Great New Material Updates Coming

Occasionally we’ll receive calls from customers asking if we have updated our curriculum since their last purchase. If they’ve ordered anything more than two years ago the answer is usually – Yes!

While the edits we make to our Activity Guides and Facilitator Manuals tend to be minor, the changes are often a result of a suggestion or comment from someone in our community. We greatly value all the feedback we receive and do take it into account when we’re ready to print new books.

Why are Girls from All Over the U.S. Prostituting in Las Vegas?

Last week, Katie Couric presented a close up story about girls in prostitution in Las Vegas. But this was not a story about Las Vegas.

It was a story about girls as young as 12 arriving from all over the United States, working for pimps in order to have some kind of cash and possibility of survival. This is a story that is relevant to every community of our nation. These are children and teens running away from home either because of a really bad situation there or because an adult, almost always an adult male, lures a girl with promises of protection, money, love or other luxuries, to come work for him.

MOTHER-DAUGHTER CIRCLE TRAINING A SUCCESS!

Yesterday was the second ever Mother-Daughter Circle Training and Beth and I spent a fabulous, powerful day with 15 women from California and Nevada from all different backgrounds who work with girls in many different settings. Originally, the Mother-Daughter training was designed to be a half day training, but after feedback from the first training, we were encouraged to expand the training to one-full day. I just read all the evaluations from the training and several participants commented that they would still like the training to be longer. Hmm..…a real testimony to the importance and significance of mother-daughter relationships.

Lily – An Adolescent Role Model for Generations Young and Old

I don’t know about you, but when I attend a training, sometimes my initial plan is to slide through the day without investing too much energy. I want to gain the maximum credit, but hold back on giving it my all. Not Lily.

Last week 51 women, 2 men, and one young woman named Lily attended the Girls Circle Facilitator Training in Sonoma County. Lily will begin her senior year of high school in September in the East Bay. She and her mother Cathy, a nurse and therapist, attended together, and Lily aims to facilitate Girls Circle groups for middle school girls in her community.

SEXTING – What a Perfect Girls Circle Topic

Who would’ve thought that that in a national survey 22% of teen girls have sent or posted online nude or semi-nude pictures or videos of themselves? And when asked why they do so? 51% say pressure from a guy is the reason they send sexy messages or images….

What’s up, girls? Could it be the height of the moment with a little pressure from friends? Or in the midst of feeling flirty, sexy or giggly? Or maybe you’re really wanting to attract a new partner, or turn on the existing one? Could this be the reason that you prematurely press that SEND button?

Baltimore Conference on School Safety with Kitty Tyrol

We’d like to introduce you to Kitty Tyrol.

Kitty is our super star Senior Training Manager and a powerful and brilliant representative of The Girls Circle Association. 2 weeks ago Kitty traveled to Baltimore Maryland to present on both The Council and Girls Circle models at a national conference on school safety. Below is what she had to say about it…

Girls Circle and The Council for Boys and Young Men programs were presented at the National Association of School Resource Officers SRO-School Safety Conference in Baltimore, MD on Thursday, July 2, 2009.

New Training and Curriculum on Sexual Abuse Coming

Did you know that general statistics indicate that:

* One in three girls will be sexually assaulted by the age of 16?
* 1 out of every 3 American women will be sexually assaulted in her lifetime?
* 6 out of 10 rape/sexual assaults occurred in the homes of the victim, family members or friends?

Paula Schaefer of Paula Schaefer & Associates, Inc. and myself (Giovanna) are here in the Cotati office working on a new training and curriculum to help heal girls who have been sexually abused. The training and curriculum will mainly be for residential facilities in juvenile justice or the child welfare system who work with girls. We all know that a major pathway into delinquency is sexual abuse and this training will focus on working with facilities to create safety (first), educating personnel in the facility about the impact of sexual abuse, and then working with them to utilize a new 20-Week Girls Circle Guide that will help girls address sexual abuse and it’s impacts. All of this to help the girls who have been wounded to realize that it is NOT THEIR FAULT.

Doing Our Own Work

Girls Circle and The Council are about relationships. Relationships are at the core of our mission, our daily work, our writings and our interactions. And like others with a similar passion, we choose to do what it takes as much as we can, as well as we can, to keep our relationships healthy…

Sonoma County Probation Receives Award for Girls Circle Program

An article was written in the West County Gazette recognizing that the Sonoma County Probation Department won the National Association of Counties (NACo) Achievement Award for their Circles Across Sonoma program.  Circles Across Sonoma was made possible by a Title II grant which alows the Sonoma County Probation Department to implement Girls Circles county wide for girls involved throughout all levels of the Sonoma juvenile justice system.

Congratulations to Sonoma County Probation for the recognition of your amazing dedication to the health and welfare of young women and girls!

Link to article:

http://www.westcountygazette.com/blog/2009/07/sonoma-county-programs-win-national.html

Excerpt from article:
“Circles Across Sonoma is the nation’s first county-wide implementation of a gender responsive service program for girls involved at all levels of the local juvenile justice system. Program services are built upon the Girls Circle format, a promising practice model recognized by the office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. The Circles Across Sonoma Program offers the elegant solution of a consistent, structured, research based program delivered to girls throughout the continuum of juvenile justice, even as they return to their communities and homes. Circles Across Sonoma represents a major step forward in creating a gender responsive system for the Sonoma County. The program has enrolled 456 girls with a remarkable 73.2% completion rate….”

Have a great 4th of July Weekend from the GCA Team!!!