Meet Simone, a student at Douglass High School in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Simone is the innovative mind behind “Girlfriends”, which is a self-esteem & empowerment organization for female youth.
Girlfriends is dedicated to empowering minority teenage girls in high school, providing them with the necessary support and resources to excel academically, navigate college and career pathways, build strong social skills, and prioritize mental health. Through a holistic approach, Girlfriends strives to foster personal growth, resilience, and a strong sense of community.
The Girlfriends organization has monthly meetings, does service projects, and community outreach. They even host a program called “Super Girls Day”, which is an initiative to mentor and empower elementary female students that are about to transition into middle school. The students learn about personal hygiene, conflict resolution, and other important life-skills that can help them along their school journey.
What’s On The Horizon? Girlfriends is making plans to expand into another local school! It is Simone’s hope that Girlfriends will be a program in multiple school sites and impacts many female students across the state.
To invest into Girlfriends, please donate here:
Let us introduce you to Jeremiah Hogan, who is the innovative mind behind the “BIPOC Business Expo”. The acronym BIPOC stands for Black, Indigenous, Persons Of Color.
Recently, Jeremiah had the opportunity to participate in a Kidvation program called the “Innovation Challenge”. This program allowed for students to serve as “Jr. Business Consultants” to local minority start-up companies and founders in inner-city Oklahoma City. The founders were paired up with students, they pitched them a ‘pain point/challenge’ that their companies are facing, and the students then developed solutions to those issues…all from the perspective of a young high school student! During this program, Jeremiah noticed a common trend amongst the founders… They all mentioned that they needed opportunities for more exposure. This sparked an idea in Jeremiah, and he decided he wanted to help! So, from there his idea of a student-led expo was born.
Partnering with his school, Kidvation, and the Black Chamber of Commerce, Jeremiah created a one-day expo event for local minority business, organizations, and entrepreneurs to sell products, share information about the organizations, and network with the community. The event attracted over 40 local minority businesses to come set up booths, with everything from people selling baked goods, artwork, clothing, and so much more! The event also featured a local minority owned food truck to provide lunch to participants and patrons. The community came out to support Jeremiah’s initiative, and he was even featured on Oklahoma’s News 9 segment called “Something Good”. Check out his feature here: https://www.news9.com/story/68152185b26e7195119d4677/from-the-classroom-to-the-community-millwood-junior-launches-business-expo
So, what’s next? Jeremiah is making plans for next year’s expo to be even bigger and better! He has plans to combine the expo with an outdoor tailgating event for an even bigger turnout.
To invest in the BIPOC Business Expo, please donate here:
Hey world… Meet Komari Crisp, another young innovator making waves impacting her community!
Imagine a program created by a student for students that helps to empower youth through advocacy, leadership development, and professional experiences by connecting them to impactful internships and organizational leadership roles. Well, that program exists and it is called the Youth Action Coalition, also known as ‘YAC’! Created by Komari, this initiative aims to develop youth leaders and get them civically engaged, deeply prepared, and extremely driven to create meaningful change in their communities and beyond. YAC effectively deploys a collective of specially curated curriculums for youth that focuses on workforce development, leadership, and civic engagement. The program is implemented in schools and with community organizations, then students are matched for ‘internships’ with partner organizations that reflect their interests…giving them real-world & experiential learning opportunities, while helping them develop the tools they need to thrive as the next generation of changemakers.
YAC first launched in partnership with The Gathering Place in Tulsa, OK. Since the initial launch, Komari has helped multiple students get connected and engaged in their community. She has also established meaningful partnerships with organizations such as Tulsa Changemakers and Tri-City Collective to further her mission.
One youth leader that engaged with YAC had this to say — “I want to help the youth of Tulsa to the best of my ability, and I love contributing to my community and giving others a sense of community as well.”
Komari’s future vision for YAC entails: 1) Expanding the program into more schools, 2) Building a network of partner organizations, 3) Launching a youth-led and youth-driven summit, and 4) Increasing mentorship and internship placement opportunities.
Help further the mission of the Youth Action Coalition by investing in the power of young people:
Meet the innovative team of Emilia, Leslie, Grace, Eva, and Marcus, who are the creators of the Civil Discourse Workshop.
This student team understands the challenges public discourse faces in our current moment in history. Their journey began at a State of Oklahoma School Board meeting in 2024 where strong opinions collided in a dysfunctional meeting environment. The experience made one thing clear to them. As a society, we seem to have forgotten how to have a civil and constructive conversation with people who might think differently than us.
This led to the creation of their initiative, Civil Discourse Workshop. They define civil discourse as courteous, constructive communication characterized by mutual respect, openness, and attentive listening. Their goal is to share methods for healthy disruptions, understand how to express opinions without harming others, and find connections to build stronger communities.
The group addresses their mission through workshops in schools, businesses, and community organizations. Through their workshops, participants are given tools to work through differences, like the Ladder of Inference, constructive questioning strategies, mindset exploration, intellectual humility, and the power of curiosity, among others.
Civil Discourse is partnering with other organizations in Tulsa like Pod4Good, Changemakers, Leadership Tulsa, Carnegie Youth, and local school districts to spread their program and make a bigger impact. They hope to expand their seminars across Tulsa and beyond.
Help further the mission of the Civil Discourse Workshop by investing in these students’ work to create a more civil society:
Through intensive research into the opioid crisis, Harini Senthil came to understand the power of good public health advocacy, and what happens when such advocacy is missing. She also discovered the unique impact public health policy has on young people, and their lack of agency in effecting positive changes.
All of this led to her creation of a Public Health Youth Advocacy initiative. Her program is dedicated to making public health education more accessible to youth, connecting them with resources to advocate for themselves, alleviating confusion about health information, connecting youth to health related career pathways, and giving fresh new youth-led ideas room to breathe.
Her most recent offering was a Tulsa area Youth Advocacy Workshop for 6th-12th graders in May of 2025. During the workshop, students were connected with public health experts, made aware of social determinants for health, and empowered to present public health “pitches” about their innovative ideas.
And it made an impression. Lauren Kidwell, ODMHSAS Epidemiologist, stated, “I am still in awe of how well informed the kids were on public health topics. It makes me so incredibly excited for the future of public health in Oklahoma and know we will have such fantastic leaders in the years to come!”
According to Nya, one of the student participants, “It gave me the tools and confidence to speak up for my healthcare passions.”
Harini plans to drastically expand her program by partnering directly with Tulsa area middle schools to engage more students. Through this, she hopes to foster student created long-term advocacy projects in the public health sector.
In June, 2025 Harini won first prize in the MyImpact Challenge Oklahoma Civics Fair, winning over the judges with her call to, “put the public back in public health, starting with authentic youth engagement and networking opportunities.” Here’s a local news story about her accomplishment: https://www.fox23.com/news/local/jenks-high-school-student-wins-first-prize-in-myimpact-challenge-oklahoma-civics-fair/article_37e54007-dd61-4e69-a7bc-59ae224aa7d2.html
Help further the mission of the Public Health Youth Advocacy program by investing and connecting them with opportunities to present more workshops to students.
