About Us

The story of Project Butterfly New Orleans begins with a vision board workshop and a chance encounter with Niambi Jaha Echols, Founder of Camp Butterfly and author of the Project Butterfly guide/curriculum. Rashida Govan, the Founder/Executive Director of Project Butterfly NOLA went on to volunteer at Camp Butterfly in Chicago and Watervliet, MI where she learned the Project Butterfly program model. 

When Rashida moved to New Orleans in 2008, she began working as an intern for Urban League College Track where she introduced Project Butterfly as a workshop for girls in the program. What began as a weekly workshop has grown into a 501c3 that has served more than 300 girls across New Orleans. 

Project Butterfly New Orleans is an African-centered rites of passage program that provides mentoring and culturally-rooted programming to prepare girls and non-binary youth of African descent for their transition from adolescence to adulthood.