This year’s She Matters Summit was ‘a call to radically reimagine a world where our girls thrive’

Photos courtesy of Gwen’s Girls.

Nine years ago, Gwen’s Girls created the Black Girls Equity Alliance (BGEA) to make Pittsburgh a place where Black girls can truly thrive. They celebrated and furthered that mission earlier this month during the 9th-annual She Matters Equity Summit and Awards Ceremony.

“This year’s theme, ‘Cultivating a Community Where Black Girls Thrive,’ is a call to radically reimagine a world where our girls thrive in every area of their lives,” said Dr. Kathi Elliott, CEO of Gwen’s Girls. “We also recognize that our girls cannot excel if the adults who love, support and serve them are unhealed and unwell. So this summit aims to pour into our entire community through various self-care and healing practices.”

Held on Oct. 7 through 10 at the University of Pittsburgh’s William Pitt Union, the event brought together hundreds of people online and in person for panel discussions and roundtable talks covering a wide range of topics, including comprehensive sex education, ending youth incarceration, supporting better adolescent mental health and working with Allegheny County’s LGBTQ+ youth.

For Elliott, a priority was centering the voices of young women and girls: “One of the things that we encourage and we’re so happy to have is their youth voice – them sharing some of their experiences around trauma and the supports that they need,” Elliott told Kidsburgh.

The summit also put a focus on the needs of mothers and other adults who are helping raise the next generation of Black women in Pittsburgh.

Attendees included many people from nonprofits and other organizations that work with girls, as well as educators and health experts.

“We had a few parents that were able to join us,” Elliott said, “and it was great to hear their perspective of taking time to listen to their child and the young people that are in their lives.”

Families sometimes reach out to Gwen’s Girls seeking support with parent-child conflict.

“Oftentimes it’s because of a breakdown in communication, or just not hearing one another,” Elliott said. So she was glad to see adults and teen girls taking the time to share their perspectives and listen to one another at the summit, in the spirit of building strong communication and connection.

“One of our girls said it so eloquently … that sometimes adolescents don’t want adults to be in their business. And one of the things that she said was we need, as adults, to be in kids’ business. Because they need the support, even if they don’t realize they need the support of an adult to help them navigate some of the kind of pressing things that they just are not equipped yet to deal with.” 

The summit wrapped up with an awards ceremony, recognizing local leaders who are making the region a better place for young people.

This year’s awardees include Kimberly Booth, former assistant chief of the Allegheny County Juvenile Probation Office, Sydney Etheredge, president and CEO at Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania, Dr. Licia Lentz, director of alternative education for the Allegheny Intermediate Unit, and Melissa Sickmund, former director of the National Center for Juvenile Justice.

“We want our awardees to know that their hard work has not gone unnoticed,” said Elliott. “We appreciate their relentless effort and commitment to improve the lives of Black girls and young women. Their actions have shown us the transformative power of determination and compassion, and the immense impact has been felt far beyond the youth they serve.”