Creating a safe space

In 2022, in the wake of an ongoing pandemic and the uprising following the murder of George Floyd, activist Satara Strong-Allen took a significant step forward. 

As the executive director of Love First Community Engagement, she was dedicated to uplifting Black youth by connecting them with essential community resources and creating a safe, culturally centered space. With this foundation, Strong-Allen created Glow and Grow, a program designed for Black girls to connect and hold space for one another.

The idea stemmed from Strong-Allen’s own childhood as a young Black girl growing up in both Texas and Minnesota. She recounts facing microaggressions and systematic racism, often perpetuated in the school system. She said, “There was never a space specifically for Black girls just where we could come and just like be and be uplifted and be empowered and be told something or shown something different than what society is showing and telling us.” She added, “Growing up in America, I just felt like there are a lot of issues that I carried and a lot of traumas I experienced. The same ‘push out’ kind of things that the schools do with Black girls all over the nation.”

The documentary “Push Out,” which Strong-Allen referenced, is a 2019 film that addresses the criminalization and educational neglect of African-American girls. This neglect has contributed to their disproportionately high dropout rates and increased involvement in the juvenile justice system. The documentary was a catalyst for Strong-Allen to confront the emotional damage that racism can take on young Black women and the need to be “resilient” and not appear to “be angry,” said Strong-Allen.  

 

Before becoming the executive director at Love First, Strong-Allen worked within the Saint Paul Public School District, and found healing in simple, empowering conversations with groups of Black girls. These connections she built inspired her to want to create an environment that would allow “Black girls the space to just ‘be,’” said Strong-Allen.  

In the pursuit of this goal, Strong-Allen, who is an activist and community organizer in the Twin Cities, applied for a fellowship through The Wayfinder Foundation, an organization that seeks to amplify the voices of Black and Brown women actively fighting racial and systemic injustices in the criminal and public school system. 

“I applied for [The Wayfinder Foundation] and said this is what I want to do. I want to create space for Black girls, and I didn’t know what the program would entail, but I just knew we needed this space, especially during the pandemic. And you know, there’s healing when Black women get together, so I’m assuming there’s going to be healing when Black girls get together,” said Strong-Allen. 

The fellowship empowered her to organize the inaugural Grow and Glow conference in May 2022. The event was realized in collaboration with the Black Table Arts Cooperative, a community-driven initiative to unite people through the arts.                                                                                                 

“I wanted it to be about the roses that came from the concrete, and knowing that even though everything around you seems rough, you can still grow, and you can still glow,” said Strong-Allen.

The conference focused on healing, featuring aromatherapy sessions, painting, and sound bell meditations. Strong-Allen noted that she felt it was imperative to implement these healing practices to help Black girls be resilient when dealing with an ongoing pandemic and civil unrest. 

After seeing success with the conference, Strong-Allen was able to create consistent programming with meetings occurring every month. While the program is structured, the main purpose is to allow the girls to be themselves and the importance of self-love.

Strong-Allen emphasized, “We always do identity pieces because when working with Black girls, our Black identity is so important, and it’s really one of the only things that I feel like Black and Brown people have left in a country that is built on White supremacy, and that oppresses us day in and day out. Our identities, how we feel about ourselves, our narratives, who we are, is really, really important. And so I try to make the activities either about strengthening who we are or teaching us about who we are, giving us a vision or a deeper sense of our purpose and self.”

 

Creating mentorship opportunities has been a fundamental component of the Glow and Grow initiative. Women such as Tameka Jones (a Rondo native and owner of beauty brand Lip Esteem), and lawyer and social justice activist, Nekima Levy Pounds, have lent their knowledge and donated their products to the program. Allen said she hopes that these relationships will form a village and community that will work to restore harm and “build a school to success pipeline.”

This vision of building a supportive and empowering community has been greatly influenced and supported by Strong-Allen’s wife, Chauntyll Allen, who has been integral in bringing Glow and Grow to life. Chauntyll, the founder of Love First, has brought her experience as an activist and youth advocate in the Twin Cities to the forefront. Together, they collaborate on what be beneficial for the girls based on their interests and find women who in a similar field. 

 

The transformative impact that Glow and Grow has had on its participants is palpable. It’s not just about the activities or the skills they learn; it’s about the profound sense of peace and self-worth they gain from being a part of this community. This sentiment is best captured in the words of Allen who reflects on the feedback and experiences of the girls: “I can see, or at least, I hear from some of the girls, that it’s like their peace. We have a girl who just joined us this year and she’s like, ‘this is my peace. This is my peaceful space.’”

On Thursdays, the girls participate in “What’s the Tea” sessions during their meetings, where they spend about an hour connecting and discussing various topics of their choice. This initiative first took place at the inaugural Glow and Grow conference. Following its success and positive feedback, Strong-Allen decided to incorporate it into regular programming. 

The concept of “What’s the Tea” was inspired by Raeisha Williams, the owner of Heritage Corporations, a company that specializes in loose leaf teas. Williams not only provided the initial idea but also donated her tea products to the program. Recognizing the impact of isolation and the negative effects of social media on young people during the lockdown, Strong-Allen saw these sessions as crucial for helping the girls build connections. 

“I don’t think people realize this, but young people are also learning how to communicate. It’s like teaching them how to communicate with people all over again and how to have boundaries,” said Strong-Allen. 

The program, though largely successful, has not been without its challenges. Strong-Allen reflects on the occasional conflicts that have arisen among group members. Yet, she views these instances not as setbacks, but as valuable teaching moments. In her perspective, each conflict presents an opportunity for learning and growth, both for the individuals involved and for the program as a whole.

“My expectations for them are very basic and very simple. But at the top of the list is, you know is value. We value ourselves, number one and so, if we value ourselves, that means we value the time and energy that we put into things,” said Strong-Allen. 

“I value the time and energy that I put into things because time is important, right? And life is short. We’ve only got what, five hours a week to spend with each other? We need to make the most of our time, and that means showing up in a way where we’re uplifting each other.”

 

As the current programming cycle draws near, the participants are preparing for the Glow and Grow Conference in the spring, an event that will highlight the knowledge and skills they have acquired throughout the year. Looking beyond this milestone, Strong-Allen’s vision for the future involves expanding the Glow and Grow initiative. 

She aims to extend its impact by welcoming an even larger group of young women, those who are seeking not only guidance but also the opportunity to form meaningful connections within the community. 

“My goal for the impact of Glow and Grow would be to eventually have Black girls who have experienced over-criminalization to be able to come to [Glow and Grow] and really get tied into the broader love and this village,” said Strong-Allen.