SIX YEARS OF SANKOFA. SIX YEARS OF BECOMING.
A Letter to Our Community
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Beloved Community,
Over the past six years, Code Switch: Restorative Justice for Girls of Color has been on a journey of becoming.
What began in 2020 as a bold dream to create healing-centered spaces for Black girls has grown into a vibrant community of young leaders, advocates, scholars, freedom dreamers, and changemakers. Together, we have mentored more than 100 girls, distributed thousands of dollars in educational support, advocated for equity in schools, trained educators, built community across generations, and most importantly, created spaces where Black girls could simply be.
As we close out our sixth program year and prepare to enter our seventh, we find ourselves reflecting on a Sankofa lesson that has guided us from the beginning: we must look back in order to move forward.
And what a year it has been.
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This year felt like a homecoming.
For the first time, the Youth Justice Fellowship was fully planned, facilitated, and led by the very young women who made up our inaugural Fellowship cohort in 2020. The girls who once sat in circle learning about leadership became the women leading the circle.
Watching them guide difficult conversations, mentor younger participants, organize programming, and steward our mission reminded us that youth leadership is not something we prepare young people for someday.
It is something they are ready for now.
Their leadership has always been the vision.
This year, they proved it.
| | BLACK GIRL JOY DESIGNED BY BLACK GIRLS | | |
IIn February, we celebrated another historic milestone: our first-ever Black Girl Leadership Retreat planned, facilitated, and led entirely by youth.
What made this moment even more meaningful was that our young leaders decided the retreat should not be limited to our internal programs.
Instead, they brought it to the broader community.
Hosted at Walnut Community Center, the retreat created a space where Black girls from across Las Vegas could gather, connect, heal, learn, laugh, and dream together.
The event reflected everything we believe about restorative justice and liberation work: that Black girls deserve spaces created by us, for us, and centered on our joy.
We could not have been prouder.
| | OPENING DOORS THROUGH THE OVERACHIEVERS EDUCATION FUND | | |
This year also marked the third consecutive year of our Overachievers Education Fund Microgrant Program.
Through this initiative, ten young people received direct support to pursue educational, leadership, and enrichment opportunities that may otherwise have remained out of reach.
From academic programs and leadership experiences to personal and professional development opportunities, these microgrants continue to demonstrate what becomes possible when we remove barriers and invest directly in young people’s dreams.
The impact extends far beyond a grant award.
It is a reminder to our youth that their goals matter and that their community believes in them.
| CODE SWITCH CALIFORNIA: STILL IN FULL BLOOM | |
While much of our attention this year has been focused on strengthening our Nevada-based programming and preparing for our next chapter, we are proud to share that Code Switch California continues to thrive.
Under the leadership of Program Manager Ms. Kathy Wilson, a vibrant Sankofa Sister Circle is currently meeting at Raymond Case Elementary School, where a group of remarkable fifth-grade girls is building community, cultivating joy, and learning what it means to show up for one another in the spirit of Ubuntu.
Week after week, these young leaders gather in circle to strengthen relationships, explore identity, practice empathy, and develop the skills needed to create communities rooted in care and belonging. Watching them learn how to hold space for one another reminds us that restorative justice is not simply a framework—it is a way of being.
As we celebrate six years of Code Switch, we are reminded that our impact stretches beyond state lines and across generations. The seeds planted years ago continue to bloom in beautiful and unexpected ways.
Ubuntu teaches us, "I am because we are." In California, that lesson is alive and well.
| ADVOCACY IN ACTION: STAYING THE COURSE | |
While much of our work happens in circles, mentorship spaces, and community gatherings, advocacy has always been an essential part of our mission.
Over the past six years, Code Switch has worked to ensure that Black girls are not only supported individually, but that the systems surrounding them are transformed as well.
Together with community partners, youth leaders, families, and educators, we have contributed to meaningful change across Nevada and beyond. We have supported efforts to pass Nevada's CROWN Act legislation, helped advance restorative justice policies in schools, contributed to the development of the Clark County School District's Anti-Racism Policy, and championed legislation that expanded restorative approaches to student discipline while strengthening protections against racial discrimination in the workplace.
We have carried the message of restorative justice onto national stages—facilitating conference workshops, serving on panels, keynoting events, and sharing our work through national conversations and podcasts. Along the way, we have had the privilege of learning from and contributing to a growing movement of educators, organizers, and advocates committed to creating a more just world for young people.
Closer to home, we have partnered with more than 200 educators through professional development experiences designed to help classrooms become spaces of care, healing, belonging, and equity. Every teacher reached represents hundreds of students who may experience school differently because an educator chose to lead with humanity.
Perhaps most importantly, we have stood beside families when schools failed to uphold the rights and dignity of their children. Over the past six years, we have successfully advocated alongside multiple families navigating racial discrimination, exclusionary discipline, and educational inequities. In one case, our advocacy efforts contributed to a favorable determination from the Office for Civil Rights, affirming what families had known all along: that every child deserves to be treated with dignity, fairness, and respect.
These victories belong to our community.
They belong to every young person who found their voice, every parent who refused to remain silent, every educator willing to do things differently, and every partner who stood beside us in pursuit of justice.
As we look toward the future, our commitment remains unchanged.
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Perhaps no moment better captures the spirit of Sankofa than watching members of our very first Fellowship cohort reach extraordinary milestones.
This spring, we celebrate:
Deja, graduate of Yale University, who will continue her academic journey at the University of California, Berkeley, pursuing doctoral studies as a Fellowship recipient.
Naika, graduate of Howard University, who is headed to law school on a full-ride scholarship.
They are two of the young women who helped shape the foundation of Code Switch six years ago.
Today, they stand as living proof of what happens when Black girls are nurtured, supported, challenged, and loved.
We also celebrate our high school graduates, Fellowship participants, and every young person who persevered through a year that tested so many of us.
Your resilience inspires us.
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Some of you may have noticed that we have been quieter than usual on social media this year.
That was intentional.
Sometimes, especially during difficult times, you have to get quiet to get proximate to the work.
While the world demanded constant reaction, we chose connection.
While algorithms demanded content, we chose community.
While headlines pulled our attention outward, we focused inward—on our girls, our families, our circles, our healing, and our joy.
We spent this year investing in relationships, creating meaningful experiences, and listening deeply to what our community needed most.
And what we heard was clear:
Stay the course.
| THIS SUMMER: FILLING OUR CUPS & FREEDOM DREAMING | |
Summer has always been a season of reflection, learning, and imagination for Code Switch and this year will be no different.
Over the coming months, members of our team will embark on a journey through the U.S. American South as we explore the possibility of launching our newest Sankofa Summer Tour experience. Rooted in history, movement building, cultural memory, and liberation, this exploratory journey will help us imagine new opportunities for our girls to deepen their understanding of themselves, their ancestors, and the freedom struggles that continue to shape our communities.
Before diving deep into our season of reflection, we will also spend part of our summer in community with our friends at More Than A Hashtag and Mass Liberation Network, supporting L.I.L. B.I.G. (Launching Into Leadership: Black Intensive Groundwork). As organizations committed to Black liberation and youth leadership, we know our work is strongest when we build together. We invite our community to join us in uplifting young leaders who are preparing to shape the future of Las Vegas and beyond.
Finally, we will travel to National Association of Community and Restorative Justice Conference in New Orleans, one of our favorite annual traditions. The conference offers an opportunity to reconnect with restorative justice practitioners from across the country, deepen our learning, exchange ideas, and refill our cups alongside a community of people committed to healing, accountability, and transformation.
Most importantly, this summer will be a season of freedom dreaming.
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As we enter our seventh year, we are embracing a season of intentional transition.
Like many Black-led organizations, we are navigating a challenging philanthropic and political landscape. Rather than chasing growth for growth’s sake, we are choosing sustainability, reflection, and transformation.
This coming year, we will scale back in some areas so we can deepen our impact where it matters most.
But make no mistake:
Our commitment has not changed.
We are doubling down on two things.
1. The Fight for Educational Equity
Black girls still deserve safe, affirming, and equitable educational spaces.
We will continue advocating alongside students and families, challenging systems that harm our youth, and advancing restorative justice in education.
Anti-DEI rhetoric will not deter us from the work.
The need remains.
The girls remain.
And so will we.
We believe the future belongs to young people.
More importantly, we believe they are ready to lead now.
Over the coming year, Code Switch will transition toward an intergenerational, but youth led governance structure, deepening the leadership role of our Youth Advisory Board and placing decision-making power directly in the hands of the young people most impacted by our work.
This is more than an organizational shift.
It is a declaration of trust.
A declaration that Black girls have wisdom.
A declaration that their voices matter.
A declaration that their leadership is necessary.
Because the youth are not simply the future.
They are the revolution.
STAY TUNED…
As summer begins, we’ll continue to move quietly.
You may not see much from us online.
That’s by design.
We are building.
Dreaming.
Planning.
Preparing.
And this fall, we’ll be ready to share what comes next.
What we can tell you now is this:
It will be the same organization.
The same commitment to Black girls.
The same liberation journey.
The same big impact.
But a new way to lead.
A new way to imagine freedom.
A new chapter dreamed, designed, and led by our girls.
And trust us—
you’re going to want to see what they create.
Stay tuned.
Freedom, reimagined by Black girls, is coming this fall.
Be ready.
✊🏾In Sankofa, gratitude, love, and siblinghood,
The Code Switch Team
"Our work has never been about saving Black girls. It has always been about creating the conditions for Black girls to lead, heal, and transform the world around them." — Code Switch: Restorative Justice for Girls of Color
| | We love our community and appreciate all of the support you provide. When you give, you help us develop culturally responsive, restorative, and humanizing programs, classrooms, schools, and communities. More importantly, you help us power girls and those who support them to become the change they wish to see in the world! | | Code Switch was formed in the spirit of Ubuntu by a multigenerational community of Black girls, women, and racial justice co-conspirators to eradicate the barriers that push girls out of schools and keep them from achieving their full potential. We leverage the transformative power of culturally affirming restorative sister circles, critical mentorship, and youth-led advocacy to create healing spaces where Black girls feel supported, thrive, and achieve. We also provide them with opportunities to grow and advance as leaders and change-makers within their schools, workspaces, and communities. | | | | |
