Girls For Gender Equity (GGE)

Last updated on October 25, 2008

Girls for Gender Equity is committed to the physical, psychological, social and economic development of girls and women. Through education, organizing and physical fitness, Girls for Gender Equity encourages communities to remove barriers and create opportunities for girls and women to live self-determined lives.

Description:
GGE mobilizes girls, boys, women and men under Title IX of the Education amendment and its ten points*, to work as a collective toward systemic change in all of the support networks that shape the development and achievement of girls and women. Concurrently, GGE creates opportunities through a variety of programs and projects that nurture the optimal development of girls, women and, ultimately, the entire community. GGE's three core programs follow:

Youth Organizing

Youth Organizing mobilizes youth and adults towards creating sustained change in their communities through educational campaigns, research and direct action. We recognize that solutions are not monolithic, and need to be addressed through macro- and micro-level actions that encompass the complex nature of gender based oppression. Programming includes:

Sisters in Strength
Reproductive Rights
Gender Respect Workshops
Title IX School Based Task Force
Equality Festival
World Against Sexual Harassment Campaign (WASH)
PAR: Research on Gender based Violence and Safety

For more information on Youth Organizing, contact Vanessa Nisperos, Director of Community Organizing at 718.857.1393 or organizing@ggenyc.org

Teens may visit myspace.com/sistersinstrength

Health and Fitness

Health and Fitness Programming establishes and maintains tri-fold programming for 26-30 NYC schools and CBO's to coordinate girl's participation in equitable fitness activities, in self determination groups and in educational health workshops. Programming includes:

After school Fitness Programs (basketball, boxing and soccer)
Health education workshops (HIV/AIDS, Obesity, Puberty)
Self-Determination Groups
National Girls and Women in Sports Day (NGWSD)
Mother/Daughter Health and Playday
Self Defense Classes for Girls Action for Safety a Girls Inc. curriculum

For more information on bringing Health and Fitness to your school, contact GGE Manager at 718.857.1568 or health@ggenyc.org

Urban Leaders After School Program

Urban Leaders After School Program at MS 61 is a holistic program designed to help young men and women, of Central Brooklyn, achieve academic excellence, explore career education and maintain healthy lifestyles. Support is provided by families, community members, teachers, peers and professionals who live throughout NYC and who set high standards for Urban Leaders youth to internalize community activism and self determination as being achievable. Programming includes but isn't limited to:

Creative Writing
Community World
Homework help
Stop the Silence of Domestic Violence
Sex Education and Reproductive Rights
Rights of Passage for boys
Rights of Passage for girls
Phonics
Modern Dance
Yoga
Arts and Crafts
Will Power Won't Power a Girls Inc. curriculum
Photography

For more information on becoming an instructor at Urban Leaders, contact Anja Merilainen, Program Director at 718.536.9496 or urbanleaders@ggenyc.org

*Title IX of the Education Amendment of 1972, “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance” (Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 to the Civil Rights Act of 1964). 10 key points: Access to Higher Ed, Athletics, Career Education, Education for Pregnant and Parenting Students, Employment, Learning Environment, Math and Science, Sexual Harassment, Standardized Testing and Technology.

History:
GGE is a volunteer-run, grassroots, youth development organization, founded in 2000 by Joanne Smith, Executive Director. Joanne Smith is a Haitian American Activist born in New York City who currently resides in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. With an Open Society Institute fellowship, Joanne launched GGE in 2001 as an equitable after-school health and fitness program; due, in part, to a letter signed by a coalition of seventy low-income African-American and Caribbean petitioning OSI to bring GGE to Brownsville and Bedford-Stuyvesant. These parents explained to OSI, "We need your help to change the derogatory views of women and girls that plague our society".

Now, through a combination of advocacy, leadership and self-esteem development, community organizing, and programs, Girls for Gender Equity keeps 600 NYC boys and girls ages 8-18 off the streets by offering them a safe place to achieve academic excellence, explore career education, and maintain healthy lifestyles.

Contact people:

Joanne Smith, Executive Director, (718) 857-1393, (email)
Anja Merilainen, Program Director, (718) 857-2239, (email)
Vanessa Nisperos, Program Director, (718) 857-1393, (email)

Office fax number: (718) 857-2239

Address:

1360 Fulton Street, Ste 314
Brooklyn, NY 11216
(See a map)

Web Site: http://www.ggenyc.org

Directions:

  Nearest Metro/Subway Stop: Nostrand Avenue A Train,
  Walk distance (in minutes): 2
  Nearest Bus Stop: B43, B44, and B25 buses, 2 minute walk

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