2023 Black Girls Dream Conference

(June 7-9, 2023) HERitage founder and chair, Akilah Wallace, was invited by the Southern Black Girls and Women Consortium (Southern Black Girls) to attend its Black Girls Dream Conference in Memphis, TN. The Black Girls Dream Conference is a two-day event dedicated to inspiring, empowering, and cultivating the dreams of more than 1,300 Southern Black - girls, gender-expansive youth, and women of all ages.

Akilah observed the Youth Ambassadors pre-conference training and contributed to the space by guiding the girls through their first collective grant-making decision process. Ultimately, the Youth Ambassadors decided on a $10,000 award to a southern nonprofit serving Black girls.

Southern Black Girls is a collective of Black women in philanthropy, activism and girls’ work, who hold deep roots in movement-building. Led by four anchor institutions including the Appalachian Community Fund, the BlackBelt Community Foundation, the Fund for Southern Communities and the TruthSpeaks Innovation Foundation, Southern Black Girls has become a disruptor in grantmaking and is positioned as a catalyst to fundraise and provide greater resources toward underfunded organizations that, intentionally, support and empower Black girls and women in the South.