Girl Connect, the Connectline, and Spark Kits https://grants.dudleytdoughertyfoundation.org/proposals-2020/girl-connect-the-connectline-and-spark-kits https://grants.dudleytdoughertyfoundation.org/@@site-logo/sitelogo-75x75.png

Girl Connect, the Connectline, and Spark Kits

Additional Information
Used for	We have taken our flagship program virtual. This program has been based on school campuses but now temporarily convenes online, for girls to experience our self-efficacy building curriculum. Groups who were once brought together by a school counselor in a library or a classroom are now coming together on our online platform, opening new ways for them to stay connected to their peers. Programming covers topics from our curriculum like healthy coping skills, assertive communication, positive bonding/friendship, growth mindset, collaboration, and much more. The group format allows for girls to quickly gain a feeling of connection to other girls as they identify shared challenges. Virtual Girl Connect provides a deep sense of connection, decreases isolation, and increases emotional intelligence. During each session girls learn fun and simple coping skills they can use forever.
Benefits	Through activities and experiences designed to cultivate the Six Cs (Critical Thinking, Creativity, Communication, Coping Skills, Collaboration, and Confidence) girls who participate in our programs show significant growth in self-efficacy, which is their belief in their ability to succeed. Increased self-efficacy supports: • Mental health, resiliency, and self-advocacy, • Confidence navigating and creating positive relationships, • More effective participation in school, so girls pursue the college and/or career path of their dreams, and ultimately contribute to the community.
Proposal Description	At Girls Empowerment Network, we know that we have a precious resource to offer our girls and their families during this pandemic: they know us. We aren’t just a phone number for them to call or a fact sheet about health and safety for them to download. We are the adult figures they know from camps, conferences, and their school campuses. We are their fun, trusted role models. We helped them discover they are powerful, and now in this time of increased threat, we have created a multitude of ways to connect with them and provide access to a support network they vitally need. Our team is innovating like never before and we know that can make the difference in girls’ lives. As you know, we have been using every tool at our disposal since 1996, our programs have been intervening on behalf of girls to increase their self-efficacy (or belief in their own abilities.) Self-efficacy is the foundation upon which future successes are built, and this foundation is needed for girls in their everyday lives, especially now. In fact, self-efficacy is one of the psychological protective factors known to mediate the effects of traumatic events, like the COVID-19 pandemic we are all experiencing. Knowing that the call for our mission is now stronger than ever before, this past spring, we carefully reached out to every girls’ family active in our program database (that’s around 2,000 phone calls/emails.) Our girls and their parents told us they need access to activities that reduce isolation and help them manage the extreme stress they are experiencing. Importantly, they need these resources to NOT solely rely on access to high-speed internet, which many of them do not reliably have, as around 80% of the girls we serve come from low income households. Based on this input, research about the importance of self-efficacy in times of stress, and our 24 years of effectively responding to the evolving needs of adolescent girls, we have now rolled out adapted services for adolescent girls by phone or text (the Connectline), through the delivery of activity kits to their homes (Spark Kits), and online (Virtual Girl Connect). Our girl experts are available for girls right now through each of these services—and many girls are participating in all three! I’m so happy that my colleagues who staff the Connectline and Virtual Girl Connect groups are sharing some of what the girls to get their Spark Kits are saying. “I’m glad that my Spark Kit has activities in it that I can do on my own…my parents are always busy and this lets me be creative when I’m by myself so much.” –Middle Schooler “After attending Virtual Girl Connect, my 10 year old came to me with a heart-melting grin and said, ‘I didn't realize just how lonely I have been. Seeing and hearing those girls and the leaders made me not feel lonely anymore.’ “ –Parent We are proud to have taken our flagship Girl Connect program virtual.  As you know, this program has been based on school campuses but now temporarily convenes online, for girls to experience our self-efficacy building curriculum safely from their homes. Groups who were once brought together by a school counselor in a library or a classroom are now coming together on our online platform, opening new ways for them to stay connected to their peers.  Programming covers topics from our curriculum like healthy coping skills, assertive communication, positive bonding/friendship, growth mindset, collaboration, and much more. The group format allows for girls to quickly gain a feeling of connection to other girls as they identify shared challenges. Virtual Girl Connect provides a deep sense of connection, decreases isolation, and increases emotional intelligence. During each session girls learn fun and simple coping skills they can use forever. Girls who may not have readily access to the technology needed to participate in our virtual services are still able to participate in our empowering programs through our Spark Kits. Spark Kits are a fun way for girls in 3rd – 8th grade to have the Girls Empowerment Network’s mission delivered right to their doorsteps. Spark Kits include all the supplies and items needed for self-guided and collaborative activities. The marketing and approach of Spark Kits is designed to be flashy, fun, and appear highly engaging to girls in grades 3-8. We aim to catch their eye so that they believe they will have fun with the experience and jump into their Kit wholeheartedly at home. However, the content inside has been carefully designed to put powerful tools into girls’ hands and increase their self-efficacy so that we ignite their power wherever they are! The content pulls from Girls Empowerment Network’s 24 years of curriculum and touches on such topics as: assertive communication skills, practicing healthy coping skills, learning how to take your own “emotional temperature,” practicing self-compassion, exploring what makes healthy friendships, breaking down stereotypes, and future goal setting. In order to ensure that Spark Kits remain fully accessible, parents can purchase them for only $35 and families who are experiencing financial hardship can request one at no cost to themselves. However, each Spark Kits actually contains goods and services with a value of over $500! This includes: $35: The Kit itself, all activity supplies, staff time to put it together, and coordinate volunteers to decorate/deliver $70: ~3 hours of Connectline time with a trusted girl expert to provide individualized attention and support for every girl who needs it $100: The Spark Kit Activity Journal with 25 self-guided and collaborative activities, pulled from Girls Empowerment Network’s 24 years of expertly created and tested self-efficacy building curriculum for girls $295: ~15 hours of access to group virtual services, led by girl experts and with a community of other girls Spark Kits serve as a one-stop-shop for our families to get their girls plugged in and engaged. The Kit itself is one way to impact them, but soon after girls receive them, they are able to become further involved with our girl experts by phone and online. Initial pilot evaluation of our online adapted Girl Connect services this past spring, indicate that delivering our programming in that method increases girls’ self-efficacy in similar ways to our traditional in-school groups. Our 2019-2020 evaluations revealed that despite the pandemic, we were still able to serve 3,764 girls directly! We are proud to report that we achieved statistically significant increases in self-efficacy for girls served in Girl Connect and across all programs: • 96% of girls said they believed they could achieve their goals • 91% said they can use critical thinking to find solutions to challenges • 95% would recommend Girls Empowerment Network programs to other girls Given these results and safety concerns, we continue to hold programming by phone or text (the Connectline), through the delivery of activity kits to their homes (Spark Kits), and online (Virtual Girl Connect). As soon as CDC recommendations and school closures allow, we will return to delivering our services in person with girls. But in the meantime, we’ve innovated so that we’ve never stopped serving girls, and we don’t ever plan to! However, our vision to continue meeting the needs of adolescent girls in Texas will not come to fruition without you. We are so hopeful you will consider making a $5,000 grant to Girl Connect, the Connectline, and Spark Kits to empower girls! Thank you for your consideration!