Who Run the World? GIRLS

Since 2009, we’ve shown youth that they must feed their mind, body, and spirit to achieve success. We are breaking barriers to success through a holistic wellness initiative called "Discover Your Inner Warrior." Each week students learn about topics including, domestic violence, reproductive health, emotional wellbeing, how to apply for college and much more. This program serves teen girls, gender expansive youth and their families with free therapy, free yoga, multilingual mental health training for parents, and 1-on-1 mentorship for the teens. We envision a community where everyone has equitable access to opportunity academically, socially, economically, psychologically and physically. We place healing at the forefront of everything we do. When the most vulnerable members of our community have a space to heal together, working on their needs as individuals, they can mature into citizens that lead our community towards positive change. 

Many staff and board members participated in the programs offered by Athena’s Warehouse when they were in high school. We are aligned with the values of the community we serve, we bring resources to our youth with dignity, equity and without judgment since our leadership team deeply understands the issues our youth face daily. Our very first program was the Prom Dress Project, where we collect gently used formal dresses from women in the community, have the dresses cleaned and then give the dresses away to students. Many of the young women we are serving have low self esteem, and these students have a lot of responsibilities to help their families financially. Thus the, formerly “Be Awesome Be Aware”, now “Discover Your Inner Warrior” program was born. We needed a way to establish a sense of belonging, to show students that they were connected to their community and that their voices were important. 

The youth we serve come from low-income households, and according to the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services children that grow up in poverty are highly likely to be exposed to trauma or have Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs.) Children that experience trauma often have low self-esteem. Black girls and women of color experience high rates of Adverse Childhood Experiences(ACEs) such as abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction particularly those girls who are living in poverty. Children with a higher number of ACEs are more likely to score lower on standardized tests, be suspended or expelled, or even fail a school grade. 

Girls are more likely than boys to have four or more ACEs. Adults experiencing four or more ACEs are twice as likely to have a heart attack, twice as likely to have severe financial problems, and are six times more likely to have clinical depression. In order to achieve their academic and economic dreams, girls of color need more exposure to positive experiences. Research proves that ACEs do not have to be fatal and can be overcome by introducing positive experiences to children who live in poverty. Positive experiences can buffer bad experiences and when children feel connected to their community, when they know they can grow their social capital and experience positive relationships with adults and their peers then the impact of ACEs can be overcome.

Positive experiences help students regulate their emotions and will increase their resilience academically and socially. Our “Discover Your Inner Warrior” program is all about ensuring students at risk for or already experiencing ACEs have these positive experiences which have been shown to reduce the negative health outcomes of ACE exposure. Such positive experiences include increasing self-esteem, meeting positive role models, viewing one's culture as an asset are core pieces of our weekly curriculum.