MILWAUKEE — Jameelah Love spent her childhood in the foster care system.
She says struggles she faced growing up impacted her ability to enjoy high school the way most kids get to.
“High school is stressful enough for young people, but it’s even more stressful when there are extreme gaps between what some kids get to experience and what other kids don’t get to experience,” Love told TMJ4.
She says prom is one of those experiences many teenagers don’t have access to.
“In my own experience, I almost didn’t get the chance to go, so I just wanted to help other kids get that chance.”
In 2019, Love helped co-found the Fash-Up show, a teen fashion show where teens are helping to send other teens to prom, alongside Heather Perkins, the founder of the nonprofit, Ignite Change.
All of the profits from that fashion show go toward paying for students to go to prom cost free.
“There’s something that happens when [students] put on a dress and you kind of see it on their face,” said Perkins. “It’s pride, its dignity – it’s beautiful.”
In its first two years, the show has helped over 150 students go to prom.
“Just being able to see them have that experience of picking out dresses and shoes and helping them find makeup artists and watching them smile and be like ‘yes, this is finally happening for me,’” shared Love.
The dresses are all modeled by students who gain newfound confidence once they hit the runway.
“They turn into Naomi Campbells!”
Perkins says supporting Milwaukee youth in this way is a small way to make a major impact.
“There are so many complicated problems in Milwaukee that are difficult to solve, like gun violence, carjacking prevention — this is so easy. We just send a teenager to prom and we can just make them feel like royalty for a night.”
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