Kimmi Baston: Mentoring doesn’t stop even though we’re apart

Each year, during the last week of September, more than 700 elementary girls in Pittsburgh wait excitedly after school to meet the college women they’ll spend the school year with, having fun and building skills in a supportive group setting. For six months, the girls and their college mentors play games, learn about strong female role models, make crafts and do service projects and create bonds that can change each girl’s life.

This experience is available for girls from under- resourced local communities through the programs offered at Strong Women, Strong Girls Pittsburgh, a nonprofit that locally serves more than 1,100 professional and college women and girls in grades 3-5.

But in March, that all changed as the entire SWSG community — composed of 40 Pittsburgh-area programming sites — was forced to adjust to a virtual world. Quickly responding to the pandemic, SWSG reconfigured a spring semester to offer online session videos to girls and pilot a take-home activity kit program. SWSG has pivoted its program for the coming school year to connect college women and elementary girls via virtual platforms and continue building relationships, learning and growing even in our “new normal.”

To keep girls — almost half of whom live in households earning less than $27,799 per year — engaged at home, SWSG will offer online and hands-on programming, with the goal of reaching as many girls as possible, even those who don’t have ready access to technology.

We need the support of our friends and community to provide these resources and experiences for our girls.

Since 2006, SWSG Pittsburgh has provided mentoring to girls through the service of SWSG mentors from six local colleges and universities. Recognizing that there is value in mentorship in every phase of a woman’s life, SWSG also provides its college women with guidance from professional women mentors through partnerships with companies and community organizations.

These programs have shown significant impact. After just one semester in the program, girls show a statistically significant improvement across the “6Cs” of positive youth development — confidence, caring, competence, character, connection and contribution. They gain exposure to varied academic and career paths by learning about local and historical female role models and build leadership and teamwork skills.

Ninety percent of responding parents share that their girl could better resolve conflict peacefully; 86% say their daughter helps and is inspired to contribute more often as a result of the program. And this year alone, 97% of responding parents said their girls increasingly believe they can make an impact on their community because of their participation in SWSG Pittsburgh.

Critical to SWSG’s continued successful impact is its sixth annual Strong Awards breakfast Aug. 7. Every year, the Strong Awards celebrate the achievements of local women, girls and companies and raise funds for up to a quarter of SWSG’s annual budget. While the event has been shifted to a virtual platform this year, it is still expected to showcase the impact people all over the city are making to advance women and girls.

To support SWSG by purchasing a ticket, visit bit.ly/2020StrongAwards.

All funds raised during the Strong Awards are essential for SWSG Pittsburgh to continue to deliver high-quality virtual programming to its community throughout the rest of the summer and into the fall.