Academic Support & Mentoring for Underserved Girls

Happy Harvest Season to all volunteers, families, donors, supporters, and friends.

As we get warmed up on our Fall Semester and School Year '22-'23, we also owe our allies an update on how our Summer Session 2022 proceeded, along with other organizational highlights from the last quarters.

With the departure of former g2W program heavyweights Andrea and Ellie last spring, new hires Leelee and Lola took us admirably to the finish line for Spring Semester ‘21 with weekly theater arts, mindfulness sessions, and other activities, while planning for Summer Session ‘22. Late elementary girls applied to academic-track middle-schools and as-always we supported them. 

Then as soon as formal schools let out in early June, our focus shifted to preparations for Summer Session ‘22. This year's camp served 18 and ran July 5th thru the 29th, with its theme to encourage young girls to BE the very best version of themselves through art and creative practices. 

Each morning, students arrived as early as 07:45am and were invited to participate in open activities, which included painting, coloring, puzzles, table games, reading, DIY bracelet making, flower crown making, dress up, nutritional support, and more.

Around 10:00 am, students are asked to clean up after themselves and we gathered as a group. The students are then reminded of the schedule for the day, general rules to respect each other, the staff, the school and themselves and shared mutually-supportive affirmations. 

Around 10:15 am, students were broken into two groups (youngers from age 6-8 and olders from ages 9-12) and are led by a High School intern to their designated workshops with invited guest moderators who led workshops centering theatre, poetry, dance, arts activism and self art. Students are offered one break during their workshop where they can get fresh air and partake in a snack (normally fruit, cheese, popcorn and a beverage).  

At 12:00, students were dismissed from their workshop and led back to the common meeting area where they had lunch followed by more open activities. 

Afternoon sessions began at 1:30, where participants students are co-supervised in their workshops by our high school interns. During workshops, students spent a generous amount of time creating a project that they were encouraged to take on with commitment. Some of those projects include creating a book of poems, making theatre masks, painting self portraits, creating art through an activism lens and learning a group dance. 

At 3:00p, participants were taken to the common meeting area where they had an evening snack and were  picked up by their families. Girls were yet again also free to participate in open activities.  

Each Friday, we took a break from workshops and our regular scheduled programming and led large group activities & field trips. On the first week, we went to the Palo Alto Art Center where the girls were able to make flower pots out of clay and planted flowers in their pot. 

The students then went to Rinconada Park where they explored the play structure with staff, interns and each other. The girls said this was one of their favorite activities during the summer. 

The second Friday of camp was Water Day where the girls were able to play with water balloons on the lawn and make tie dye shirts. We were joined by Pets in Need in the afternoon who brought puppies, a chinchilla and even a snake. The girls learned how to hold the pets and the safest way to engage with them. 

We were also joined by Fresh Approach who taught the girls how to compost in TPS garden. They also learned the different roles all the different bugs play in composting. They picked ripe tomatoes, egg plants and squash that they were able to take home and enjoy with their families. 

The final Friday of camp was game day where the girls played games and puzzles and were able to gain points that they were able to exchange for gifts. Each girl received a gift no matter how many points they received. The final friday the girls also got to jump in a jump house and make their own ice cream sandwiches.

Workshops Offered over the summer: 

Theatre (ages 8 and younger) - The girls learned theatre terminology and are able to identify specific theatrical elements in plays and musicals.  They were able to play games that strengthened performance skills and create art projects that gave context to the historical elements of the stage. They also wrote their own plays that included everything they learned. 

Intentional Poetry (ages 8 and older) - Students were given resources to gain a deeper understanding on how to communicate their feelings and emotions using poetry as a catalyst. In this workshop, the girls we led in games, activities and space to write their own portfolio of poetry. 

Dance - Girls learned individual, partner, and group dances from culturally-relevant eras and locations.

So now, with pandemic uncertainties still with us, we’re grateful to have completed a safe, popular Summer Session ‘22, even as we again collaborate with The Primary School in East Palo Alto to provide out-of-school programming for their student body and youth in adjacent neighborhoods during Fall Semester, ‘22. 

Supportive services like out-of-school programming for youth and affordable, quality schools make, according to those using them, a huge difference in keeping life in Silicon Valley manageable for low-income and now even moderate-income families. Girls To Women and our counterpart community organizations are sworn to serving . . . but we couldn’t do it without the support of people like you. Our individual and institutional supporters are what make our services possible - thanks again!! 

We would seem to be living in a time of uncertainty between public health issues, drought, wildfires, political volatility, and international conflicts. From where we are on the ground, providing stability in basic resources like structured recreation, education and childcare, our collective effort and stability despite economic, political, and public health unknowns DOES make a difference. Please remain with us in that work in whatever way you can.

With best autumnal wishes,

Pat

Patricia Foster

Founder/Director, g2W

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Links:

• SJ Merc. article on how nonprofits help break poverty in SV.
• More recent confirmation of after-school's value to low-income.
• Prescient New Yorker article on Bay Area lessons from pandemic.

Hello Allies, Volunteers, Supporters, Friends --

The First Quarter of 2022 was a time to regroup, plan ahead, bring on new personnel, and settle into our new program home at The Primary School,East Palo Alto.

After two years of programmatic excellence, our talented Programs Director Andrea Acosta made two momentous moves . . . to Hawai'i, and getting married! Best of luck Andrea, we'll miss your innovative and well-planned programming.

Also moving on after more than four years was Ellie, longtime EPA resident, who had her girls go through the program, and who coordinated everything from Latinx family outdoor excursions to polling families as as to ascertain their critical needs as COVID bit down on society. Ellie's moving on to other addresses and pursuits. Good luck and we’ll miss your excellent work Ellie! Alas that the very difficult rental housing market on The Peninsula is part of the reason that Ellie isn't working with us now.

But one door closes, another opens. In February we hired Jalisa ‘Leelee’ Jackson, who has earned a Master's Degree in Fine Arts from U.C. Riverside and a B.A. in Theater from U.C. Irvine. Leelee's a founder of Black Light Artists' Collective. But Leelee also has digital technology, particularly graphics, skills and helped to coordinate our local East Palo Alto Teens Home program. Leelee jumped right in and stated a theater arts activity for our girls while planning for Summer Session and the subsequent full School Year Program to be rolled out as we (hopefully) continue to emerge from the COVID pandemic era.

Just hired and joining us for the upcoming 5 week Summer Session '22 is Lola, a graduate of American University in Washington, D.C.. Lola's skill set in educational programming and youth development look to have her be a solid assistant to Leelee and an activity leader in her own right. Welcome Lola!

The staff transitions meant that our programming during Spring Semester '22 has temporarily been reduced to:

• Weekly theater arts activities, as-mentioned previously, with Leelee.
• Lakiba Pittman, our perenniel ally, advisor, former board member, and program specialist, continues her weekly hourlong mindfulness sessions for mid-elementary girls at The Primary School.

That's all changing for what will be a lively Summer Session '22, which will be arts-based, yet jam-packed with:

• Theater arts activities, from playwriting to sets-making (and of course, acting!);
• outdoor excursions & field trips;
• Gardening;
• Sports & games;
• Literacy and math-reasoning games to combat education 'summer-slump;

. . . in other words, the popular programming for 35 girls 6-14 that has had signups exceeding capacity for 15 years!

 We hope that this message finds you weathering the COVID storm with good health and as little stress and uncertainty as possible. We will by the way continue to take the pandemic seriously, with vaccination histories checked and preventive measures taken. Yes, COVID is on the wane but unfortunately, for various reasons the U.S. COVID mortality remains well ahead that of other prosperous nations.

But we will get through this. And here at g2W, we feel that positive youth development opportunities for low-income girls are important at any time.  So here's a big THANK YOU for what you do for our community's low-income girls -- as a donor, volunteer . . . whatever you're able.  We see the good result in the faces of the girls and their parents every day.

Yours in community,

Pat

Patricia Foster, Founder/Director

Links:

• The importance of summer programming for low-income youth
• How structured arts programming supports at-risk youth
• COVID caution is justified, NY Times article on high US deaths.

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