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Girls Inc. Activists’ Events a Success

Girls Inc. teen leaders created bright spots of hope for their communities this month by leading and hosting two events helping prevent sexual violence and increase health equity.

Two months ago, with the desire to create awareness to support change around these issues, the girls applied for – and were awarded – two youth activism grants totaling nearly $10,000 from the Oakland Youth Advisory Commission to help fund their activism ideas.

The girls kicked into high gear to make their projects happen, contacting partners throughout Alameda County, and organizing everything from the topics and activities to the media outreach to the vendor spaces.

On May 19th and 22nd, all their efforts bore fruit. One group of girls hosted “Change The Norm,” a youth community forum which brought together teens and adults to address the communal harm of rape culture and sexual violence, and its impact on Oakland’s youth community. The other group hosted a “Field Day of Resilience” in Concordia Park where community members came to learn about health equity and environmental justice, through everything from signing up for CalFresh to participating in educational games to learning to garden.

Hannah, one of the leaders hosting the Field Day, just became a participant in the ACT (Advocating Change Together) Program this year— and says the program has already made a big difference in her life. As she puts it, “It was really cool to put on an event as youth and to have so many people come and know you’re making a difference in their lives .”

Thank you so much to our partners in these advocacy efforts:

Alliance for Girls

MISSSEY

BAWAR

BAY-Peace

APEB

Kaiser Permanente Thrive

Alameda County Community Food Bank

Native American Health Center