Jaycina Almond On Dispelling The ‘Welfare Queen’ Trope And Shifting The Narrative With Tender

Atlanta creative Jaycina Almond knows how important it is to dispel harmful narratives. And having experience as a Black single mother who now has an organization to help Black single mothers, she is being honored for the work she is doing for her community.

Almond is the founder of the Tender Foundation, “a grassroots organization reshaping narratives around Black motherhood by providing essential financial assistance and resources to single mothers facing hardship in Atlanta.”

Jaycina Almond, Sekou Thornell and Gee’s Bend Quilters honored

She was honored along with Sekou Thornell, the creative director and founder of Kitboys Club, as well as the Gee’s Bend Quilters, by Adidas as their 2025 Honoring Black Excellence honorees. The three honorees took part in this week’s Honoring Black Excellence (HBE): An Experience Curated by Rog & Bee Walker, held by Adidas in Atlanta. Almond, Thornell and the Gee’s Bend ladies were spotlighted through film, photography, archival artifacts, live performances and interactive workshops.

As with the other honorees, Adidas’ HBE also produced a short film on Almond’s journey and the Tender Foundation’s mission.

Jaycina Almond on being recognized and doing care work

Almond told Blavity, “For me, this honor, it’s deeply personal because I do care work, and so it’s something that’s close to my heart. But also, caretaking is something that’s always overlooked a little bit too. And it’s not only me being recognized, it’s our community that we serve, being recognized. So for Adidas to recognize and value that single moms also are Black Excellence, I [also] believe our families are Black Excellence, and having that, they’re often overlooked [for what] Black Excellence looks like. Black single moms are not usually centered in that conversation. So for Adidas to recognize that and recognize the importance of that work, it’s super meaningful.”

She also says that she never would have predicted her personal life intersecting with her career work. It just happened.

“I don’t think I ever realized it…It just naturally happened,” she said. “Tender and the work that I do with Tender is here because I am a mom, because I got pregnant at 20, because I was Black, because I was single. I was young. I didn’t go to college. So I know the struggles of single motherhood intimately. I know those challenges. And it was just me thinking, ‘What can I do for the women that look like me? We have this shared experience among us, so what can I do?’ So I don’t think I had an idea that it would become so intertwined, but it was the catalyst for the work that I’m doing.”

And with Tender and the work being done, she’s hoping to combat narratives and stereotypes that many believe about Black single mothers.

“[These are] narratives that are widely held within society, about poverty, about Black women, about Black motherhood, about Black single motherhood. Those have been shaped by policies, and that goes all the way back to the Reagan era of the ‘welfare queen’ trope and all of this. These are deeply embedded narratives and mindsets within our culture and within our society. We know that, so it’s something that we try to actively [think about] how we can change and shift that narrative, because it is harmful. So, how can we flip it and change that and make sure that there is a different narrative and a more authentic and truthful narrative?”

The importance of this work being done in Atlanta

There’s also a specific importance to Atlanta being the setting for the work that Tender does.

Almond told us, “Atlanta is a historically Black city, and personally, Atlanta is my first home. I moved here when I was 19, so there was no if and where. It was Atlanta only. That was the option. Atlanta is a Black mecca, but sometimes we have to ask a Black mecca for who? Because Atlanta also was, I think, ranked last year or 2023, the worst city for single parents to live in. Atlanta has also, for years now, been one of the worst cities for income inequality. So this is the city to do this work in. This is what the city needs just based on what’s happening here.”