BGKB Ambassador Program
The BGKB Ambassadors Program is a bold, yearlong leadership experience for Black girls in middle and high school across the country. Rooted in Black feminist traditions and radical imagination, this program builds a sacred, liberatory learning space where Black girls are seen, heard, and held. Ambassadors engage in biweekly sessions focused on political education, cultural memory, and self-determined futures, with off-weeks offering writing workshops, academic tutoring, and mentorship.
More than a program, BGKB Ambassadors is a living commitment to the protection, celebration, and safekeeping of Black girls. We don’t replicate the systems that have historically harmed and excluded Black girls. Instead, the BGKB Ambassadors Program offers a liberatory alternative- one rooted in culturally responsive teaching, restorative practices, and the radical belief that Black girls are whole, brilliant, and deserving of education that reflects their truths and nurtures their dreams. It’s a space where Black girls are free to question, imagine, and build the world they want to live in.
The curriculum explores key themes like hip-hop feminism, land and food justice, fashion as resistance, colorism, adultification, abolitionist education, archival storytelling, and reproductive justice. Ambassadors also learn how to conduct oral histories, build mutual aid networks, and design community-centered campaigns. Each girl is encouraged to show up fully and ignite their culture change- whether through poetry, podcasting, visual art, zines, or policy memos.
At its core, the BGKB Ambassadors Program is about sisterhood, transformation, and building power. It's where Black girls grow into scholars, artists, organizers, and world-builders, because Black girls don’t just deserve space, they know what to do with it.
Frequently Asked Questions:
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Black girls, femmes, and gender-expansive youth ages 11–18 who are passionate about justice, storytelling, community-building, and creating change.
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Each Ambassador designs a final project rooted in their personal interests and community. These are presented to peers, stakeholders, and partners. Think zines, podcasts, mini-campaigns, research presentations, art pieces, or panel discussions.
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We treat Black girls as whole people. That means we support their academic growth and their emotional wellness, cultural curiosity, and sense of self. We provide mentorship, affirm their identities, and connect them to a powerful national network.
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DeWe use the word girl as both a political and cultural identity, one that makes space for the full spectrum of Black girlhood. That includes cisgender girls, transgender girls, non-binary youth, gender-expansive youth, and anyone who identifies with, relates to, or moves through the world in ways shaped by Black girlhood and femininity.
Black girlhood is not one-size-fits-all. It’s a constellation of experiences, identities, lineages, and languages. We honor how expansive that really is. For many, “girl” is not just a gender label, but a cultural touchpoint, a site of memory, a way of being that can hold softness, survival, and style all at once.
At BGKB, we’re building a space where Black girls in all their forms, past, present, and becoming, feel seen, protected, and powerful. That means welcoming those who live at the margins of gender, while still fiercely centering Black girl culture as our foundation.
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About 2–4 hours per week, including live sessions, independent reflection time, optional workshops, and project development. Some months may be lighter or heavier depending on the programming schedule.
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The program is completely free. We believe Black girls deserve access to quality programming without financial barriers. Ambassadors also receive supplies, gifts, and stipends when available.
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Most leadership programs train Black girls to succeed in systems that were never meant to include them (etiquette, respectability, etc.), offering visibility without safety, opportunity without protection, and "empowerment" that often means assimilation. We reject that.
At BGKB, we don’t prepare girls to rise through broken systems. We teach them to break them open and to imagine, build, and lead in entirely new ways. Our program is grounded in Black girlhood studies, cultural memory, and liberatory practice. We teach from the archives, from the block, from the soil, and from the stories our grandmothers never got to finish.
We go beyond curricula, we offer connection, protection, and a living practice of Black feminist care. Every Ambassador is part of a national collective of girls who are creating new ways to learn, live, and lead.