New leadership program empowers girls in the area

Nonprofit spotlight
Kay Vasilakis
Glenwood Springs, CO Colorado
April 2, 2008

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Girl Scouts at a glance

Girl Scouts of the U.S.A.: Founded in 1912 First Girl Scouts in Garfield County: Girl Scouts of Chipeta Council began in 1953 Girl Scouts of Colorado: Five councils in Colorado merged in October 2007 to become Girl Scouts of Colorado, a high-capacity council that better serves all girls and volunteers in Colorado. Girl Scouts in Garfield County: Currently 288 Contact information: Heidi Pankow, membership manager, Girl Scouts of Colorado, (970) 285-7144 office, (970) 250-1931 cell; heidi.pankow@gscolorado.org

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Heidi Pankow beams, smiles and can hardly contain herself as she describes a new Girl Scout project, “Challenge and Change.” The project is a new leadership development program from Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. Girl Scouts of Colorado recently received $20,000 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture through GSUSA to implement “Challenge and Change: Challenge Yourself, Change the World,” in Garfield, Logan and Morgan counties. Pankow and Peg Peterson are the project managers.

Through the Challenge and Change project, girls become change-makers as they envision and start long-term community service projects. They get plenty of help along the way through a comprehensive curriculum, instruction by specially trained Girl Scout program staff and mentoring by community members. Girls even receive seed funding to launch their projects.

Girls selected to participate in Challenge and Change begin with a five-day retreat where they learn leadership, problem-solving and entrepreneurial skills through a comprehensive multimedia curriculum. Led by trained facilitators, the 35-hour training inspires girls to learn more about themselves, discover what effective leadership looks like, connect with local experts, and dig into issues affecting their communities. Girls also learn to apply the strategies of successful social entrepreneurs.

Social entrepreneurship is a growing global approach to solving social problems by applying business strategies to ensure long-term results. Girls see social entrepreneurs in action by watching and analyzing episodes of a PBS documentary series about social entrepreneurs from around the world. To bring the topic closer to home, girls also take field trips to meet social entrepreneurs in their own local communities. Challenge and Change teaches girls skills to identify community problems, recognize and build local assets, and design a sustainable solution and action plan. After the retreat, girls return home and recruit a community action team, including an adult who serves as their community champion, to turn their good idea into a sustainable, long-term project.

“We are very excited to be implementing this program this year in Western Garfield County,” Pankow said. “Girls are being actively recruited from Parachute, Rifle, Silt and New Castle.”

Girls, parents and community members can find out more by attending the community orientation from 7-8 p.m. May 1 at Grand Valley High School or by contacting Heidi Pankow, Challenge and Change Project Coordinator, at (970) 285-7715. Participants must be 14-17 years old, have parental permission, and be willing to commit to the pre- and postretreat sessions, as well as the weeklong retreat. The retreat will be held at the CMC Leadville campus June 9-13.

All girls may participate in this program, they need not have Girl Scout experience. The focus is learning leadership skills, business skills, team building, and making a lasting difference in the communities. Girls will receive specific training to teach them to identify problems, imagine and implement solutions. It empowers girls to make lasting positive changes within their communities.

Girls can participate in two ways — as project leaders or team members. Ten to 15 girls will be selected as project leaders and will attend the leadership retreat. When these girls return, they will form community action teams, which may consist of girls, boys, adults, business people, teachers, or others the leaders need to implement their projects.

The future looks so much brighter when girls are empowered with leadership skills.

Kay Vasilakis’ “Nonprofit Spotlight” column runs every other Wednesday in the Glenwood Springs Post Independent. She is the media coordinator for the Garfield County Human Services Commission. To contact her with a news tip, call 384-9118 or e-mail kvasilakis@postindependent.com.