Dream with Us

We relaunched our crowdfunding campaign last week and already it's started to gain traction. We chose to take this approach because it was important to us to know that there's a community of people with us on our journey starting Dream Camp.

‘I like being myself and putting unique ideas into my creations. I would like other girls to know that being yourself is a very good thing. You’ll never be perfect, you just need to try your best and keep on going.’ Rachel Burnett (8 years old), Co-Founder of Dream Camp

Are you ready to help us GROW our vision to build a movement for Black British girls’ voices to be heard? Donate to our Gofundme campaign and share this post with your network.

In my first Dream Camp blog, I shared my experience of being silenced as a child. Many years later, girls and women are still being taught to self-sensor. We need to act now so Black British girls know that being themselves is something to celebrate.

We’re so excited to have the opportunity to bring the ideas of Rachel and her peers to the forefront. We also feel this is urgent because according to a recent Metro article, the Runnymede Trust and the Fawcett Society revealed in a recent report, Broken Ladders that:

‘…at every stage of the career journey, from entering work to senior leadership, women of colour are being locked out of reaching their true potential.’

According to the report: 61% of women of colour report changing themselves to ‘fit-in’ at work, from the language or words they use (37%), their hairstyle (26%) and even their name (22%).

This kind of self-censorship or ‘code-switching’ is not uncommon for individuals that feel minoritized. It’s something I do a lot when I don’t feel safe or confident to be myself.

Will Rachel and her peers continue to like being themselves, even when faced by the pressure to fit in? Dream Camp will open a space for girls to grow in confidence and feel free to be themselves.

At Dream Camp, we’ll explore the GROW coaching model with ten 8-11 year old African and Caribbean girls in Bristol. The beauty of this model, which focused on identifying GOALS, exploring OPTIONS, understanding REALITY, and then choosing what we WILL do is that it’s both person-centred and contextualised. It will help the girls to reflect on who they are, where they are in their leadership journey and where they want to be.

You can support our campaign here.