Tyra Hilliard
Staff Writer
“Every Time A Girl Says ‘I Am A Queen,’ She Breaks Chains of Rejection, Defeat and Pain Off Her Life,” is the tagline of a High Point based nonprofit. Alana Allen, founder and executive director of “I Am A Queen” will be hosting a community forum called “What’s Happening to Our Black Girls?”. This presentation will focus on the alarming rate of black girls going missing nationwide and on human trafficking in North Carolina. The forum is set to happen on Feb. 29, 2020, at the Power Play Center in Greensboro, North Carolina.
I Am A Queen was founded out of Allen’s search for forgiveness, forgiveness for keeping the emotionally draining and restraining long-time secret of being molested at the age of six.
“Through this prayer, God set me free with a call to empower girls and women to be Queens and more than enough,” said Allen. For ten years, Allen has developed a mentoring program for girls aged 10 to 18 to prepare them for leadership roles through volunteer work and stabilizing confidence in oneself.
The nonprofit organization is a youth centered organization that strives for higher education and a total “boss” mentality. Each year, a selected group of young women are chosen into the program. These women must demonstrate a high motivation for reaching their goals and become the first in their family to break generational curses. Activities within the mentoring program builds self-esteem, the girls’ ability to overcome obstacles, as well as laying the foundation for the college and career life.
A specific mentoring program within I Am A Queen is the “Passport to Womanhood” program. This program fosters the idea of “reaching your full potential” that results in the production of successful servant leaders to society. Through the year-round program the girls participate in workshops that cover the areas of money management, self-worth, healthy relationships, health and fitness, and etiquette. I Am A Queen’s main goal is to make sure each girl in the program finds their voice, realizes their potential, and prioritizes giving back to the community. The mission statement of this group is “to empower girls with a crown of confidence by providing transformational mentoring programs that develop them into future leaders and community service pioneers”.
This forum is the first of its kind brought forward by Allen’s group. In past years, I Am A Queen hosted forums centered around fatherless daughters. However, Allen said that this year brought change.
“I had to change the narrative and focus on black girls and why our stories are not elevated in the media when we go missing,” said Allen. “In addition, North Carolina is categorized as one of the top 10 states for human trafficking.”
Alana Allen decided to bring this forum to Greensboro because she says it’s a personal endeavor.
“I have a 15-year-old niece in my program and I was tired of hearing about black girls constantly going missing and the danger of human trafficking,” said Allen. “I pay close attention to my niece and she is very oblivious to her surroundings and so are the other girls in my program. The idea sparked when the three-year-old was abducted in broad daylight in fall 2019 in Greensboro. I just knew I had to do something.”
The Greensboro community would especially benefit from the speakers at the event. The event includes expert views in human trafficking, missing people, self-defense and from the healthcare perspective for sexual assault. A list of the speakers include Captain Stephanie Mardis from Greensboro Police Department, as well as the Director of N.C. Center for Missing Persons, Nona Best.
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