"I want to help Black girls make smarter decisions and choices."

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Author: Byrd, Veronica

Founder of Sisterhood Agenda

African-American girls are bombarded with mixed messages when it comes to school, sex, drugs and body image. Growing up, Angela Coleman, now 33, had her share of teen angst: She was teased about her thick, coarse hair and chocolate-brown skin. "Society has a narrow definition of beauty," she says. "And if a young girl hears negative comments about her skin color or hair texture, it can affect her for her whole life."

Coleman, a volunteer with a program for pregnant girls while in college, says she felt low self-esteem was at the root of many of the problems Black girls faced, including the high rate of teen pregnancy and juvenile delinquency. So in 1994, Coleman, who majored in psychology and African-American studies at Princeton, founded Sisterhood Agenda, a Durham, North Carolina, organization that offers teen-pregnancy-prevention, mentoring and confidence-building programs for at-risk girls ages 6 to 17. "I got tired of reading the negative statistics," says Coleman, who did research in college on Black women and self-esteem. "I saw a huge need for a group to empower Black girls and address their specific concerns." Those concerns are dealt with in a Sisterhood Agenda program called A Journey Toward Womanhood, a curriculum rooted in the African rites-of-passage that teaches about health, sex and relationships. To date almost 500 girls--most referred from juvenile courts, counselors and social-service agencies--have completed the 13-week program. With four youth coordinators, the group also sponsors a summer SisterCamp and works with its alumnae for ongoing support. Each year, the Sisterhood awards a $1,000 college scholarship to three high-school students. "I want to help Black girls make smarter decisions and choices," says Coleman.

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By Veronica Byrd