SOUTH SIDE NONPROFIT WILL HOST WORKSHOPS FOR MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS THROUGHOUT THE SUMMER

Polished Pebbles is a mentoring program for young girls that focus on building communication skills. The organization recently was awarded a grant from the Safe and Peaceful Communities Fund to support its summer program for mothers and daughters. Photo Credit: Polished Pebbles
Polished Pebbles is a mentoring program for young girls that focus on building communication skills. The organization recently was awarded a grant from the Safe and Peaceful Communities Fund to support its summer program for mothers and daughters. Photo Credit: Polished Pebbles

South Side Nonprofit Will Host Workshops For Mothers and Daughters Throughout the Summer

BY KATHERINE NEWMAN

Polished Pebbles is a nonprofit organization with a mission to provide mentoring for young girls, particularly young women of color, with an opportunity to learn how to be effective communicators and put them on a path to success in whatever career they choose to pursue.

“Polished Pebbles is a girls mentoring program and we focus on making sure girls are great communicators at home, school, and in the future workplace. Our long term goal is to ensure the employability of girls in their future workplace,” said Kelly Fair, founder and executive director of Polished Pebbles.

The Polished Pebbles Girls Mentoring program aims to build confidence in young girls and to equip them for the challenges of daily life by replacing negative forms of communicating and problem-solving with new ways for them to garner respect and build a strong reputation for themselves, according to information on the Polished Pebbles website.

After operating for nearly a decade, Polished Pebbles was recently awarded a grant from the Safe and Peaceful Communities Fund for the second year in a row. The grant will support their summer program for mothers and daughters which takes place twice a month and focuses on mentoring and career networking for the mothers and social-emotional learning for girls.

“We are really fortunate to be a second- year grantee of this fund,” said Fair. “We think, and know that the research says, that workforce development and careers are really great deterrents to protect our girls from violence and one of the things we realized over time is that our girl’s moms often are in need of the same skill sets.”

Polished Pebbles created the summer program for mothers and daughters as an extension of their Annual Mommy and Me Career Day which is an event that brings together single mothers and their teenage daughters for a day of learning, mentoring, and career exposure.

The summer program is open to the girls who are currently participating in the Polished Pebbles mentoring programs and their mothers.

“This is going to be a series of six workshops over the summer where moms and daughters come together to work on communication skills, career skills, and we are really focusing on entrepreneurship this summer. They will be working on the building blocks of entrepreneurship and thinking about different businesses that they would be interested in,” said Fair.

In addition to talking about entrepreneurship, participants will also learn about building their brands and marketing themselves through a partnership with Nerdy Media who will lead a digital learning experience. Nerdy Media will teach the mothers and daughters how to create their own podcast along with other technical skills that are important for 21st-century careers.

“This is just an opportunity for moms and daughters to bond and create that tight emotional bond but then they are learning and building skills together. Moms are becoming better equipped to support their daughters in their walk of life and vice-versa,” said Fair.

To learn more about Polished Pebbles visit www.polishedpebbles.com.

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