Monique Couvson, Ed.D. (formerly Monique W. Morris) is an award-winning author, social justice scholar, and philanthropy executive with nearly four decades of experience in the areas of education, civil rights, juvenile and criminal justice. Dr. Couvson is the President and CEO of G4GC, a premier philanthropic intermediary focused on resourcing movements and organizations that center the wisdom and well-being of girls and gender-expansive youth of color. Under her leadership, G4GC has developed four signature funds, including: the Black Girl Freedom Fund, which as part of the #1Billion4BlackGirls campaign, seeks to mobilize $1 billion in investments centering Black girls over the next 10 years; the New Songs Rising Initiative for Indigenous Girls in partnership with the Seventh Generation Fund for Indigenous Peoples; the Holding A Sister Initiative for Trans Girls of Color with the Black Trans Fund; and G4GC’s general grantmaking fund, Love is Healing. Since June 2020, G4GC has granted more than $28 million to more than 400 organizations located across all 50 states, Washington, DC, Guam, and Puerto Rico, as well as launched a Future Economy Fund to foster robust investments in entrepreneurial efforts that align with the priorities of girls and gender-expansive youth of color.

Recognized by TIME as a racial justice “Closer” in 2025 and by The Root 100 as one of the nation’s most influential African Americans in 2022, Dr. Couvson is the author of seven books, including the highly anticipated book Girls, Unlimited: How to Invest in Our Daughters with More than Money (The New Press, 2025) and Charisma’s Turn (The New Press, 2023), which was named by the American Library Association as one of the best graphic novels for teens. She is Executive Producer and writer for the documentary short film, “In Conversation: The Power of Imagination,” which features a discussion between Dr. Couvson and the world-renowned poet Dr. Nikki Giovanni. Dr. Couvson is also an Executive Producer and co-writer of the NAACP Image Award-nominated documentary film, “PUSHOUT: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools” (currently streaming on Amazon Prime and other platforms). This film is based upon two of Dr. Couvson’s books, Sing A Rhythm, Dance A Blues: Liberatory Education for Black and Brown Girls (The New Press, 2019) and Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools (The New Press, 2016). She is also a consulting producer for the Countering PUSHOUT learning series for educators and the creator of a digital course to increase educator capacity to end pushout.

Dr. Couvson is also the author of Cultivating Joyful Learning Spaces for Black Girls: Insights into Interrupting School Pushout (ASCD, 2022), Black Stats: African Americans by the Numbers in the Twenty-First Century (The New Press, 2014), Too Beautiful for Words (MWM Books, 2012), and she worked with Kemba Smith on her book, Poster Child: The Kemba Smith Story (IBJ Book Publishing, 2011). She has written dozens of articles, book chapters, and other publications on social justice issues and lectured widely on research, policies, and practices associated with improving juvenile/criminal justice, educational, and socioeconomic conditions for girls and women of color. Her 2018 TED talk on how to stop the criminalization of Black girls in schools has received over 2 million views and been translated into 20 languages.