GirlTalk!

GirlHealth Spring 2006 Topics LIVE!

2006-05-18T18:26:00.000-07:00

GirlSource's Technology & Leadership Program has completed their cycle and contributed 4 web topics to GirlHealth.org.

This cycle's class includes the writing, research, and design talent of 9 young women, including:

This cycle's topics include:

Our Relationships: Healthy relationships,
Our Minds: Self-esteem,
Our Bodies: Drug abuse
Our Futures: How to find a job.

Technology & Leadership Program: Spring 2006

Jasmine Criss
Nancy Guevara
Arielle Gonyeau
Sylvia McClain
Chantelle Mabrey
Laura Romo
Jetzabell Parodi
Elba Romero
Berniece Walker

TLP is directed by Bessie Natareno, a 20-year-old woman, graduate of GirlSource's programming, and former vice-president of the Board of Directors. Bessie is a full-time student as well as full-time employee of GirlSource.

GirlSource wants to congratulate Bessie for guiding these young women to the excellent work they have completed!

By the way...GirlSource is hiring for 2 concentrated summer cycles of the Technology and Leadership Program. A month of progamming from June to July for 12 young women, and a month of programming from July to August for 12 young women.

Contact Bessie if you have young women in mind for these positions!

GirlSource Spring 2006 Graduation!

2006-05-16T11:49:00.000-07:00

Monday, May 15th marked another graduation for our Technology & Leadership Program and Community Leadership Program.

Bessie Natareno, Technology & Leadership Program Director and Christina Lopez, Community Leadership Educator graduated 18 participants in the Penthouse of the Hamms Building. The room was filled with friends and family.

The Community Leadership Program participants previewed material from their upcoming workshop on Violence, happening Wednesday, May 18th at 4:30 pm in the GirlSource conference room. The poems shared are just a piece of what they will share with the community.

Technology & Leadership Participants told of their experience through a forward-looking skit of a GirlSource reunion 10 years from now, explaining their experience at GirlSource and what it meant to them to participate in the program.

Aisha Bilal, Executive Director, thanked the audience on behalf of GirlSource's staff and Board of Directors for their support in allowing GirlSource to be a part of their young women's lives, congratulated Bessie and Christina with bouquets of flowers for their work, and surprised former Community Leadership Program Director Arlene Sudaria Daus and Community Leadership Educator Joanna Ferrey with bouquets as well.

Much food and fellowship was shared by all!

Upcoming celebration: Senior Celebration, "Closing Circle" on June 8th. Details to follow!

WAVE 2006 is Here!

2006-05-04T01:51:00.000-07:00

On May 4th, GirlSource will join community members to honor Maudelle Shirek, Roselyne Swig, and Judith Ford for their commitment to the Bay Area community. The WAVE (Women of Achievement, Vision, and Excellence) Awards will be held at the Grand Hyatt off Union Square.

The reception kicks off at 11 am, with a multi-media presentation showing some of GirlSource's multimedia products including: spoken word and documentaries.

At 12 noon the doors open to seat all guests to a luncheon and enrich them with an overview of the lives of our honorees - a film production created by GirlSource's Outreach and Education Team, award our winners the WAVE award and name this year's Glady Thacher Scholarship winners.

GirlSource would like to thank its friends and supporters for helping make this year's WAVE a success!

We'll be posting pictures and memories from the event, so check back!

Honorees Announced for WAVE 2006

2006-04-12T00:00:00.000-07:00

GirlSource honors its 2006 Women of Achievement, Vision, and Excellence on May 4 at the Union Square Grand Hyatt in San Francisco. This year's honorees include:

Judith Ford
Maudelle Shirek
Roselyne "Cissie" Swig

Judith Ford served as a judge on the Alameda Superior Court for nearly 20 years after a career in computer technology. She was the first African-American woman to become an Alameda County judge, and she served as a mentor to many women judges who have followed her on the Alameda County bench. Judge Ford led Alameda County's efforts to improve the use of technology in the court. Judge Ford was first appointed by former Governor Jerry Brown to the Oakland- Piedmont-Emeryville Municipal Court in Alameda County. She served there from 1983 until 1998, and also served as the presiding judge. She was elevated to the Superior Court in 1998 and served in that capacity until her retirement in November 2002. Judge Ford graduated from Boalt Hall School of Law when she was 39 years old. Before becoming a judge, she worked as a San Francisco assistant district attorney, a private practitioner and a regional director of the Federal Trade Commission.
Maudelle Shirek, former Berkeley City Council member and vice mayor was the oldest elected official in California, according to her aide, and her supporters often use "icon" and "hero" to describe her. Her adversaries, while respecting her integrity and dignified presence, are more likely to favor "radical" and "stubborn," or in former days, "Communist." In 1984, at the age of 73, Maudelle ran for Berkeley City Council, eventually serving eight consecutive terms before retiring at age 89. A granddaughter of slaves, she left her rural Arkansas home for California in the middle of World War II, and before long she was campaigning for fair housing and other civil rights for African Americans. She became a union organizer and an office manager of the Co-op Credit Union, and she helped found two Berkeley senior centers, one of which she still actively oversees. She delivers meals to shut-in seniors, or if it's Tuesday, does all the shopping for lunches at the New Light Senior Center, which she founded 27 years ago.
Roselyne "Cissie" Swig is founder and president of ComCon International, is a member of the board of directors of The Swig Company, and was the founder of Roselyne C. Swig Artsource (1978-94). She has devoted decades to philanthropic and community service efforts at the local, national and global levels with the principal focus on women’s and social welfare issues, fine art, political advocacy and education. She was appointed by
President Bill Clinton as director of the U.S. Department of State Art in Embassies Program. Roselyne is the founder of SF Partners Ending Domestic Abuse. Her additional board memberships include KQED, Mills College, SF Art Institute, UAM/PFA Berkeley, NPR Foundation, AIPAC, American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, Jewish Community Federation of SF, the
Peninsula, Marin & Sonoma Counties, the SF Museum of Modern Art, and the Contemporary Jewish Museum of SF, where she presently serves as chairperson. She has served the City and County of San Francisco as a past president of the SF Arts Commission and the SF Library Commission and co-chairperson of the design committee of the Holocaust Memorial in San
Francisco.

The Outreach and Education Team, a team of GirlSource women who have benefitted from a host of GirlSource programs is producing presentations on each of our honorees' lives.

Contact Holly Million (holly[at]girlsource.org) for corporate sponsorship opportunities and individual tickets to this event celebrating some of the Bay Area's amazing women!

GirlSource Young Women Contribute to Full Circle Fund Study on the Digital Divide

2006-04-06T16:26:00.000-07:00

More recent statistics have shown that, unlike earlier statistics, girls and women are as frequent Internet users as boys and men (Carlsson & Facht 2002).

Nadine Weil of the Full Circle Fund spearheaded a study of technology/computer use among the San Francisco low-income population.

As a Full Circle Fund community fellow, Erika Padilla-Morales (GirlSource's Director of Technology) brought the survey to GirlSource to get youth perspective in the research.

GirlSource's young women completed almost 40 surveys out of the 500 that were distributed as a part of the study. (Almost 10%!) Results of the survey will available later this year as part of the San Francisco TechConnect project.

Have You Seen Her?

2006-03-27T15:40:00.000-08:00

All over San Francisco's Muni bus stops are appearing 3 of GirlSource's own success stories.

The bus kiosk posters are a part of GirlSource's spring fundraising campaign.

Our efforts to raise $125,000 by April 1 have almost reached fruition. Our funders' generosity has raised over $110,000 toward our goal!

Incredible.

WAVE 2006

2006-03-20T15:53:00.000-08:00

The Women of Achievement Vision and Excellence (WAVE) awards is in its fourth year with GirlSource. These awards honor women in the Bay Area who have inspired the community through their leadership throughout their lifetimes.

The 2006 WAVE Awards Luncheon is taking place on Thursday, May 4, 2006.
Join us at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in San Francisco's Union Square as we
honor four outstanding women for their lifetimes of achievement.

Reception at 11:00 AM and luncheon at noon. Tickets are $125 and up. Tables are $2,500 and up. For more information, call Holly Million 415-252-8880 x303.

GirlHealth

2006-03-20T14:37:00.000-08:00

GirlHealth is a health and wellness website created by GirlSource's Technology and Leadership Program. It contains content, research, and illustrations developed by GirlSource participants regarding issues they face.

As experts on their lives they have tackled everything from how to navigate the foster care system, defining date rape, surviving domestic violence, to how to apply to college.

This spring our Technology and Leadership Program participants are tackling the following topics. Look for them on GirlHealth in the summer:

Healthy relationships,
Self-esteem,
Drug abuse,
and How to find a job.

Momentum on GirlSource's Spring 2006 Fundraising Campaign!

2006-03-08T00:48:00.000-08:00

Phone Bank Successful Beginnings 8 staff, participants, and board members formed a phone bank and made to our supporters on Tuesday evening, March 7, and garnered almost $20,000 for GirlSource!

In addition to $26,000 worth of funds donated since our campaign began on March 3rd, we have almost netted $46,000 toward our goal of $125,000 by our April 1 deadline! Thank you so much! Our phone campaign continues on Wednesday, where we hope to fill in more on the thermometer!

Kimmy Manniquis, the Outreach and Education Team, and various participants will be preparing for the Young Women's Health Conference on Thursday. GirlSource will be outreaching to recruit potential new GirlSource girls, as well as reconnecting with young women we have served. We will also have the opportunity to connect with agencies from around the San Francisco Bay Area to see what opportunities we have to partner with them. We're looking forward to the report back from Thursday's event!

Welcome to the GirlSource Blog!

2006-03-07T00:14:00.000-08:00

GirlSource has been serving San Francisco and the surrounding area since 1999. We serve low-income young women, 14 - 18 by providing them meaningful job experiences through 4 distinct programs: Community Leadership Program, Technology & Leadership Program, Young Women's Speaker's Bureau, and Bound for Success.

Through these programs our young women have the opportunity to earn income for the work they produce. They take on leadership roles in developing media products with a young women's voice for young women. They write, create, and educate themselves, each other in their specific programs, and the community about the issues that are relevant to them!

It's March, Women's History Month, and GirlSource's first quarter of 2006 has been an exciting one!

Community Leadership and Technology & Leadership Programs are half-way through their spring cycles, educating and employing 24 young women.
Accepting applications for our annual Glady Thatcher Scholarship
Bound for Success' Outreach and Education Team are making conference appearances at the Empowering Women of Color Conference on the UC Berkeley Campus, the Young Women's Health Conference, and continuing their mentorship of middle school-aged girls at Aptos Middle School.
On March 9th our staff and young women will attend a production of the Vagina Monologues at the Castro Theater in partnership with San Francisco VDay's efforts in exchange for flyering for their event and providing support.
Our graduating seniors have been working with Kimmy Maniquis to complete their FAFSA information by the March 1 deadline. She'll continue to support them as they transition from high school graduates to college freshman!
GirlSource has launched a campaign to raise $125,000 by April 1, 2006. We are beginning this campaign with a challenge grant of $20,000from a GirlSource family foundation funder. That means, every dollar you donate between now and April 1, 2006 will be
doubled by our funder up to a total of $20,000.

Support GirlSource in supporting San Francisco Bay Area's future leaders today!

Meanwhile, we'll be updating you on our goings-on, including program updates and what our young women are up to!