Fannie Lou Hamer Institute

The Fannie Lou Hamer Institute is committed to creating positive environments that empower, inspire and educate all teens to discover and maximize their unique leadership potential and embrace the diversity and equal value of everyone. “Never to forget where we came from and always praise the bridges that carried us over.”

 ~ Fannie Lou Hamer

Interested youth scholars must be:

• U.S. Citizen - based on the guidelines utilized by U.S. Department of Education for Federal Financial Aid eligibility 
• Current high school student attending a school in Jackson Metro Area, who are classified as a sophomore and junior in the upcoming academic school year.
• Cumulative academic GPA of 2.5
•  Minority status is a significant factor in acceptance decisions

For Brown Girls, Inc Program Goals:

Physical development

• Good health habits
• Good health risk management skills

Intellectual development

• Knowledge of essential life skills
• Knowledge of essential vocational skills
• School success
• Critical thinking and reasoning skills
• In-depth knowledge of more than one culture
• Good decision-making skills
• Knowledge of skills needed to navigate through multiple cultural contexts

Psychological and emotional development

• Good mental health including positive self-regard
• Good emotional self-regulation skills
• Good coping skills
• Good conflict resolution skills
• Mastery motivation and positive achievement 
• Confidence in one’s personal efficacy
• Planning for the future and future life events
• Sense of personal autonomy
• Optimism coupled with realism
• Positive personal and social identity
• Prosocial and culturally sensitive values
• Strong moral character

Social development

• Connectedness—perceived good relationships and trust with parents, peers, and some other adults
• Sense of social place/integration
• Ability to navigate in multiple cultural contexts
• Commitment to civic engagement

Introducing the Fannie Lou Hamer Institute as our new  initiative that will recognize youths’ strengths and seek to promote positive development rather than addressing risks in isolation. Youth who are constructively involved in learning and doing and who are connected to positive adults and peers are less likely to engage in risky or self-defeating behaviors.

As children move through their developmental stages, they acquire a set of personal assets, or supports, that help them face the challenges and opportunities ahead. These assets allow youth to become resilient. Their ability to develop successfully depends to a great extent on the support and assistance they receive from the people and institutions around them.  

Providing the conditions for positive youth development is a responsibility shared by families, schools, and communities. The conditions for healthy youth development reside in families, schools, and communities. For Brown Girls, Inc. will  promote healthy youth development by:

• advocating for youth
• monitoring youths’ behavior
• modeling positive, responsible, and healthy behavior
• youth model positive, responsible, and healthy behavior

"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader."

 ~John Quincy Adams

Youth leadership is part of the youth development process and supports the young person in developing: (a) the ability to analyze his or her own strengths and weaknesses, set personal and vocational goals, and have the self-esteem, confidence, motivation, and abilities to carry them out including the ability to establish support networks in order to fully participate in community life and effect positive social change; and (b) the ability to guide or direct others on a course of action, influence the opinions and behaviors of others, and serve as a role model.