20 Jun HONEY SHINE, INC. TO LAUNCH LOS ANGELES AFTERSCHOOL PROGRAM
Miami, FL— Since 2002, Honey Shine, Inc. has served the girls of the South Florida Community through the “Aspire to Shine” Workshop Series, Camp Honey Shine, and most recently, the Honey Shine Afterschool Program. In October 2014, Honey Shine partnered with the United Teachers of Dade (UTD) to launch the Honey Shine Afterschool Program pilot in four Miami Dade County Public Schools.
On Thursday, September 10, 2015, the Program will return for the 2015-2016 Academic Year at the following Dade County Elementary Schools: Maya Angelou, Parkview, and Hibiscus; while simultaneously branching into the Alonzo and Tracy Mourning High School.
In addition to its South Florida programming, Honey Shine will introduce the afterschool program in two elementary schools in Los Angeles, California. Through UTD, the Honey Shine Program was introduced to the United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA), in efforts to successfully promote the program initiatives to young girls in the LA market. Honey Shine’s principle values and programmatic objectives directly align with the UTLA initiative “The Schools LA Deserve,” and the schools and principals have expressed their delight in welcoming the program into their schools.
“When Fedrick [Ingram, UTD President] first told me about the program, I was excited; it sounded like something we needed here [in LA]. When I visited Miami to tour the program, I was even more impressed. I said we have to have this in our schools,” said UTLA Vice President Cecily Myart-Cruz.
MC Lyte, Tracy Wilson Mourning and UTLA VP Cecily Myrat-Cruz
The Honey Shine team dubbed the 2014-2015 fiscal year as its “Year of Expansion.” The program visited multiple cities throughout the country and formed new alliances. Notably, the program worked with Hip Hop Pioneer, MC Lyte, who sought to bring the program to her current residence, Los Angeles, CA through her foundation the Hip Hop Sisters Network. Hip Hop Sisters is a non-profit foundation that promotes positive images of women of ethnic diversity, bringing leaders together from the world of Hip Hop, the entertainment industry, and the corporate world. When Honey Shine Founder Tracy Wilson Mourning and MC Lyte began to share with one another the vision they each had for their respective organizations, they discovered synergy between their programs. The partnership was solidified through a $10,000 sponsorship from the Hip Hop Sisters Network to Honey Shine’s expansion efforts in Los Angeles.
Through these collaborative efforts, the Honey Shine program’s reach and services will increase to include more than 200 girls in South Florida and 45 girls in Los Angeles.
For more information about how you can support Honey Shine, visit www.honeyshine.org.
To learn more about the Hip Hop Sisters Network, click HERE.
To find out more about the United Teachers of Dade, click HERE.
Learn more about the United Teachers Los Angeles HERE.
Media Contact:
Juana J. Bethel
Development Director
Honey Shine, Inc.
(305) 854-2444
About Honey Shine
The Honey Shine Mentoring Program encourages the balance of mind, body and soul in girls and women by providing nurturing experiences that enlighten their paths and empower their future. For more information on how you can become a Corporate Partner or an Individual Lady Bug sponsor, please call 305-476-0095 or visit www.HoneyShine.org.
About Mourning Family Foundation
Since 1997, the Mourning’s have raised more than $10 million for their charity initiatives including, Overtown Youth Center, a state-of-the-art facility that serves as a safe haven for children and families to participate in recreational and educational activities from 2nd grade through graduation, and Honey Shine, which provides at-risk young women with positive role models and influences through its enrichment programs, workshops, camps and sisterhood. For more information visit: www.mourningfamilyfoundation.org