Spark Change Project Town Hall Meeting 2022: What’s on the Minds of Central Texas Girl Activists
Central Texas girl activists have a lot on their minds as it turns out, and they told us all about it at the Spark Change Town Hall meeting held virtually January 26, 2022. The Spark Change Project is a collaboration between the Excellence & Advancement Foundation and Girls Empowerment Network, two nonprofits with complementary missions and a desire to help more girls of color find their activist voices and advocate for change in their communities.
Spark Change Project Origins
The Spark Change Project was born out of a friendship that emerged between Girls Empowerment Network Executive Director Julia Cuba Lewis and Excellence & Advancement Foundation CEO Dr. Courtney Robinson that began 20 years ago. At the time Julia Cuba Lewis was running programs for girls and their incarcerated mothers and first met Dr. Robinson who was a guest speaker.
Years later, their friendship blossomed into a collaboration between their two organizations which has resulted in the second year of the Spark Change Project which empowers Texas girls of color. The project allows both nonprofit organizations the opportunity to promote gender equity and racial justice by hiring a small group of high school girls of color who are mentored one-on-one. Girls are invited to identify topics that matter to them, explore their lived experiences, and use that to create a platform they can take to policymakers to affect change.
Spark Change Town Hall Kicks Off Year Two
To kick off the new school year, Spark Change Facilitators, as the teen girl activists are known, invite their peers and supportive adults in their lives to a virtual Town Hall Meeting. This is the first time they are presenting their research on topics that matter most to them. The Town Hall featured five presentations and a lively discussion followed. See the inaugural Spark Change Town Hall in 2021.
Emerging Girl Activist Presentations on Topics Important to Them
Immigration and Migration in the Austin Area
Samera “Sam” Zhang, a junior attending Westwood High School, spoke about immigration and migration in Central Texas. She was interested in the topic because her family moved to the United States a few years ago. She didn’t struggle with English but did experience issues fitting in among her fellow teenage peers. She met a fellow immigrant classmate who struggled with English and helped her using Google Translate to get the support she and her family needed.
As part of her French class, she learned about Casa Marianella, a nonprofit that offers shelter and support to immigrants. She and her classmates volunteered to help French-speaking immigrants with French-to-English translation services.
Sam concluded her presentation by inviting participants to seek out ways to help neighbors immigrating from other countries.
Sam reflected back on her experience leading a presentation and following discussion on immigration and migration: “Apart from gaining experiences through this town hall I also feel like my subject was super important since it happens in our daily lives, but no one actually thinks about it. There are people migrating to Austin every day. A lot of them come here for work but others come here to start a new life…As for the people who came to Austin for a new life, there are many problems that they are facing that prevent them from starting a new life. This problem affects both adults and children. It is important because immigrant kids feel muted, ask for help or not getting as many opportunities because of problems such as language barriers. I was lucky since language wasn't a problem for me when I first moved into the United States, but a few of my classmates who are very talented missed opportunities because of the language barrier. I hope my presentation gave people an idea of how to help immigrants and support them in any way possible.”
Women-led Homeless Families
Vanessa Bautista is a junior attending KIPP High School and her presentation discussed the challenges that women-led homeless families face, including access to healthcare including mental health, barriers to education and work, access to affordable childcare, lack of affordable housing and sufficient income for basic needs including hygiene items.
Two years ago, her family experienced homelessness, and she saw firsthand the challenge her single mother faced trying to provide for her family.
She advocates for a “Housing First” policy in Austin that provides everyone transitional housing with no questions asked so they can disrupt the cycle of homelessness and poverty. The National Alliance to End Homelessness shares this statistic: “A variety of studies have shown that between 75 percent and 91 percent of households remain housed a year after being rapidly rehoused.”
Vanessa shared other local organizations to get involved with that are working to help households experiencing homelessness, including Ending Community Homelessness Coalition and LifeWorks.
Reflecting back on her experiences, Vanessa wrote these words: “I felt like the topic I presented is super important because many families struggle when they are unhoused. For the majority of the struggling, unhoused families to be led by women says a lot. It says that women are at a disadvantage of not having the opportunities to seek their full potential just because they were assigned a certain sex at birth, which shouldn’t be the case. It says that we live in a patriarchal society because of the power men have and don’t try to share with women. A majority of women are left uneducated, powerless, and struggling to keep up with their children as their health and hygiene deteriorates. Even through the struggles that women face, they still find ways to support their families whether it's creating help groups within their community or standing up for themselves. As a community, we can do better for these women by securing housing so that families are able to grow in a safe environment. I believe people should continue to educate themselves on this issue in order to find ways to support and be the change that leads to these issues being resolved. I believe we can help [homeless women-led families] if enough people step up to the plate to become educated enough to fight against the injustice that women face.”
The Importance of LGBTQIA+ Community
Destiny “Des” Martinez is 16 years old and attends the Harmony School of Excellence and identifies as biracial and pansexual. She gave an overview of the many gender identities that exist and how those identities have been oppressed and unrepresented and the harm that it causes LGBTQIA+ communities.
Progress in recognizing rights for LGBTQIA community have taken years to progress where they are today. In 2009, the Matthew Shepard Act expanded the 1969 U.S. Federal Hate Crime Law that included crimes motivated by a victim’s actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. Matthew Shepard was tortured and murdered near Laramie, Wyoming, in 1998 because of his sexual orientation. Despite discrimination that persists, the queer community is now allowed to serve in the military and get married.
Des explains that this issue is important to her because she had a hard time figuring out her own identity. “It took me a long time to come together out and come out as pansexual. It was also really hard for me to feel acceptance towards myself and having people feel acceptance towards me…It takes a lot of digging to find out who you are,” she says. “Being part of the community has taught me to really think about who to share my true self with because many still judge and aren’t open-minded.”
She advocates for the queer community because all people are worthy of acceptance, love, rights and representation. Destiny reflected on her presentation and discussion:
“I loved talking about my topic because it’s something I’m very passionate about and I just felt like it was my time to shine and to get my voice heard about the topic [and] to have people be able feel the emotions I felt and to just overall help other queer youths speak out and to know that their voice matters… As a women of color and identifying as pansexual, it’s already hard enough to get my points across without getting gaslighted or feeling as if I don’t matter… That’s something I wanted the audience to feel, to feel the emotions of being able to relate and not be scared to speak your truth. There’s many queer youths out there who go through so much and nobody knows, so I knew that I had to speak out for one, to spread awareness and two, to make it known that queer people are also regular humans like any other person and shouldn’t be seen as different. A big part of my presentation that I wish I could speak more on would have been mental health because that’s one major issue within the [LGBTQIA+ ] community that isn’t being taken seriously…”
Criminal Injustice
Jadyn Adamson is a junior attending Hendrickson High School in Pflugerville, Texas and she presented about the effects of criminal injustice on African Americans. Criminal injustice is defined as a violation of the rights of another.
Examples of injustice in the Black community:
In Texas, Black people constituted 13% of state residents but 27% of people in jail and 33% of people in prison. (Vera Institute of Justice)
A Black person is five times more likely to be stopped without just cause than a white person (NAACP)
65% of Black adults have felt targeted because of their race. Similarly, approximately 35% of Latino and Asian adults have felt targeted because of race. (NAACP)
She shared how the Exonerated Five (Korey Wise, Yusef Salaam, Antron McCray, Raymond Santana, and Kevin Richardson) were convicted of the rape and murder of a Central Park jogger, a crime they did not commit. They spent between 6 and 13 years in prison before a confession and DNA evidence from a convicted serial rapist and murderer proved they were falsely accused. Later, the five filed suit against New York City for malicious prosecution, racial discrimination and emotional distress and won a settlement of $41 million dollars.
Jadyn chose this topic because injustice “is a very common thing among the African American community.” She recommends bringing change to the criminal justice system, getting more African Americans involved in the community and joining the Texas Center for Justice and Equity in support of ending mass incarceration.
Reflecting on this experience, Jadyn had this to say: “My town hall topic was important for people to learn about because It happens so much more often than we think. It’s also good for people to know what some people have to endure and go through. I think it would make people look at the world different and maybe change the way some people think about others. I also think my topic was important because so many people are incarcerated for crimes that they did not do and end up serving many years even though they are innocent. I think this topic needs to come to light for all the people incarcerated that are innocent people.”
Maternal Health Equity in Central Texas
Makoya Kourouma a senior at Austin High School wants to be an anesthesiologist one day to change the health inequities that exist for women of color like herself. Maternal health equity refers to social advantages and disadvantages women experience during pregnancy, childbirth and postnatal period.
“The legacies of slavery today are seen in structural racism that has resulted in disproportionate maternal and infant death among African Americans. The deep roots of these patterns of disparity in maternal and infant health lie with the commodification of enslaved black women’s childbearing and physicians’ investment in serving the interest of slave owners. Even certain medical specializations, such as obstetrics and gynecology, owe a debt to enslaved women who became experimental subjects in the development of the field,” say Deirdre Owens, PhD, and Darla Fett, PhD.
The field of gynecology in the U.S. has a history of mistreating women of color. In 1845, Dr. James Sims, the father of gynecology, conducted experiments on enslaved women without anesthesia. Locally, Austin’s 1928 Master Plan denied city services to black and Hispanic residents living outside the segregated zone. According to the Maternal Health Equity Collaborative, black women reported changing doctors because they do not feel heard and are not getting what they need.
Black women are three to four times more likely than white women to die from complications from childbirth in the U.S. According to a California study, 30 percent of black women reported anxiety during pregnancy compared to 20 percent of white women. According to the Centers for Disease Control, the Pregnancy Related Mortality Ratio (PRMR) for black women is much higher than it should be. The PRMR for black women older than 40 was 4-5 times as high as it was for white women. The PRMR for black women with at least a college degree was even higher – 5.2 times that of their white counterparts.
Makoya recommends offering African American women tools to navigate the healthcare system, train providers to address racism and build a more diverse healthcare workforce. She also wants to dismantle barriers to accessing maternal health services, simplify enrollment across public benefit programs and mandate and fund fetal and infant mortality review committees.
Reflecting on her experience, Makoya shared these thoughts: “In society Black Women are the most overlooked and disrespected demographic in most places but especially in America. The fact that the issue of maternal health equity for Black Women is such an ongoing and prevalent issue that is only getting worse makes me even more inclined to speak out about it. As a Black Woman in America, the lack of representation in the healthcare system is astonishing with Black Women only making up 2.8% of physicians in the U.S. according to a study…I am so set on becoming an anesthesiologist not only to help fix the issue that is lack of representation but also to be able to be the one in control of dealing with pain management especially for Black Women. Imagine you are Black Woman about to give birth or a Black Woman with an injury and in need of something (medically safe) to relieve the pain. All of your doctors are white so they will not have a problem not prescribing you the painkillers or administering the epidural. But if there is a Black doctor specifically a Black Women doctor, there is a high chance that [pain management] will not slide. That is why this topic is so important. There needs to be more light shed on it, and I am glad I am doing just that.”
Get Involved to Spark Change in Central Texas
Spark Change Project plans several upcoming events that girls can participate in. Spark Change Day will occur May 14 in-person at the Texas Capitol and give teenage girls from Central Texas more tools to learn about their identities, opportunities to meet role-models to inspire them, and ways they can affect change about issues that matter to them. See what Spark Change Day was like last year.
The Spark Change Day Camp will be held June – and include 40 hours toward a service-learning project and girls collaborate and learn to understand themselves, collaborate with one another and use their voices to move change forward. Learn more about the Spark Change Camp experience last year.
Stay connected with us and sign up to learn more about upcoming Spark Change Project activities and donate online to help us sustain this important project for years to come.