Community

Written by Marcella Germanotta

By International Women’s Day 2011, our goal is to have 50,000 girls pledge to learn about issues facing girls around the world, including the importance of girls’ education, and to share what they learn with their friends.

It seems mentoring, like community service, is back in style. Last year, President Obama challenged everyone to give service on Martin Luther King’s birthday, and thousands of people responded and a record number of service projects were reported on www.mlkgov.org This year, Michelle Obama is challenging everyone to take action as a mentor.

Michelle Obama announced a new initiative in early November at a White House gathering where thirteen teens met and had conversations with their mentors – women White House staff. They included: senior advisor Valerie Jarrett, domestic policy advisor Melody Barnes, Obama’s chief of staff Susan Sher and social secretary Desiree Rogers.

Obama, who also agreed to be the Honorary Chair of Girl Scouts of the USA this fall, said she became interested in the power of mentoring as a corporate lawyer in Chicago . Her office, she said, was on the 47th floor of a downtown building, and her windows faced south towards her old neighborhood. Kids who were just as smart and capable as she was missed out on opportunities and successes “by a hair,” she said.

The call for action in girls and women’s lives through mentoring and advocacy was also part of the Fifth Annual Meeting on the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) that took place this September in New York , where grim facts on the global status of women and girls were delivered. Women perform 66 percent of the world’s work and produce 50 percent of the food, yet earn only 10 percent of the income and own 1 percent of the property. At the meeting’s plenary session, “Investing in Girls and Women”, corporations and foundations who were part of CGI announced a dozen new commitments to improve the lives of girls and women around the world.

“Whether the issue is improving education in the developing world, or fighting global climate change, or addressing nearly any other challenge we face, empowering women is a critical part of the equation,” President Bill Clinton said.

Here at home, organizations such as Girl Scouts are not only asking women to become mentors and help empower girls but are encouraging women and girls to take action through a new partnership with CARE, Seventeen magazine and The Documentary Group. The partnership set into motion The Power of Girls, a program that will connect girls worldwide and mobilize them around important global issues, including the critical role that girls’ education and leadership plays in addressing poverty. 

Girl Scouts are key players in this partnership. They have almost 100 years of experience helping girls realize they can be a force for change. This partnership is helping others to join the support net for girls and to unlock every girl’s potential through education and leadership.

“Education and leadership skills provide a foundation from which all girls can grow and excel whether they live in Manhattan or Mali ,” Helen D. Gayle, president and CEO of CARE said.
At the heart of The Power of Girls is a pledge that urges American girls to learn about issues affecting girls worldwide and share their findings with friends. The pledge, which can be found at www.thepowerofgirls.com, places a particular focus on raising awareness of the barriers that prevent girls from going to school in developing countries, including lack of funding for schools and supplies; gender discrimination, and chronic poverty that pushes girls into the workforce at an early age. The goal is to collect 50,000 pledges – not dollars, but a pledge to take action – by International women’s Day 2011 ( March 8) – the very month Girl Scouts throughout the nation will be celebrating their 100th anniversary!

“One of the great things about being a girl is the inherent connection we feel with one another, and the power we wield when we work together,” Kathy Cloninger, chief executive officer, Girl Scouts of the USA said. “By working with CARE and others, we’re helping girls in the United States understand what girls just like them are facing in countries all over the world, encouraging them to become advocates for one another and, ultimately, identifying solutions to some of the world’s most pressing problems – all from a girls’ perspective.”

Girl Scout Council of Colonial Coast, one of 109 councils nationwide, introduced a new Journey series titled “It’s Your World. Change It!” for girls in kindergarten to 12th grades. There are six books to accommodate the six program levels in Girl Scouts, and each book has dozens of ways girls can take action to improve their lives, their community and beyond. 

To find out how you can be part of the movement taking place today to help women and girls, visit www.gsccc.org or call (757) 547-4405 or 1-800-77SCOUT. To find out about The Power of Girls initiative visit www.care.org/thepowerofgirls .