This Is ME Update
All of us at This Is ME wish all of you many blessings in 2009.
Though the economy is especially tight right now, This Is ME continues to provide high quality programming on a shoe string budget. We are so very proud that our organization has historically been extremely economical with the resources we have been blessed with. And we are so very grateful for the many ways you have contributed to those resources.
While overall fundraising is down, our enrollment has expanded to nearly 90 active participants in six outstanding programs; we definitely couldn’t do this without your generous support.
We hope you will be able to join us in celebrating our success on Saturday, February 7th. We will be having a listening party to air our interview on Radio Disney. This is a free, family-friendly event.
We hope to see you there!
We’ll continue to celebrate our success at our 7th Annual
Silent Auction - Empower a Girl, Empower Our World - on Friday, May 1st. This is our chief fundraiser of the year; it’s also a really fun time. Read more here.
Salud!
HPS Girls Magazine
Our Hanson Park School literacy program is going even better than expected, with our super-talented and enthusiastic girls going all out. After we studied (and enjoyed!) our Discovery Girls magazines, the girls began working on creating their very own magazine, HPS Girls.
We assigned roles for the Editor, two Creative Directors, and Feature Writers. Two girls, Lily and “Monkey”, wrote an article on the process. They interviewed all the participants to find out why they chose the topics they did:
{in their own writing} “Recipies by: Marsella, Amparo, Norma. They chose recipes because they have a lot of recipies. Two articles, Fashion and Jealousy by: Baby Krazy, Zuly, care bear. They are doing fashion because we like to show how to dress different styles. They are doing jealousy because it all starts in middle school. Celebrities by: Bubbles and yanelli. Why they chose celebrities ‘Because it is interesting and we like to talk about celebrities.’ Puzzles By: Jessica keila and cintia. ‘We did this last year and it was fun.” Embarrassing moments by: yesi and are. ‘It is fun knowing stories about people.’ Recipes By: angie and Ashley. Why they did it “ because in my family we know how to cook and bake good food.”
A very special thank you to our friends at Discovery Girls, who donated 23 copies of their magazine for our first semester curriculum. Congratulations to the girls of Hanson Park School – You Rock!
Girls' Circle a Success!
We are proud that the Saint Andrew administration, as well as the girls who participated in the 8th Grade Girls Circle, consider our pilot last semester a success. They are welcoming us back next semester and adding a 7th Grade Girls Circle!
The leaders of the Girls Circle observed progress last semester and look forward to building on it this semester. Some indicators of our progress include:
Improved attendance & increased participation – the girls who were once resistant to attend began coming more regularly. Group members were engaged in the discussions and were extremely thoughtful about what they write and share.
Girls sat with, partnered with, and included girls beyond their inner circle more and more.
We received fewer complaints about breaches in confidentiality and things just going back to the way they were once they left program meetings.
Girls showed increased trust in program leaders.
We received positive evaluation results. When assessing the first semester, 70% of the girls said the program helped them appreciate someone they either didn’t know or didn’t like before. About 55% said they learned something that they can apply to their real life as far as having self-confidence, accepting others, or making good choices in their relationships. (Two girls who attend regularly were not present to fill out the evaluation.)
These were the responses when asked, What did you most enjoy about the This Is ME program?
- How everyone was friendly
- We did fun stuff
- The highs and lows (the weekly icebreaker)
- Just hanging out after school
- Talks
- Talking about relationships
- Talking to people
- The snacks and activities
- The talking and working out our situations
- The talks
- How now I talk to more people and I know the person
I’m talking with
We’ll continue to meet each week with the 8th Grade Girls Circle during lunch and the new 7th Grade Girls Circle after school.
5 Ways to Keep Your New Year's Resolutions & Help This Is ME at the Same Time!
~ ONE ~
Get Involved – Join This Is ME’s Board. We continue to build our board with talented, committed people. You will be pleasantly surprised at the impact your small investment of time will have on our growing organization. If you’re interested, please call Jen Casey at 773.539.4901.
~TWO ~
Go Green - Opt to get our electronic mailing list. Help us cut printing and postage costs while being a little bit more green. Send us an email to info@thisismeinc.org to move you over to our email list rather than our mailing list.
~THREE ~
Waste Not - Donate your holiday stamps to This Is ME. If you overbought holiday stamps, This Is ME will put them to good use! We will be doing a mailing in honor of Women’s History Month in March and would love your help in reducing the
expense.
~ FOUR ~
Stick to Your Budget - Buy a Carson’s Community Day’s coupon book. The next Carson’s Community Day is February 28th. If you would like a book for $5 or would like to know the special deals offered this time, please call Katie Dixon at 773.953.4867.
~ FIVE ~
Celebrate More – Attend This Is ME’s Radio Disney Listening Party. Drop by Provenance at 2528 North California in Logan Square between 10am and noon on February 7th for a double treat. We’ll air our interview with PK the Cosmic DJ while you enjoy delicious goodies. We welcome the whole family; there will be activities and prizes for kids.
Bonus Opportunity!
Join us for our annual Inspiration Brunch. It will take place on March 29th at the Wicker Park home of one of our board members. You'll learn more about This Is ME’s mission and activities and how you can get involved. You'll also get to know our leadership and volunteers.
Email info@thisismeinc.org to be added to the evite, or call Heather at 773.991.1194. Bring a friend!
Women's History Month: By the Numbers
March is Women’s History Month and, in celebration, we’d like to share some of the strides women are making. The following statements are based on figures from the US Census Bureau and presented on infoplease.com’s Women by the Numbers page.
84% of women with computers at home made use of that computer. The rate for men using their home computers was 82%. This reverses the computer use gender gap of the 1980s and 1990s.
In 2006, there were 5.6 million stay-at-home mothers nationwide, up from 4.6 million a decade earlier.
As of September 30, 2006, there were 202,000 active duty women in the military. Of that total, 34,000 women were officers, and 168,000 were enlisted. 15% of all members of the armed forces were women. In 1950, women comprised less than 2 percent.
30% of women volunteer. The rate for men is 23%. Overall, 36 million women perform unpaid volunteer activities.
37% of females 16 or older work in management, professional, and related occupations, compared with 31 percent of males. There are 84,000 female police officers, 9,000 women firefighters, 315,000 lawyers, 278,000 physicians and surgeons, and 37,000 pilots.
More than 7.1 million people are employed by women-owned businesses.
Fundraiser Corner
Empower a Girl, Empower Our World
Please join us for our 7th Annual Silent Auction on Friday, May 1st. The event will take place at Adobo Grill at 2005 West Division from 6PM – 10PM. Tickets are $45 in advance (by April 20th), $55 at the door, and include delicious food, two drink tickets, desserts, and
delightful company.
The silent auction will feature many great items including sporting event tickets, artwork, jewelry, pampering packages, and much, much more! Call Heather at 773.991.1194 to buy your tickets now.