Nine-city tour launches Juneteenth weekend in Jackson, MS; Black Girls Defense Fund applications close May 14
SELMA, Ala., May 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Black women and girls in the South are facing converging crises. In April alone, at least ten Black women were killed and eight Black children were killed in acts of gender-based violence. Black women are more than twice as likely to be murdered by men as their white counterparts, and they die from pregnancy-related causes at more than three times the rate of white women, a disparity made worse by the more than 40 maternity care providers that have shuttered nationwide as federal health care cuts deepen.
The Southern Black Girls and Women’s Consortium (Southern Black Girls) is responding with the 2026 Joy and Justice Tour, a nine-city mobilization bringing resources, healing, and joy to Black girls, women, and femme identifying youth across the South. The tour launches in Jackson, Mississippi at the city’s Juneteenth Celebration.
“Joy has always been our strategy. But in this moment, joy is also our intervention,” said LaTosha Brown, Visionary Founder of Southern Black Girls. “When Black women are being killed at crisis levels, when hospitals are closing, when our girls are treated as adults from childhood, showing up with resources, connection, and love is not optional. It is necessary.”
Applications for the Black Girls Defense Fund close May 14, 2026. The expanded grant cycle, ranging from $5,000 to $20,000, supports organizations working in health and safety, justice, carceral reform, and restorative justice for Black girls, women, and femme identifying youth across 13 Southern states. The fund confronts a continuum of harm that begins early: research consistently shows Black girls are subjected to adultification bias, perceived as less innocent and less deserving of protection than their peers, a bias that follows them through schools, juvenile justice, and healthcare systems. The girls who survive these systems become the women this country is failing to protect.
“We are in a state of emergency,” said Chanceé Lundy, Executive Director. “Whether the threat is a partner, a hospital, or a closed labor and delivery ward, Black women in the South are dying at rates this country has accepted as normal. The Defense Fund resources the people doing the work to change that, and the Joy and Justice Tour brings their work into the community.”
The 2026 Joy and Justice Tour touches down in nine cities with free programming open to all, featuring interactive workshops, wellness activities, community resources, live entertainment, and safety and advocacy resources.
- June 18 — Jackson, MS
- June 20 — New Orleans, LA
- July 10 — Fort Lauderdale, FL
- July 11 — Eatonville, FL
- August 8 — Louisville, KY
- August 21 — Richmond, VA
- August 22 — Charleston, WV
- September 26 — Columbia, SC
- September 27 — Charlotte, NC
The tour is rooted in the South, where less than one percent of the region’s $4.8 billion in philanthropic investments reaches Black women and girls.
“Joy is not a luxury. Joy is strategy,” Lundy said. “And right now, joy is how we protect each other.”
For more information, visit www.southernblackgirls.org/joytour.
About Southern Black Girls and Women’s Consortium
Founded in 2017 by LaTosha Brown, Felecia Lucky, Alice Eason Jenkins, and Margo Miller, Southern Black Girls and Women’s Consortium is a philanthropic organization channeling resources to organizations centering Black girls and women across 13 Southern states. Since 2017, Southern Black Girls has awarded more than $11.4 million to over 250 organizations and provided over $600,000 in micro-grants to more than 1,000 girls through initiatives like the #BlackGirlJoyChallenge.
Contact: For Media Inquiries Only
Candice M. Dixon
Communications Manager
candice@southernblackgirls.org
(334) 394-3236
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SOURCE Southern Black Girls & Women’s Consortium
