GrassROOTS Foundation is a collaborative effort of Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter, co-founder and lead MC of the Grammy Award Winning group, the Roots, and sociologist, Dr. Janice Johnson Dias.

GrassROOTS Community Foundation (GCF) is a health advocacy organization that supports, develops, and scales community-driven solutions to the health challenges facing impoverished women and girls.

We provide funding and technical support to community based health programs. We develop models that are high-impact, evidence driven and context specific. We work with girls, their families and community members.

In Philadelphia, GCF funds and supports the C.H.I.C.K.S program. C.H.I.C.K.S: Creating Healthy Informed Confident Knowledgeable Selves is an afterschool health program at Harding Middle School in the Frankford area of Philadelphia.

Operated by Carson Valley Children’s Aid (CVCA), the C.H.I.C.K.S program offers the girls the tools needed to enhance, develop, and make positive changes in their lives. C.H.I.C.K.S is designed to teach the girls that SISTERHOOD is SUPPORTIVE, LOVING and CARING. (http://grass-rootsfoundation.org/chicks/CHICKS.html). The program focuses on health literacy, wellness, physical activity and professional skill development.