Page 12 - CEEM Shopping Mag August 2020

Portrait of a Dream Girl - Lauren Hardge, M.A. Ed.

“Manifesto Consultancy was inspired by a dream to be free, to be understood and to feel whole. It came

from watching so many systems across the world fail to honor black people’s vision, intellect and humanity.”
Lauren-Michelle Hardge was born on June 2, 1992 into the height of a Black social uprising against
police brutality in LA, due to the senseless beating of Rodney King by LAPD. Being in that kind of
energy prepared me for my life of grassroots organizing and community healing, speci cally providing
mental health and wellness work for Black youth people in every hood across the nation. Growing up
as a youth in an impoverished neighborhood area she often noticed She was surrounded by gangs,
violence and hurt people. That pain inspired her curiosity for the counseling and healing work that
she would to on to do at Cal Poly Pomona, where she received her Bachelor’s of Science Degree in
Gender Ethnicity and Multicultural Studies.

Lauren worked as a young professional, counseling foster youth with the Guardian Scholars
program, as a graduate student at California State University, Long Beach. Through her work and studies
at CSULB, she received her Master’s in Social and Cultural Analysis in Education. Her thesis focused on
the way black students are pushed out of the school system and how it leads them from school to the
prison pipeline. During her time working at CSULB she served as a Resource Program Specialist where
she counseled foster and homeless youth for professional and academic development through
implementing trauma informed practices to approach food insecurity and housing instability.
Lauren created a resource guide for foster youth that o ered a wide array of services from child care,
food pantries to counseling resources in the South Bay Area. She has also served on the Homeless
Student Taskforce and created the 1st Foster Youth and Mental Health Round Table with the National
Foster Youth Institute and has created the rst foster youth support group on campus of CSULB.

Some recent accomplishments include planning the 400 Years of Spirit and Freedom Awards which
honored Amelia Boyton (the matriarch of the voting rights movement) and Melody Hobson for their
impact and commitment to the Black community, working the Gateway Educational Foundation and
Institute where she serves as the Director of Education. Lauren-Michelle Hardge is the Founder and
Senior Consultant at Manifesto Consultancy, an Arts, Education and Wellness agency that provides
education and healing through African centered, holistic practice. She is currently using her agency
as a research hub as she has partnered with Freedom Soul Media Education initiative in Oakland
California to evaluate the history of black students' experience in school systems across the nation
to assess the need for a culturally responsive curriculum for black students. Manifesto Consultancy
was inspired by a dream to be free, to be understood and to feel whole. It came from watching so
many systems across the world fail to honor black people’s visions, intellect and humanity. A seedling
of love planted in her community hoping to blossom through creative mediums of healing and
education. Manifesto’s motto is that all communities can heal themselves when provided with
appropriate tools to rede ne, reimagine and revolutionize new realities.

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