AZIZA PE&CE (AP) is on a mission to renew the health and well-being of Black girls and LGBTQ+ youth and their communities through instilling Black history & culture, self-love, and solidarity into their souls.
To change the racial, gender, sexual, and homophobic violence and insecurity that perpetuate the school system, Black girls and LGBTQ+ youth must play a leading role. AP now operates outside of schools to create a safe and healing refuge for kids who face real danger inside the schoolhouse. We shape and shift civic and cultural power by building a “True community,” that as Pauli Murray said, “is based upon equality, mutuality, and reciprocity. It affirms the richness of individual diversity as well as the common human ties that bind us together.”
AZIZA, created in 2008, means precious, gorgeous, powerful and a reflection of a mother’s love. Named after the daughter of Founder and Executive Director, Saran Fossett, the program was started after Saran spent years working in the fashion and education industries with the intent to offer girls resources and tools to become dynamic leaders, innovators, and public servants. In 2011, the organization expanded by creating Positive Energy & Cultivating Excellence (PE&CE), a program to engage marginalized male and female youth from the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer/Questioning (LGBTQ) community.