills, stronger identities, and clearer educational and career pathways. Sisterhood & Success promotes healing, pride, and safety for Black girls who need it most.

Los Angeles County will become a safer, more equitable place for Black girls and gender-expansive youth, especially those most often left behind. This initiative will disrupt cycles of poverty, violence, and invisibility by offering tangible tools, paid leadership roles, entry into fields like health tech and AI, and healing spaces that affirm identity and possibility. Instead of being pushed out of systems, youth will be pulled into opportunity. Centering Black girls’ voices and leadership, we aim to boost graduation, college, and job placement rates. Youth will no longer be passive recipients but active architects of their futures. Over time, they will ripple change through families, schools, and communities—transforming not just individual outcomes but entire ecosystems. We envision higher educational attainment, improved mental health, reduced gender-based violence, and stronger networks rooted in joy, identity, and economic self-determination.