Dr. Rashida Govan
Dr. Rashida Govan is an educator with more than 15 years of administrative, research and teaching experience in K-12 and higher education. She currently serves as the executive director of the New Orleans Youth Alliance (NOYA). NOYA is the youth development intermediary for the Greater New Orleans area. The organization works to cultivate a system of high-quality, well-resourced youth development organizations that center youth leadership and racial equity in their work with young people. NOYA achieves its mission through three key areas of service: program quality and professional development, policy and advocacy, and organizational effectiveness.
Govan is also the founder and executive director of Project Butterfly New Orleans, an evidence-based, African-centered girl’s rites of passage program that has served over 200 high school girls since its inception in 2009. Each week mentors from the local community meet with students to engage them in activities related to the organization’s culturally-rooted and evidenced-based curriculum. The high school students are provided with experiences that increase their self-esteem, teach them effective decision-making skills, instill in them positive cultural values, connect them with positive role models and prepare them to become responsible community leaders. In addition to these roles, Govan also has spoken nationally on hip hop culture, issues concerning girls and women, and a wide range of social and healing justice issues.
Govan earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Morgan State University, an M.Ed. from the University of Maryland College Park and a Ph.D. in educational leadership and administration from the University of New Orleans.
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