Congratulations to our 2024 Little Free Library Cohort!
Who We Are
Our Vision
KWENU envisions a world where every Black and indigenous youth has access to quality education and equitable opportunities, serving as powerful tools to combat the entrenched levels of generational poverty that disproportionately affect these communities. Through our innovative programs and unwavering commitment to empowerment, we strive to cultivate resilient leaders who are empowered to dismantle systemic barriers, break the cycle of poverty, and create positive change in their communities and beyond.
our partners
4.0 Schools is building the future of learning with the largest community of ambitious education innovators.
The VELA Founder Network is the nation's leading community of entrepreneurs providing alternatives to conventional schooling.
Read in Color aims to amplify diverse voices at a grassroots, community level.
Our programs
Read in Color Collective: Amplifying Black and Indigenous Narratives
During Spring 2024, Beyond Adornment Club (B.A.C.) became a part of Little Free Library’s Read in Color Cohort. Due to the success of our inaugural stewards, we have decided to launch a nationwide library initiative to ensure that Black and indigenous youth have access to culturally relevant literature that seeks to honor their native languages, practices and customs. In doing so, we combat the cultural poverty that occurs within schools and society that “others” cultures that fall out of mainstream Western society. Poverty becomes such a chaotic cycle because most Black and indigenous youth have been shielded and forced to ignore their rich histories, which can be quite liberating from economic and emotional poverty. It can be hard to imagine what you can be when you have been forced to forget your ancestry and adhere to the dangers of single sided narratives.
Rooted Radiance
Rooted Radiance is a Natural Hair & Wellness Retreat - Rooted Radiance: A Natural Hair & Wellness Retreat spanning three days, uniting youth, parents, and educators in a transformative journey. Enriched workshops will celebrate natural hair defiance and artistry, foster financial literacy by highlighting individuals such as Lyda D. Newman, promote overall wellness, and nurture mental health through frameworks like PsychoHairapy. Participants will walk away with an appreciation for natural hair culture as something beyond adornment and pleasing visual aesthetics. In this sacred space, natural hair is rooted as a healing mechanism for the barrage of academic, intellectual and physical violence experienced in schools, the home, and society at large as it pertains to natural hair. Participants will walk away with custom African hair artifacts to wear, texts with educational guides, mental health vouchers and most importantly, a stronger sense of community. Asé
Beyond Adornment Club
Beyond Adornment Club (B.A.C.) is the first international book club and sis-STAR circle for Black and indigenous girls. Looking beyond the traditional definitions of literacy being the ability to read and write, we conceptualize literacy through an academic, mental health, critical media and financial lens. Rooted in research published by Dr. Nneka Uzoma Gigi in 2023, KWENU and its programs and services draw from a Black Girls Critical Literacies Model (Gigi, 2023). Through this framework, literacy is reimagined through Paulo Freire’s critical pedagogy, Dr. Patricia Hill Collin’s intersectional approach to Black Feminism, Muhammad and Haddix (2016) “Black Girl Literacies Framework”, and Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings culturally relevant pedagogy.