Bnurd'e Youth Advancement Initiative: “Dream U: Design Your College Experience”

Youth economic advancement

South LA West LA County of Los Angeles (select only if your project has a countywide benefit)

Expand existing project, program, or initiative (expanding and continuing ongoing, successful work)

The Bnurd'e Youth Advancement Initiative: Dream U – Design Your College Experience seeks to address the systemic inequities and barriers that Black and Brown girls, particularly those impacted by economic disparities, face when preparing for and navigating the college journey. These young women often lack access to college planning resources, financial literacy education, mentorship, and culturally relevant support systems that reflect and affirm their identities. This initiative aims to close opportunity gaps by providing a creative, interactive, and empowering space where participants gain the tools, knowledge, and confidence to envision and pursue higher education on their own terms, ultimately fostering self-determination and long-term success.

The Bnurd’e Youth Advancement Initiative: Dream U – Design Your College Experience will use grant funding to deliver an immersive, youth-led college readiness experience for Black and Brown girls ages 13 - 18 enrolled in 8th - 12th grade in Los Angeles and surrounding areas impacted by economic disparities. This initiative offers interactive workshops that integrate financial literacy, academic planning, digital storytelling, and mentorship to help participants actively design their future college paths. Grant support will fund technology access, culturally responsive curriculum, trained facilitators, and program materials that reflect the lived realities of the youth served. Participants will build digital vision boards, simulate college life through role-play, manage mock college budgets, and present their plans in a peer-supported space. Real-time guidance from mentors, women of color in higher education and professional fields, will provide critical support. This initiative directly addresses access and equity gaps, empowering participants with the tools, confidence, and connections to pursue higher education on their own terms.

If Bnurd’e Youth Advancement Initiative: Dream U – Design Your College Experience is successful, Los Angeles County will become a more equitable and empowering place for Black and Brown girls to access and succeed in higher education. This initiative will shift the narrative from limited opportunity to limitless potential by equipping participants with college planning skills, financial literacy, and culturally affirming mentorship. More girls will envision themselves as graduates, leaders, and change-makers. Schools and organizations will be inspired to adopt youth-centered, culturally relevant practices. The result will be increased college enrollment and retention among girls of color, expanded economic mobility, and the rise of a new generation of confident, college-ready young women transforming communities across the region.