In support of African-American women and girls and the impact that they make across the state, one Houston County woman is making it her priority and passion to empower young girls to let their voices be heard.
Fenika Miller, CEO of New Vision MSK (My Sister’s Keeper) Inc., says she’s always been interested in policy, which led to her running for local office in 2010.
“Although I was unsuccessful, it really showed me that there was an absence of black women in leadership positions, especially related to policy,” she said. “We only have one black elected female official in Houston County and that is [Perry] Councilwoman Phyllis Bynum-Grace.”
She added, “Our organization was founded in 2013 to raise awareness about the socioeconomic, health and other issues affecting black women and girls, particularly health disparities. There was a huge conversation going on about health care during that time.”
Miller said one of her favorite cousins who got her started in advocacy when she was young had recently passed away from complications with diabetes.
“We know that self-accountability is always important, but we also have to have prescriptive policy in order to close those gaps, particularly when it pertains to black women and girls,” she said. “We die more often from preventable diseases, from breast cancer, obesity all of those things that really affect us in huge numbers compared to other demographics.”
Miller said her hope is to raise awareness among women. She said the organization’s initial focus was on adult women, but then they saw that in order to really affect the type of change they need to see, they also have to equip younger girls to find their voices and to learn how to advocate on behalf of themselves, their peers and their community.
Miller said in 2014, they started the pilot program My Sister’s Keeper at her church, Beulahland Bible Church in Warner Robins, for young girls ages 11-18, where they focus on character leadership and service but also engage them with social service organizations in the community where they get an opportunity to tour various facilities.
Miller said the group of girls decides which topic they want to work on and then they raise awareness about that issue all year. Last year, they did child sex trafficking; they became ambassadors for sex trafficking and were certified by youthSpark. They also created a public service announcement that won the top prize in the state amongst all youth submissions in their category. This year, they worked on homelessness. Miller said the girls are now preparing to focus on bullying and suicide.
The group meets at the church on the second Saturday of each month and they travel during the summer. They have been to New York, as well as Washington D.C. every year to tour the Capitol.
“Not only does it create exposure for them, but they also get to see how government works,” Miller said.
She added, “We believe exposure is key and community service is huge also. We want them to be able to live a life committed to service beyond themselves to really help their community.”
Miller said they currently have 20 girls in the program. She said they expose the girls to women in leadership positions that they don’t often see in the community, but there still needs to be more women in policy-making positions.
Girls in Houston, Bibb and Peach counties are welcomed to join the program. Miller said they also encourage the girls to return once they graduate to do peer mentoring. She noted intake is done in August to start the year in September. There is no fee to join. Fundraising is done throughout the year and they receive small grants so that the girls can afford their trips, including going on college tours. Those interested can email Miller at fenika@newvisionmsk.org. She said they like to support other organizations as well.
Gov. Nathan Deal signed a proclamation recently declaring April 30 as Black Women and Girls Awareness Day in Georgia. Perry City Hall also acknowledged the day by putting a message on their marquee, as well as at Rozar Park.
Miller thanked Rep. Heath Clark for assisting them in making sure that they were able to get Deal to sign the proclamation, as well as Bynum-Grace for her support.
“We thank mayor and council as well for supporting that effort and for saying this is a worthy cause to help raise awareness about what we need to do to make our community better for everyone,” she said.
“It was designed to increase public awareness of the relationship between race, gender and socioeconomic status,” Miller added, noting the proclamation highlights the strengths and the areas that need improvement in the state.
Now that the proclamation has been signed, she says the next step is getting out in the communities.
“We really want to engage and empower women and girls across the state. We don’t want to create the issues for you, we want to hear what your issues are,” she said.
Miller said they’re going to kick off their tour in June in Houston County. She described it as a listening session similar to what the Congressional Caucus on Black Women and Girls is doing.
“Hopefully, we can bring them to Georgia to kind of focus on the issues and disparities affecting black women and girls in our state as well,” she said.
Miller said they plan to tour not only Houston County, but also Tifton and other areas in south Georgia, southeast Georgia and toward the Atlanta area.
“We reached out to Governor Deal’s office because there are disparities. All women and girls are relevant, but there are distinct issues related to black women and girls,” she said.
For example, she noted in Georgia, African-American girls are suspended from school 5.2 times higher than other demographics.
“If they’re not in school, they’re not learning, which leads to other things. It can get them involved in trafficking, it can get them involved in petty theft, which leads to them having a criminal record. It can lead to homelessness. We know that black women’s wages are very undervalued. Although we have very high labor force participation rates, we still make only 63 cents on the dollar compared to women of other demographics,” Miller said.
She added, “Black women and girls are more likely to be in poverty. Although we’ve made tremendous strides and have made amazing contributions to society, we still have a ways to go. It takes a combination of us advocating, but also to have some focused prescriptive policy to be able to engage our elected officials regardless of what side of the aisle that they are on to focus their attention on helping to create good policies that are going to close those gaps.”
Miller may not have decided just yet on whether or not she will seek office again, but she knows for sure that right now, she’s focusing her attention on issues and empowering other women and girls to be vocal and bold enough to lend their voices to advocacy on behalf of themselves.
“I’m always encouraging others to run for office, particularly black women, because we don’t have enough voices,” she said. “I say, ‘If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.’ We can see from the disparities that a lot of times, we’re on the menu.”
HHJ News
