1. The Women’s Fund of Central Ohio Strategic Grantmaking Initiative One Girl June 2009
2. Organizational History The Women’s Fund of Central Ohio is a public foundation that promotes social change by growing philanthropy and empowering women and girls to reach their potential. We serve Delaware, Fairfield, Franklin, Licking, Madison, Pickaway, and Union counties. For the past seven years, we have used an inclusive, consensus-driven model to determine which programs we fund. As a result, more than $800,000 has been given to 90 programs that address the root causes of issues facing women and girls in our community.
3. Strategic Grantmaking History In September 2004, The Women’s Fund of Central Ohio in partnership with The Columbus Foundation published the first gender-specific research study for Central Ohio, COUNT ON HER!. One of the recommendations of COUNT ON HER! described an opportunity to further explore the gender-specific information about girls. In February 2009, The Women’s Fund released One Girl: The Status of Girls in Central Ohio, a report about how girls are faring in our community. In addition to the “numbers and narrative” information, to complete the portrait of girls in central Ohio, The Women’s Fund held 13 “Listening Conversations” with over 500 community members including, social services providers, parents, educators, decision makers, and funders in all seven counties. Using an appreciative and strengths-based model of inquiry, we asked adults questions concerning the experiences of girls in each community. Then we asked the experts – Girls themselves - what it is that motivates them, what resources have been most helpful, and what they need to catapult to success.
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5. Education: Girls had higher honors rates than boys across all counties in central Ohio. Although girls consistently perform better than boys on the 5th, 8th, and 11th grade reading and math proficiency tests, they still fall behind in science.
6. Health: Over 96% of girls are able to access health care. This rate drops to 91% in Franklin County. One in three girls described themselves as overweight, even though just 8.5% were overweight (BMI at or above 95th percentile)
7. Sexual Health: 55% of girls who have had sexual intercourse during the past three months used a condom, compared to 65% of boys. Girls in Franklin County are 38% more likely to get pregnant and 32% more likely to have an abortion than any of her peers in in central Ohio.
8. Safety: One in five girls in central Ohio have had thoughts of hurting herself, one in six have thought of suicide and one in ten have attempted suicide in the past year.
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10. Tuesday May 5 in Pickaway - 28 girls, grades 5th – 8th, both at-risk and thriving
18. Friday June 5 in Pickaway County - 15 adults, 1 girl
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20. Major Recurring Themes Self Esteem and Confidence Building Self Forgiveness Building Assertiveness skills Combining self esteem building with mentorship program that can be implemented in school curriculums Establishing healthy relationships with parents and peers Relationship safety and dating violence training Mother daughter programs to promote the relationship between a girl and her mother Comprehensive, medically accurate sexual health education should start in 5th grade Community accountability The Community is largely unaware of the story of girls Everyone who comes in contact with a girl can change her life and be changed Exposure Our conversations have reported that girls are not accessing opportunities to experience life outside of their normal environment
23. Generational Thinking: girls have only seen one way of life because that is how their mothers and grandmothers have lived. Don’t know any other way of living.
24. Campaigning needs to be done in order to promote the potential of girls outside of the region.
27. Urban Counties such as Franklin also reported generational thinking especially within African American communities
28. Parental Responsibility - kids imitate parents at school, parents are not leading the conversation at home
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30. Adult Survey Results What do you think are the most salient issues for girls in your community? Most Important Least Important
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32. Girl’s Survey Results Total number of girls who completed the survey: 52 10 years old – 1 11 years old - 6 12 years old - 6 13 years old - 13 14 years old - 10 15 years old - 3 16 years old - 5 17 years old - 5 18 years old - 2 19 years old – 1
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34. Convening Results: Adults Focus on adult/child relationships Adult women mentoring high school, middle school and elementary school girls An emergency mentorship task force would function as a safety net of support for at-risk girls Provide an incentive-based child development parenting program that would reach parents in their homes and engage the parents to be more connected to their daughter’s social and academic development When asked about peer mentoring, adults agreed that peers are more powerful influences than adults Adults want mentoring programs that provide empowerment and enriching opportunities.
35. Convening Results: Girls Focus on peer to peer influence Of the 52 girls who completed the survey, 65.4% of girls indicated that they would prefer high school girls mentoring middle school girls. Girls want mentorship from someone closer to their age who preferably has a similar background Girls want adults around and they want to have access to older peers as well Girls do not want assigned mentors or “special assigned” groups such as a specific group for girls dealing with parental divorce Girls have expressed the need for a more comprehensive mentoring experience with opportunities to participate in activities where they can bond with older girls and girls within their same peer group.
