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In This Issue...
Note from the Director
Alliance for Girls Update
Member Spotlight
Voices of the Alliance
A Girl's Perspective
The World of Girls
Research & Resources:
Ending Harassment in the
Bay Area
The Sexual Abuse to Prison Pipeline
When Girls & Women Code
Op-Eds & Articles:
How to Attract Female
Engineers
When Sex Ed Discusses
Gender Inequality, Sex
Gets Safer
Members In the News
For Members
We've uploaded the Executive Summary and videos from the conference here. Check out the amazing speakers and review notes from the Girls Agenda, which will serve to be the mandate for Alliance for Girls moving forward.
If you haven't filled out a survey for evaluating the conference yet, please do so here.
Check out the blog under "Member Pages" on our website! It features the voices of fellow members and the girls they serve.
Interested in featuring a blog post, sharing a story, or being the next Member Spotlight? Check out the guidelines on this page.
You can also contact Kailin Chou at
kailin@alliance4girls.org .
 Follow us on Twitter
 Like us on Facebook
Alliance Events
Respect Institute Training
Wednesday, October 21
9:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Girls Inc. of Alameda County
510 16th Street
Oakland, CA 94612
Community Events
Corporate Philanthropy Awards & Summit
Thursday, July 23
7:15 AM - 10:00 AM
Hilton SF Union Square
333 O'Farrell Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
One free ticket per org
(Use code: 2015philanthropy)
Self-Love & Beauty Embodied Workshop
Saturday, July 25
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Location TBD
San Francisco Bay Area
Applications Not Accepted:
How to Get Family Foundations to Notice Your Organization
Tuesday, August 4
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Webinar
Mother-Daughter Circle Facilitator Training
Thursday, September 17
8:00 AM - 4:30 PM
The Women's Building
3543 18th Street #8
San Francisco, CA 94110
Re:Gender's 2015 Annual Summit
September 29 - 30
Atlanta, Georgia
Astronomical Society of the Pacific Annual Meeting
Saturday, October 10
Chabot Space & Science Center
10000 Skyline Boulevard
Oakland, CA 94619
Events for Girls
GirlFormation Retreat!
Saturday, July 25
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Mission YMCA
4080 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA 94112
FREE!
GenHERation Summer Leadership Series - Sunnyvale
Monday, July 27
2:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Yahoo! Headquarters
701 1st Avenue
Sunnyvale, CA 94089
GenHERation Summer Leadership Series - SF
Tuesday, July 28
6:30 PM - 9:00 PM
Adobe
601 Townsend Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
Girl Talk: Teen Monologue Series
Sunday, August 9
Showtimes: 12 PM & 2 PM
New Works Festival at
Thick House Theatre
1695 18th Street
San Francisco, CA 94107
PBWC's Young Women's Summit
Wednesday, October 14
8:30 AM - 3:00 PM
Computer History Museum
1401 North Shoreline Boulevard
Mountain View, CA 94043
FREE!
We'd like to post more events that girls can attend. Please help us by submitting your events to kailin@alliance4girls.org.
Members in the News
Camp Reel Stories was featured in the East Bay Express! Check out the article here.
Beth Hossfeld and Kelli Finley of One Circle Foundation were recently interviewed on the podcast, Shrink Rap Radio. The interview aired on Thursday, July 16th!
The Research & Advocacy Committee
Alliance for Girls is grateful for the Research & Advocacy Committee for helping us put together the content of this newsletter. They are:
 Helynna Brooke is the Executive Director of the
San Francisco Mental Health Education Funds, Inc where she focuses on advocating for appropriate mental health services for women and girls. Helynna co-founded the Red Web Foundation in 2003, following the creation of the First Moon Kit for celebrating the first period of a woman. The Red Web Foundation is on the bleeding edge of education and advocacy for healthy attitudes about the menstrual cycle.
 Kelli Finley is the Development Director of One Circle Foundation where she supports the expanding reach of Girls Circle, The Council for Boys and Young Men, and Women’s Circle in the Bay Area and across the country. Prior to her work at One Circle, Kelli developed and ran a first-of-its-kind therapeutic program within the San Francisco County jails for children who have a parent that is incarcerated. Kelli holds a Master’s degree in Counseling with an emphasis on Marriage and Family Therapy.
We're looking for more members to join the Researh & Advocacy Committee! Interested in joining? Email Kailin at kailin@alliance4girls.org.
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Note from the Director
Dear Friends,
Since its public launch in May 2012, Alliance for Girls (AFG) has built a broad and diverse membership with a strong track record of working together to affect positive change. AFG is now the largest regional girls’ alliance in the country and was recently awarded the National Girls Initiative Innovation Award from the US Department of Justice. New doors are opening as AFG and its members prove that this model works. That together we are stronger and thus better able to prepare the girls of today to be the leaders of tomorrow.
In this moment of opportunity and growth I once again look to you, our members and stakeholders, to lead the way. At Building a Girls Agenda, Alliance for Girls’ 3rd Annual Conference which convened 220 girls’ champions, AFG asked attendees to craft a shared vision and commit to an action that will move us closer, as a community, to achieving our goals. Attendees identified media, leadership, health and education as key issue areas that are critical to girls' future success. In addition, attendees called upon AFG and the girl-serving community to amplify young women’s voices, engage men and boys, and include families.
This input (for more information about the results of the Bay Area Girls Agenda please click here) will lay the groundwork for AFG’s work over the next several years, and it will serve as the backbone of the Bay Area Girls Agenda. If you are an AFG member and were not able to attend the conference, please contact Kailin (kailin@alliance4girls.org) or me (emma@alliance4girls.org) to ensure your voice and perspective are included. If you attended the conference and have not yet joined Alliance for Girls, please do so and be a part of making this vision a reality!
Over the next several months, AFG and its members will continue to refine and define the Bay Area Girls Agenda. Details to follow in the weeks ahead, so please stay tuned!
In Solidarity,
Emma Mayerson
Alliance for Girls Update
Building A Girls Agenda: Conference Results, Summary & Videos
Two months ago, Alliance for Girls hosted its 3rd Annual Conference, bringing together more than 220 girls’ champions from public, private, and nonprofit sectors to listen to inspiring speakers, strengthen leadership skills, and, most importantly, work together to build a Bay Area-wide Girls Agenda. We’re excited to report the following results from the conference:
- 222 leaders attended, representing more than 130 organizations and businesses.
- Conference attendees have a collective reach of more than 309,000 girls.
- 90% of attendees in the survey reported that the conference will help them be a stronger champion for girls.
- 95% of attendees reported that the conference made them feel connected to a broader movement of supporting and advocating for Bay Area girls.
- 97% of attendees reported that they believe in the vision set forth at the conference and want to be a part of making that vision become a reality.
These results tell us that our collective impact will go beyond this conference and have a transformative effect on girls and young women throughout the Bay Area. (If you attended the conference and haven’t filled out the survey yet, please do so here.)
Those who missed the conference and/or want to review the sessions can access the Executive Summary and videos here. In particular, we invite everyone to review notes from the Building a Girls Agenda session, which will guide Alliance for Girls’ priorities moving forward. These priorities cover four major components of a girls’ life: media, education, health, and leadership. Findings include the following:
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Sector-Wide Needs: (1) Map services provided to girls in the Bay Area and identify gaps, (2) develop interconnected system of agencies working as one force, and (3) advocate for increasing funding, partnerships, and resources to support gender-specific programming.
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Issue Areas:
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Media: Promote empowered and positive representations of girls/women in media.
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Leadership: Connect girls to leadership programming and include them at decision-making tables.
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Education: Ensure girls are safe at school while reforming education systems to be more responsive and inclusive of the way girls learn.
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Health: Provide access to health services and sex education, creating space to discuss trauma and self-efficacy, and address gender-based violence.
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Movement Building: Amplify girls’ voices, work with families, and include boys and men in the conversation.
From September through December, we will be hosting four follow-up sessions to continue building on the issue areas above and ultimately consolidate them into a clear strategic plan. Help us strengthen our collective impact by joining us in the movement, attending our events, and supporting our community.
Member Spotlight: Girls Leading Girls
A soccer clinic jointly hosted by Alliance members
Girls Leading Girls & America SCORES Bay Area
This quarter's member spotlight features Girls Leading Girls, as told by CEO and Founder, Brianna Russell:
Girls Leading Girls is a new nonprofit that trains young women in leadership and life skills through soccer. Our programs focus on three main areas: skill development through soccer training and competitive play; leadership training through our junior coaches and career mentoring programs; and character building through our community service initiatives both locally and internationally. To date, we have over 150 girls in our programs from various socio-economic backgrounds and ages residing in San Francisco. We’re building a system of training, motivation, team governance, and game strategy that fits the needs and differences of girls. Girls Leading Girls demonstrates the need for female leaders on the field, on the coaching staff, and in the world.
Last winter, in collaboration with one of our organizational partners and an Alliance for Girls member, America SCORES Bay Area, we successfully completed our first program of free winter soccer clinics for girls living in the Excelsior district. Our goal was to provide free access to girls with less opportunities for soccer and leadership programs in a space designed by girls for girls. Our approach has been effective in providing positive female role models for girls to emulate and gain confidence by envisioning themselves in leadership positions in the future. We had guest coaches from the Academy of Art University women’s team attend a clinic to help run activities and also do a Q&A with our players and parents about the benefits and opportunities of playing collegiate soccer.
Girls from two different public schools ages 7-12 joined us weekly for community building, leadership, and soccer activities. Our most memorable moment from this program was the bond created between girls from the two different schools. Before the clinics started the girls had played on separate teams and saw each other as rivals, even enemies. By the end of the clinics, the girls became friends and overcame challenges in competition by working together in a safe and empowering environment. It was inspiring to see new friendships formed and the support we got from the school faculty and America Scores staff.
Collaborate with Girls Leading Girls!
In general, Girls Leading Girls is open to all sorts of new ideas and partnerships. They are particularly interested in collaborating with groups that promote leadership, fitness/ soccer, personal development, and career trajectory guidance for girls. Contact Brianna Russell by emailing her at brianna@girlsleadinggirls.org or calling (415) 712-6618.
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter (@GrlsLeadingGrls) and Instagram!
Voices of the Alliance
This section features the voices of Alliance for Girls members. Check out snapshots of their entries below, and click the links to access their full posts. All of our members' entries are featured on Alliance for Girls' blog.
A Mountain of Connection
by Kelli Finley of One Circle Foundation
"On June 25th and 26th, 52 incredible people gathered in San Pablo, California for our 2 day Girls Circle Facilitator Training. Many Alliance members or connections were in attendance along with many other dedicated folks working with or raising girls in a variety of capacities around the Bay Area and beyond. Over the last 15 months since I started at One Circle Foundation, certainly one of my favorite parts of the job is catching the last part of the trainings. On the second day, everyone gathers into small groups, and experiences circle for themselves." Read more.
 Title IX: A Perspective
by Kiki Williams of Equal Rights Advocates
"Today is the 43rd anniversary of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, a federal law that has opened up more doors for me than I ever could have imagined. Title IX gave me the opportunity to start playing sports at a young age and all the way through college, providing me with invaluable opportunities and experiences that have shaped the woman and advocate I have become, as it has for countless other girls and young women. And now, Title IX has become the focus of my work at Equal Rights Advocates, where my passion for working with young female students has been reignited and fuels all the exciting work we are doing to achieve the gender equity goals set by Title IX more than 40 years ago." Read more.
A Girl's Perspective
This section spotlights the unique perspectives of girls in the community.
In this issue, we hear from three young women: (1) Ana Nicole diosdado Gonzalez, a Mission Girl and activist sharing her experience speaking at Alliance for Girls' 3rd Annual Conference, (2) Liana Thomason, Founder of Berkeley High School's BHS Stop Harassing also sharing her experience speaking at the Conference and (3) Michelle Wong, an alumna of AAUWSF's Tech Trek Science Camp illustrating her personal account on feeling "crowded out" in classroom discussions.
 Q&A with Ana:
How did you prepare for your GirlTalk?
"This experience was new and exciting for me. I had done public speaking in the past but not at this level. The preparation was challenging and a lot of work, but I had a lot of fun. I had to really put a lot of thought into what I was writing and how I wanted to tell my story. I learned a lot from my mentor and I acquired new writing and public speaking skills. Everything that made it in my speech came from the bottom of my heart." Read more about Ana's reflections as a featured speaker at Alliance for Girls' 3rd Annual Conference.
 Q&A with Liana:
What did it mean to be featured in this year's conference?
"I got to 'open' for Theresa Younger -- a huge honor! Meeting her and hearing [her] express interest and support of BHS Stop Harassing was a tremendously positive experience. I felt like my work was being validated, now that so many people were hearing about it. It was also great to meet so many influential women in organizations that serve Bay Area girls." Read more about Liana's experience as a featured speaker at our 3rd Annual Conference.
 From Michelle:
"As my AP Physics C teacher begins to explain a problem, the classroom of six female students and twentythree male students is attentively listening.
A mistake!
I had noticed that my teacher had skipped a line of work on the whiteboard. I thought to myself, Did anyone else catch that? I looked around the room. Why hasn’t anyone else spoken up?
I kept asking myself these questions until one of my male classmates, who is a particularly frequent participant in the class, raised his hand and pointed out the mistake I had noticed before." Read more about Michelle's personal account on her experiences in coed classrooms.
Do you know a girl who'd like to submit a piece for our Fall Newsletter? Contact Kailin Chou at kailin@alliance4girls.org.
The World of Girls
This section provides links to summaries of news and current research surrounding girls and women from the past few months.
Research & Resources
Ending Harassment in the Bay Area
Alliance member, Equal Rights Advocates, published a report, Ending Harassment Now: Keeping Our Kids Safe At School, which explores Title IX compliance within the Bay Area’s 116 school districts regarding policies and procedures for addressing sexual harassment of students, making recommendations on how school administrators, legislators, and concerned individuals can improve access to safe and fair education for all students. Studies have found that over half of girls and at least 40% of boys in grades 7 through 12 have faced some form of unwanted conduct based on or because of sex. Access the full report here.
The Sexual Abuse to Prison Pipeline
The Ms. Foundation, Rights4Girls, and the Georgetown Law Center on Poverty and Inequality recently released a report, The Sexual Abuse to Prison Pipeline: The Girls’ Story. The report exposes the alarming rate in which girls who experience sexual abuse are routed into the juvenile justice system as a result of their victimization. In addition to detailing the criminalization of girls, especially girls of color, who are sexually abused, the report offers policy recommendations to dismantle this pipeline. Access the full report here.
When Girls & Women Code
A new documentary, CODE: Debugging the Gender Gap, looks at the cultural reasons behind the male-dominated world of software engineering, diving into why deep seated cultural stereotypes have permeated the tech industry. Maybe it's because Barbie, the film's narrator muses in one scene, tells girls they can be computer engineers—but only if they let the boys solve the problems. Maybe it's because male allies at women-focused conferences tell women to simply have faith that they will eventually get equal pay. Or maybe it has to do with the difficulty of proving sexism in the workplace. Check out a Q&A with the Director/Producer Robin Hauser Reynolds in the Atlantic here.
Op-Eds & Other Articles
How to Attract Female Engineers
The figures are well known: At Apple 20% of tech jobs are held by women and at Google, only 17%. A report by the Congressional Joint Economic Committee estimates that nationwide about 14% of engineers in the work force are women. One successful way to attract more women to the field is to promote work that is more societally meaningful. At the interdisciplinary D-Lab at M.I.T., which focuses on developing “technologies that improve the lives of people living in poverty,” 74% of the over 230 enrolled students this past year were women. Read more here.
When Sex Ed Discusses Gender Inequality, Sex Gets Safer
According to the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, “comprehensive sex education includes age-appropriate, medically accurate information on a broad set of topics related to sexuality including human development, relationships, decision-making, abstinence, contraception, and disease prevention.”
In a new study, Nicole Haberland, a senior associate at the Population Council, makes the case that “comprehensive” should include gender and power dynamics. Ten of the programs she studied had at least one lesson on gender and power, and 80% of them saw significant decreases in pregnancy or STIs compared with a control group. Of the 12 programs that did not address these issues, 17 percent led to those positive outcomes. Read the full post here.
Did we miss something? Email kailin@alliance4girls.org.
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