LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Louisville-based program 300 for 300 works to empower young Black girls through writing, speaking and expressing themselves.
Founder and CEO Chastity Dotson says that the program developed a desire to care for girls in the Louisville community in the wake of Breonna Taylor's murder and the civil unrest that followed.
“I saw on the news what was happening in Louisville and I saw the protests and I saw the people and the anguish and everything that was going on and I just wondered what the young girls were feeling,” Dotson said.
Dotson lives and works in Los Angeles as an actor and writer.
She said that she had never been to Louisville before 2020, but the urge to help a community that was reeling brought her to Kentuckiana.
“Maybe I can give this feeling to the girls and let them know that I care and let them know that so many people care,” Dotson said. “I just bought three laptops and flew out and handed them out to three local girls.”
That was the first trip. Since then, the movement has grown.
Dotson says that she was inspired to help more girls after she got word of a running challenge at the height of the pandemic. She said that she wanted to help 300 girls, one for each mile she was set on running.
Dotson received funding from donors to go back to Louisville and later that year she ran the first 300 for 300 six-week program.
Cherish Wilson was part of the first 20 girls in that program.
Wilson says that she was shy before joining 300 for 300 as an 11-year-old. Now she credits the program with her growing confidence as a person and a writer.
“I started writing when I was eight and I read my first poem at my baby brother’s funeral,” Wilson said. “It was kind of just a way for me to cope in a sense.”
Wilson is now a published author at the age of 14.
Her debut book of poetry entitled “Ghetto But Us” tells the story that she says she wouldn’t have had the confidence to tell without the support she received from 300 for 300.
“I know that my story is my unique story but I know that I’m not the only one that has went through similar things like this,” Wilson said.
“Not only being a woman but also as a Black woman like they tell you to shut up, sit down, look pretty, you’re too loud, you’re too this, you’re too much you know," she said. "So just having 300 for 300 that extra support is like well I can be loud sometimes. You know I can be this, I can do that and people will still be there for me and still love me because this is who I am.”
Wilson has stayed involved with 300 for 300 ever since that first year.
Each class brings in 20 Black girls from Louisville to learn how to express themselves through writing, performing and speaking. Every girl who attends receives a free laptop.
This year the program will reach 80 alumnae, a statistic that Wilson was skeptical about getting to when she attended.
“I didn’t think that people were going to take the opportunity. I thought people were just going to see it and be like ‘Oh okay. Another program, you know,’” Wilson said.
Chastity Dotson says as more girls grow into confident, strong young women they can have a real impact on their families, friends, and communities.
“They are facing everything that every other teenager is facing in the America, but then that is compounded by them being young women of color,” Dotson said.
“They’ve seen brutality, they’ve seen death, they’ve seen violence, they’ve seen poverty, they’ve seen maybe not having what they need in terms of resources all the time," she said. "So with all of those factors coming into it and then you take that girl and you begin to show her that even outside of those factors, you still have everything that you need to be exactly who you want to be. And if you do that repeatedly over time, then you begin to have this kind of ecosystem, this community of believers who believe in themselves.”
Louisville 300 for 300 is still accepting students for their summer classes in June and July.
Dotson says there will be more opportunities to join in the coming years as they work towards their goal of 300.
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