Natalie Collier is on a quest to uplift and inspire Black women in the Southeast. She offers security and assistance through her nonprofit organization, The Lighthouse | Black Girls Projects, in the areas she believes are most in need of it.
Collier declared, “We want to curate spaces of safety and solidarity,” She added, “Southern Black women in particular, I think, are trailblazers in a lot of ways, that people don’t often consider.”
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According to the website for the initiative, The Lighthouse seeks to provide Black women with a safe haven in their families and communities by adopting “a holistic approach to the leadership development of Black girls and women.”
The group is in charge of everything, including sponsoring clinical research as well as elementary education programs and summer camps.
The Lighthouse’s director of organization and advocacy, Angela Grayson stated, “We do a lot of work around constructive programming. So, the things that we help women to empower themselves are the tools that we give them to affect change.”
Grayson also discussed the significance of investigating topics about Black women, such as extending Medicaid postpartum coverage to women in Mississippi.
Grayson noted, “Research that we did at The Lighthouse helped us understand that women need that coverage for up to a year because women were dying in what is called the fourth trimester. We were at the Capitol reminding legislators that we are the data. Listen to us. We know what we want and need.”
According to Grayson, the goal is to leave a positive legacy.
“We do things that create a legacy for Black women to walk behind us, for Black girls to know that there are places of safety and solidarity for them that they can rest, they can be powerful, they can speak truth to power, whatever they want to do,” stated Grayson.
Christy Craig participated in the collegiate program at The Lighthouse. She claimed that the group had given her dreams a boost.
“It carried me in so many ways, mentally, financially, transitioning into adulthood,” remarked Craig. “It was amazing and it’s still amazing.”
The college fellowship program assists students in locating chances for paid internships, peer support, as well as other issues.
Raquel Thomas, who also took part in the college program, remarked, “If we have an idea, we can always go back to The Lighthouse and know that we will be supported.” She continued, “They will find a way through their network to align us with people who will make our visions come true.”Â
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The main objective, according to Collier, is to provide a sense of belonging that lasts a lifetime.
“Seeing communities that embrace the possibility, the resistance, the freedom, even just the smile of Black girls and women, that is the dream for me,” she concluded.
