Empowering black and brown girls to develop aN agenda and testify to local policy-makers.
A collaborative project
Mission
The Spark Change Project's mission is to center girls of color as leaders in advocacy, who discover their activist voices, and galvanize their peers to engage in their own passions for positive social change. It was founded by the collaborating agencies in 2020 and produced powerful testimony from adolescent girls by the 2021 Texas Legislative session.
Program
The Spark Change Project (SCP) empowers, inspires, and trains the next generation of female activists of color. SCP centers a small group of girls of color as leaders, who gain a part time job, find their own activist voices, and galvanize a wider network of their peers to develop a policy agenda—through the delivery of a special Spark Change Day of advocacy in spring and a Spark Change Camp in summer, and other events, Town Halls, and issue forums. The program empowers adolescent girls to make change at any time, but during spring and summer odd years, girls are trained and prepared to provide testimony at the Texas Legislature! Check out our 2023 Legislative round up, here.
SCP GOALS
Spark Change Project girls will:
Testify to local policy makers
Develop a policy agenda
Improve positive racial and gender identity
Take action on community issues
Lead their peers in activism and advocacy
Increase self-efficacy in leadership, advocacy, collaboration, and communication skills
“This collaboration will elevate the experience for our young women who are shaping their identities as activists, girls of color, and women with powerful voices.”
Dr. Courtney Robinson, Founder/Executive Director
Excellence and Advancement Foundation
“The Spark Change Project will provide a new and dynamic space for girls of color to advocate for issues they care about, including gender and racial justicE in our community.”
Julia Cuba Lewis, CEO
Girls Empowerment Network
Collaboration History
Dr. Courtney Robinson and Julia Cuba Lewis have known each other for around 20 years. (It’s actually been long enough they can’t remember). In spring of 2020, Cuba Lewis began volunteering at the Excellence and Advancement Foundation and the two Executive Directors got to talking about organizational development and management. Cuba Lewis had been working on plans to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Girls Empowerment Network with a theme of activism. When she learned more about a program of the Excellence and Advancement Foundation called the Awesome Activist Leadership Camp, the idea emerged between the two E.D.’s to combine forces now known as the Spark Change Project.