2021 Impact Grant Recipient: Butterfly Dreamz
The Organization:
Butterfly Dreamz, Inc. was incorporated in 2013, a year after founder, Joy Lindsay, lost her younger sister, Kimberly Anyce Lindsay, to gun violence. Launched with a bold vision: to empower a generation of young female leaders to disrupt the status quo, Butterfly Dreamz helps girls develop into women who achieve their dreams and fill the roles of leadership in this nation and world. Through mentorship, scholarships, and youth-led community action, they equip girls to be confident leaders.
The Challenge:
While pursuing their personal, professional, and educational goals, girls of color, particularly Black girls, in the United States are often faced with racism, stereotypes, and other inequities. In order to challenge and change the systems that are working against them, girls need support—they need a strong and “safe” community that listens to and believes in their leadership, invests in their growth, supports their goals, and gives them an opportunity to show up authentically, while honing their skills. This need has been evidenced by the over 300% increase in our Cocoon Club membership during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Project: The Cocoon Club
Our Cocoon Club connects girls from marginalized communities to mentorship, scholarships, and youth-led community action. The Cocoon Club strategy has three primary components: social capital, scholarships, and youth-led community action. 42 high school girls and college women will be hired for three paid internship programs:
Write to Lead Interns (9 participants)
Community Ambassadors (24 participants)
Brand Builders (9 participants)
Although youth are traditionally left out of designing and evaluating the education programs that serve them, the paid student internships give middle, high school, and college students an essential role in co-creating and co-leading our organization’s initiatives. All interns work alongside our adult team members to strategize and design effective programs and initiatives that equip girls to be confident leaders who disrupt the status quo and achieve their boldest dreams.
The Grant:
The Impact100 Essex grant will be used to support staff costs, including a part-time Social Worker to manage our volunteer Leadership Coaches; Visual & Literary Art Consultants to assist with the production of our annual Leadership Journal, 42 Student Interns to help manage and lead our Cocoon Club, and Program Facilitators to facilitate our Cocoon Club and youth internship programming.
The Impact:
The Grant will enable the Cocoon Club to scale up to serve some 500 young women, with the goal of achieving the following:
Leadership Growth: 90% of girls who participate in our youth internship programs experience growth in Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) skills that contribute to long-term gains, such as thriving, decreased risk-taking behaviors, and improved academic performance.
Mental Health: 90% of girls who are matched with a volunteer Leadership Coach trained in therapeutic mentoring report lower levels of depression, anxiety, and stress.
Post-Secondary Success: 90% of high school seniors who are matched with a volunteer Leadership Coach or Peer Mentor receive acceptance into a college, university, or another post-secondary education/career program.
