Evaluating Black Girls'
Experiences of Trauma
And Resiliency

Placing Black Girls
At Promise Instead
of At Risk

Evaluating Black Girls'
Experiences Of Trauma
And Resiliency

Placing Black Girls'
At Promise Instead
Of At Risk

Rise Sister Rise has changed her name!

Welcome to Black Girl Rising, Inc. In order to incorporate as an official organization so that we can do more to “Place Black Girls At Promise”, we changed our name. We are now a not-for-profit 501.C3 organization with tax-deductible status. Our Vision, our Mission, and our work with Black girls have not changed.

We thank you for your continued support.

After a year of brainstorming, discussions, and research, our Black Girl Rising Inc. Black Girl Think Tank created The “I Am Good Enough”
Campaign to raise awareness and educate our community about 6 areas of concern for black girls including colorism, bullying, depression, LGBTQ+, body image, and self-defense.

Become a REAL WOMAN for Black girls!

REAL Women is a supportive arm of Black Girl Rising Inc. We provide annual financial contributions so that the Black Girl Rising Inc. Committee can continue to provide programming and events for Black girls in our community. As REAL Women, we are making a statement about our priorities, interests, and how we spend our dollars to support efforts we believe in, such as Placing Black Girls at Promise!

BECOME A REAL WOMAN

About BGR Inc. Research

Evaluating the African American Girls’ Experience of Trauma and Resiliency in Ohio’s Communities is a journey towards academic success and positive socialization for African American girls. There are approximately 201,000 African American girls living in Ohio; the majority residing in metropolitan areas.
Research suggests that urban African American girls are significantly exposed to more traumatic stressors than children of other racial groups. The Black Girl Rising Research Project is designed to explore the ways in which urban adolescent African American girls experience their world and the ways in which they are affected by those experiences. Frances Curtis Frazier, M.A. is the principal investigator and research partner with the Ohio Department of Mental Health which provided original funding for the research project.

Fran Frazier, MA (Principal Investigator)
Thank you for your interest in Placing Black girls at Promise! We look forward to working with you as, together, we help our girls navigate their way toward resiliency. Every day I enter a school building, walk through a mall, look out my car window as I drive, I see a Black girl and wonder about her. Is she at promise or at risk? Our approach to this work is unique. We collected data and shared the results. Through the local networks created, we are building a collective community enhancing the strengths and addressing challenges revealed in the data. Black Girl Rising Inc™ and the work of others suggest that Black girls living in urban areas are exposed to more traumatic stressors than other children. We want the lives of Black girls to reflect collective work and responsibility by their families, communities, leaders, and government. Placing Black girls at promise means we talk to girls, those at risk and those who are doing well. We ask the hard questions that may not be “any of our business” but we ask them because we want them to be “placed at promise.”

Research Data

Journals And Articles

BLACK GIRLS MATTER: PUSHED OUT

In 2014, a 12-year-old girl faced expulsion and criminal charges after writing “hi” on a locker room wall of her Georgia…

Mental Health and Girls of Color for Release

Communities across the United States face a chronic epidemic of untreated mental health disorders…….

GENDER & TRAUMA

The Georgetown Law Center on Poverty and Inequality works with policymakers, researchers, practitioners, and advo-cates across the country…

Click For More Journals And Articles Click For More Journals And Articles

“I am a charter member of the Rise Sister Rise Black Girl Think Tank and the former Co-Chair of the Black Girl Mental Health Campaign designed by our Think Tank. This has been an incredible experience for me that I will remember all my life. The RSR Black Girl Think Tank gives Black girls an opportunity to use their voices to address issues and concerns that affect our resiliency. I am a strong advocate for youth whose gender-identity concerns need to be heard. We need the Black community to step up for us.”Paiden Williams was selected by Columbus City Councilmember Priscilla Tyson to represent the voice of Black girls and to serve on the Commission on Black Girls. Her presence on the Commission brings voice, advocacy and direction to the work of the Commission

Aliya Horton is a second year student at The Ohio State University. For several years she served as Co-Chair of the Black Girl Rising Inc Black Girl Think Tank. She still attends Black Girl Think Tank meetings and is a mentor to new members. She served as the 2020 Summer Camp Moderator for “Camp Got Your Back”! “I had the opportunity to go to dinner with Dr. Monique W. Morris, along with a few of my fellow charter members of the BGTT and members of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women Central Ohio Chapter (NC100BWCOC). At dinner Dr. Morris told us how her research intersects race, gender, education and justice to explore how Black communities are socially affected by it. Although her focus is the Black community, she is heavily focused on Black girls being pushed out of the education system. In her latest book Push Out: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools she explains how black girls are being wrongfully judged and deprived of a quality education. The next day at the OSU African American Extension Center, Black Girl Rising Inc held a breakfast Leadership Briefing where the agenda was focused on evaluating African American girls’ experience of trauma.

Ariana Wilson is a charter member of the Black Girls Think Tank (BGTT) created by Rise Sister Rise. She graduated from New Albany High School. She is now in her 2nd year of College. “I would like to share some of my experiences so far. After many discussions with Black girls and adults, Rise Sister Rise found that urban adolescent African American girls are exposed to more traumatic stress than children of other groups. The idea for the BGTT was born and planning started in January of 2014. Approximately eleven months later at the annual Rise Sister Rise conference is where the BGTT was introduced. It was created to provide a safe space for girls to critically analyze and dialogue about the quality of life issues that affect black girls in their community and school. Rise Sister Rise continues to place African American girls “at promise” as opposed to “at risk” in order to become contributing members of their families, schools, community, and society. While being a part of BGTT, we develop leadership skills, attend workshops and have small group discussions to build unity among us. We work hard to provide solutions for problems happening in our community. Eight other.

Paiden Williams

Aliya Horton

Ariana Wilson