Carol Brown

ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPH:

“The picture is important to me because it empowers young women to grow up and be strong and powerful young women in the neighborhood. I bring my girls here to Third Church, and we had a mother and daughter basketball game. I just felt the need to show that we can have a positive impact on Westwood, and this is mainly where most of my girls are from. They are my girls, and the group is called Young Girls Empowerment.

How are they connected to me? I came from the same place they came from, which is, you know, a hard time, and I just wanted to build them up, because I've been where they've been. They’ve been just so strong in doing and being positive. It shows that we can build with other young girls. It shows that when they see something positive and real, we can grab more and more girls off the street and change them.

I felt awesome because I saw all positivity, and it was great for the mothers and daughters to come together as one and see the smiles that they probably haven't seen. Sometimes our parents don't have time for their daughters, and they need that attention. They need that one-on-one attention. So I thought it was a beautiful thing to bring them together.”