Author

Joanne N. Smith

Joanne N. Smith is executive director and a founder of the Brooklyn-based youth development organization Girls for Gender Equity. She is a Public Voices Fellow of The OpEd Project.

Joanne N. Smith's Latest Articles

Young Women of Color Break the Silence. Now What?

By Joanne N. Smith ● Politics ● December 4, 2014

We declare that the bodies of our brown and black girls and women are not just collateral damage in places such as Ferguson, Mo. And we demand more from the recent White House report on women and girls of color, which is still no match for the My Brother’s Keeper initiative.

Schoolgirls Can Find Protection in Title IX

By Joanne N. Smith ● Arts & Culture ● May 14, 2011

In this intro from “Hey, Shorty!” Joanne Smith recalls how the rape of an 8-year-old catalyzed the co-authors’ work to end violence against girls in public schools. The book offers a manual on applying Title IX, which prohibits gender discrimination in education.