A Charles County, Maryland, woman has developed a program to help mentor young women in the DMV in underserved communities reach their full potential.

“It’s really just shifting perspectives,” said Ebony Belt, founder and CEO of Divine by Design Mentoring. “It’s restoring hope.”

Belt said the program attempts to get to the root of why so many young women are troubled — she believes that for true healing to take place, women must take a step back and ask: “Why am I doing these behaviors? What is really at the core of why I’m feeling the way I’m feeling?”

“There’s a lot more pressure than it was years ago when social media didn’t have such a huge affect on our youth and the decisions they’re making today,” Belt said.

She added that the pandemic also played a role in creating stressors that our youth may be ill-equipped to deal with.

The organization provides trauma-informed mentoring, a “mommy and me” teen mom program and workforce development for youth.

Belt said the program help teens answer several questions: “What does it mean to walk in wholeness? What does it mean to walk in purpose, to be kind to one another, to know who you are from the inside out?”

Divine by Design Mentoring is gearing up for two major events: the Winning from Within Women’s Empowerment Brunch on Saturday, May 25, in Waldorf, and their second annual Winning from Within Youth Conference on July 21, for teens aged 11 to 17 at the Forest Community Center located at 1200 Fillmore Road in Fort Washington.

For ticket information, visit www.dbdmentoringco.org.