For Black Girls & Women...

Black Girls Smile Inc. (BGS) is a national nonprofit organization that promotes positive mental health and educational activities geared toward young black women and girls.

In 2012, Black Girls Smile Inc. Founder and Executive Director, Lauren Carson, made a commitment to help ensure that all young black females feel supported, enlightened, and empowered to lead mentally healthy lives. To learn more about Lauren’s story and personal mental health journey, click here.

We were incorporated in 2012 and received our 501(c)(3) tax-deductible status in 2014.

Black Girls Smile unapologetically centers the needs and experiences of Black girls and young women. Due to the lack of gender-responsive and culturally affirming safe spaces for young Black femme people, our desire is to ensure we provide that nuanced support. However, we also understand that mental health literacy and awareness is important for all. Therefore, we ask that all those interested in our programming, regardless of age, gender or race enter into the space (whether virtually or in-person) understanding that our work speaks directly to the experiences of Black girls, young women and non-binary folks, and their support system.

BGS is honored to partner with providers/therapists throughout N. America that serve and stand for the mental health and well-being of Black women and girls. To be added to BGS' Preferred Provider & Practice list we provide to our Therapy Assistance recipients and our community please complete the following form: Preferred Provider and Preferred Practice

BGS team loves to partner with providers, community leaders, healers and so many more qualified and experience facilitators to offer diverse and relevant workshops and programming to our community. If you are interested in facilitating a workshop or program with BGS please complete this form HERE

We are always looking for dedicated and passionate individuals to help us further our work. Please visit our Volunteer page to learn about available volunteer opportunities and to fill out the Volunteer Form.

BGS aims to create meaningful and impactful volunteer opportunities that can fit anyone's needs including virtual, in-person, on-time and continuous. During the COVID-19 pandemic many of our volunteer opportunities are virtual however we do have several IRL experiences for in-person programming that in which we follow all CDC guidelines and BGS specific protocols. If you are interest in getting more information about Volunteer experiences we encourage you to check out our Volunteer Page and contact our team HERE if you have any additional questions.

Yes! We have various corporate volunteer experiences that can be offered both virtually and in-person for Corporate Partner and Groups. Please let our team know HERE if you are interested in Corporate Partnership Volunteerism or Group Volunteer experiences.

Yes! We received our 501(c)(3) status in September 2014, allowing donations to be tax-deductible. If you would like to donate, click here.

Yes! When you donate through our Donation platform you can select a specific program to donate to.

Yes! When you donate through our Donation platform you can select "Tribute" to donate in honor of another.

All donations to BGS are used for programming and general operating expenses. You can review our latest 990 filing HERE.