Girls Coalition of Greater Boston

About the Girls' Coalition of Greater Boston

Created in 1992, the Girls’ Coalition of Greater Boston is a diverse consortium of Boston-area organizations and individuals working together to encourage the healthy development of girls. We expand and enhance the quality of girls' programs by building a sense of community among the adults who work with, mentor, and parent girls. Membership in the Girls’ Coalition is open to anyone interested in supporting girls’ healthy development . To learn more about how to get involved in the Girls's Coalition of Greater Boston, please email us at: girlscoalitioninfo@gmail.com

MGH's Center for Community Health Improvement – Youth Program offers a Unique Educational Opportunity for High School Girls

 

MGH’s Center for Community Health Improvement – Youth Program is pleased to announce an exciting opportunity for girls interested in environmental science. The Coastal Studies for Girls http://www.coastalstudiesforgirls.org/ is the country’s first semester-long residential marine and environmental science school for 10^th grade girls. The school brings girls from around the country to the coast of Maine for 16 weeks during either the fall or spring term of their sophomore year of high school, enabling them to immerse themselves in a challenging and rewarding experience while living in a beautiful coastal landscape that serves as a natural laboratory. Students at Coastal Studies for Girls have a love for learning and discovery, an adventurous spirit, and interact directly with resident scholars and guest lecturers as they pursue a rigorous marine science-based curriculum. 

Join us for an informational session to learn more about getting a great girl you might know involved.   The evening will allow you to ask questions and hear personal experiences from our very own CSG alums. Light Refreshments will be served.  We look forward to meeting future Coastal Studies Girls!

Date: Wednesday July 28, 2010
Time: 6:00pm
Location:  Mass General Hospital, Yawkey 2-210

For questions and to RSVP please email: awalsh11@partners.org
Please RSVP by July 22.

NY Times Op Ed: The Myth of Mean Girls

By MIKE MALES and MEDA-CHESNEY LIND

IF nine South Hadley, Mass., high school students — seven of them girls — are proved to have criminally bullied another girl who then committed suicide, as prosecutors have charged, they deserve serious legal and community condemnation.

However, many of the news reports and inflamed commentaries have gone beyond expressing outrage at the teenagers involved and instead invoked such cases as evidence of a modern epidemic of “mean girls” that adults simply fail to comprehend. Elizabeth Scheibel, the district attorney in the South Hadley case, declined to charge school officialswho she said were aware of the bullying because of their “lack of understanding of harassment associated with teen dating relationships.” A People magazine article headlined “Mean Girls” suggested that a similar case two years ago raised “troubling questions” about “teen violence” and “cyberspace wars.” Again and again, we hear of girls hitting, brawling and harassing.

But this panic is a hoax. We have examined every major index of crime on which the authorities rely. None show a recent increase in girls’ violence; in fact, every reliable measure shows that violence by girls has been plummeting for years. Major offenses like murder and robbery by girls are at their lowest levels in four decades. Fights, weapons possession, assaults and violent injuries by and toward girls have been plunging for at least a decade.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Uniform Crime Reports, based on reports from more than 10,000 police agencies, is the most reliable source on arrests by sex and age. From 1995 to 2008, according to the F.B.I., girls’ arrest rates for violent offenses fell by 32 percent, including declines of 27 percent for aggravated assault, 43 percent for robbery and 63 percent for murder. Rates of murder by girls are at their lowest levels in at least 40 years.

The National Crime Victimization Survey, a detailed annual survey of more than 40,000 Americans by the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics, is considered the most reliable measure of crime because it includes offenses not reported to the police. From 1993 through 2007, the survey reported significant declines in rates of victimization of girls, including all violent crime (down 57 percent), serious and misdemeanor assaults (down 53 percent), robbery (down 83 percent) and sex offenses (down 67 percent).

Public health agencies like the National Center for Health Statistics confirm huge declines in murder and violent assaults of girls. For example, as the number of females ages 10 to 19 increased by 3.4 million, murders of girls fell from 598 in 1990 to 376 in 2006. Rates of murders of and by adolescent girls are now at their lowest levels since 1968 — 48 percent below rates in 1990 and 45 percent lower than in 1975.

The Bureau of Justice Statistics’ Intimate Partner Violence in the United States survey, its annual Indicators of School Crime and Safety, the University of Michigan’s Monitoring the Future survey and the Centers for Disease Control’s Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance all measure girls’ violent offending and victimization. Virtually without exception, these surveys show major drops in fights and other violence, particularly relationship violence, involving girls over the last 15 to 20 years. These surveys also indicate that girls are no more likely to report being in fights, being threatened or injured with a weapon, or violently victimizing others today than in the first surveys in the 1970s.

These striking improvements in girls’ personal safety, including from rape and relationship violence, directly contradict recent news reports that girls suffer increasing danger from violence by their female and male peers alike.

There is only one measure that would in any way indicate that girls’ violence has risen, and it is both dubious and outdated. F.B.I. reports show assault arrests of girls under age 18 increased from 6,300 in 1981 to a peak of 16,800 in 1995, then dropped sharply, to 13,300 in 2008. So, at best, claims that girls’ violence is rising apply to girls of 15 to 25 years ago, not today.

Even by this measure, it’s not girls who have gotten more violent faster — it’s middle-aged men and women, the age groups of the many authors and commentators disparaging girls. Among women ages 35 to 54, F.B.I. reports show, felony assault arrests rocketed from 7,100 in 1981 to 28,800 in 2008. Assault arrests among middle-aged men also more than doubled, reaching 100,500 in 2008. In Northampton, the county seat a few miles from South Hadley, domestic violence calls to police more than tripled in the last four years to nearly 400 in 2009. Why, then, don’t we see frenzied news reports on “Mean Middle-Agers”?

What’s more, the Department of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention concluded that girls’ supposed “violent crime increase” in the ’80s and ’90s resulted from new laws and policies mandating arrests for domestic violence and minor youth offenses “that in past years may have been classified as status offenses (e.g., incorrigibility)” but “can now result in an assault arrest.” Thus, the Justice Department found, increased numbers of arrests “are not always related to actual increases in crime.”

This mythical wave of girls’ violence and meanness is, in the end, contradicted by reams of evidence from almost every available and reliable source. Yet news media and myriad experts, seemingly eager to sensationalize every “crisis” among young people, have aroused unwarranted worry in the public and policy arenas. The unfortunate result is more punitive treatment of girls, including arrests and incarceration for lesser offenses like minor assaults that were treated informally in the past, as well as alarmist calls for restrictions on their Internet use.

Why, in an era when slandering a group of people based on the misdeeds of a few has rightly become taboo, does it remain acceptable to use isolated incidents to berate modern teenagers, particularly girls, as “mean” and “violent” and “bullies”? That is, why are we bullying girls?

Mike Males, a senior researcher at the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, is the author of the forthcoming “Fighting for Girls: New Perspectives on Gender and Violence.” Meda-Chesney Lind is a professor of women’s studies at the University of Hawaii, Manoa.

Why So Few?

In an era in which women are increasingly represented in medicine, law, and business, why do they continue to lag behind men in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics?  This week, AAUW released a new report that that can help to explain this puzzle.

 

Why So Few? Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics is a comprehensive report on the controversial issue of the continued underrepresentation of women in these fields. The report was funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation, the AAUW Letitia Corum Memorial Fund, the AAUW Mooneen Lecce Giving Circle, and the AAUW Eleanor Roosevelt Fund.

 

Drawing upon a large and diverse body of research, AAUW's report provides compelling evidence of environmental and social barriers - including unconscious gender bias, stereotypes, and the climate within college and university science and engineering departments - that continue to limit women's participation and progress.  The report also includes up-to-date statistics on girls' and women's achievement and participation in these areas and offers new ideas for what each of us can do to more fully open scientific and engineering fields to girls and women.

 

A presentation on the report will be held in Washington, D.C. this Thursday, and we invite you to watch the presentation live online.  The presentation will be followed by a panel discussion among invited experts on how to move this important research to practice. 

 

Take Action!

Visit aauw.org/WhySoFew for more information on the report and to download your copy. To register for the live webcast presentation and dialogue on the report on Thursday, March 25, 10-11:30 a.m. EDT, go to WhySoFewWebcast.eventbrite.com

NEW DATE: Getting Results: Why Gender Matters in Mentoring

Getting Results:  Why Gender Matters in Mentoring

 

Hosted by

Bank New York Mellon and Big Sister Association of Greater Boston

In partnership with the Girls’ Coalition

 

Join us on the new date and time 

Friday, March 26, 2010

8:00 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.

BNY Mellon

One Boston Place, 15^th Floor  

Enjoy networking, light breakfast, and thought-provoking

new research on gender and mentoring from

Dr. Jean Rhodes and Dr. Renee Spencer.

 Dr. Deborah Prothrow-Stith will moderate. 

 

Hear from the experts about:

 

• The role of gender in youth mentoring relationships
• Why outcomes for girls are significant
• How the right training makes for longer, stronger
• relationships…and why this matters more for girls

  

Kindly rsvp to Jill Callahan

at 617.236.5304 or jcallahan@bigsister.orgby March 17, 2010

 

GoGirlGo! Leadership Conference Mentoring in Motion

Sponsored by

The Simmons Institute for Leadership and Change 

 
March 25, 2010  8:30am-12:30pm
Location: Simmons College, 300 The Fenway, Boston
Linda K. Paresky Conference Center

• Learn more about the power of mentoring and receive practical tools, resources, and applications to bring to your program.
• Hear from leaders in the field: Lindsay Hyde from Strong Women Strong Girls, Linda Peterson from Mass Mentorship, Diane Zipoli from Big Sister Association.
• Receive a mentoring kit- complete with a resource list of mentoring programs in Boston.
• Find out the latest research in mentoring and how it specifically impacts girls.
• Network: share your program with the group, announce events, find new collaborations, or maybe even find a mentor!
• Starbucks will be served at the event, prizes will be raffled off, and three lucky guests will win Flip Video Cameras!

Schedule and further detials to follow. 

To register, contact Sarah Hatton at gogirlgo.communications@gmail.com

10th Annual Girls Get Connected Technology Conference for Middle School Girls- March 6, 2010

Simmons Conference will be hosting the 10th annual Girls Get Connected Technology Conference for Middle School Girls.

Saturday, March 6, 2010
8:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Simmons College, 300 The Fenway, Boston

For more information contact:

www.girlsgetconnected.org or email: deborah.muscella@simmons.edu.

Sessions for girls on engineering and outer space.

Sessions for adults – teachers, youth leaders, parents – on supporting

girls in learning science and technology led by Girls Inc.

Space is limited.

Download GGC Permission Form-2010

Help Support YWCA Malden's Teen Programs

The weekend of March 6-8^th 2010 (Saturday thru Monday), the YWCA Malden is working with Modell’s to raise funds for the YWCA teen programs.

Here is how it works:

Go to Modell’s (the one in MEDFORD only--) and purchase the spring sporting equipment you know  your children are going to need---Or some for yourself and get 10% off!    If you choose the YWCA Malden, we also get 10% of the proceeds!

Not only will you be getting a discount but you will also be helping to sustain great programs for middle and high school TEEN GIRLS!

Additionally please pass it along to ANY and EVERYONE! 

Girls and Mentoring Breakfast POSTPONED due to snow

Our event host, BNY Mellon's offices will be closed Wednesday (2/10) due to the weather forecast.  We will update this site once a new date is confirmed.

Third Sector New England announces new RFP

Request for Proposals
Grassroots Initiative

Third Sector New England is offering a unique opportunity for three (3) nonprofit organizations in the Massachusetts and Rhode Island areas to be a part of a capacity building initiative.

TSNE's Consulting Program is undertaking this work as part of our ongoing commitment to support smaller social change organizations with limited budgets.

TSNE Consulting Services will offer these organizations an organizational assessment plus 25 hours of work with a consultant.

To learn more, please visit the Consulting Services section of the TSNE website. The online application will go live on February 1. The link will be available on the website from February 1 through March 1.

Girls' Coalition of Greater Boston and Hardy Girls Healthy Women presents Cultivating Hardiness Zones & Becoming a Muse A Strength-Based Approach to Working with Girls

Tuesday, April 27 and Wednesday, April 28, 2010

9:00 am - 4:00 pm
Simmons College, Linda K. Paresky Conference Center, 300 The Fenway, Boston. MA

Spend two days mastering an effective strength-based approach to working with girls and how to incorporate techniques informed by the latest research on girls' health and development into the work you're already doing with girls.

Go to www.hghw.org/events.php to register

Though we encourage you to sign up for both days of training, you may choose instead to register for a single day of training. Both options are available during the registration process.

Workshop Leaders: Lyn Mikel Brown, Ed.D, Anne Belden, M.S. and Lael Couper Jepson, M.S.

Participants will leave with the knowledge and skills to:
Help girls connect with one another and reduce Girlfighting
Show girls how to find the support and resources they need to thrive; and,
Tap into girls' energy and creativity to make the world one that values them for who they are, not how they look;
Create a foundational understanding of facilitation, group process and dynamics within the specific context of working with girls’ coalition groups

Through multi-media presentations, small group activities, practice sessions, and discussion, the training will answer the questions:
What is the cultural landscape in which girls are growing
What is hardiness and why are relational hardiness zones important?
How do we cultivate and sustain hardiness zones with girls?
What form can they take in our community/social context?
What can they offer that girls in our community need?

The training is designed for and open to all adults who live or work with youth, including educators, parents, health care providers, social workers, camp personnel, and other interested community members.

Registration Fees:
$295 by April 13th / $320 after April 13th for both days
$175 by April 13th/ $190 after April 13th for one day
$195 for Girls’ Coalition of Greater Boston members by April 13th/$235 after April 13th for both days
$125 for Girls’ Coalition of Greater Boston members by April 13th/$150 after April 13th for one day

A 15% discount is available for groups of 3 or more from the same agency who register together.

For more information on the training, group rates, or hotel recommendations, please contact Ruya at Hardy Girls Healthy Women (207) 861-8131 or info@hghw.org.  0.7 CEUs will be awarded