Girls Like Me Celebrates Chicago Day of the Girl
Girls Like Me Celebrates Chicago Day of the Girl
By Tia Carol Jones
As the founder of an organization centered around girls, LaKeisha Gray Sewell is always looking for ways to uplift girls and bring awareness to issues that affect them. When she heard about the United Nations’ International Day of the Girl Child, she saw an opportunity to bring awareness to the issues that girls in Chicago face and decided to host Chicago Day of the Girl each year around October 11th.
The Girls Like Me Project is celebrating its 14th annual Chicago Day of the Girl from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 11th , at Kehrein Center for the Arts, located at 5628 W. Washington Blvd. The goal of the event is for Chicago girls to be part of the global conversation. The theme for this year’s event is Girlhood in Bloom.
“We want to ensure our girls are equipped with what it takes to understand what they need to bloom,” Gray Sewell said. She wants the girls to know what they should demand from the adults in their lives – parents, guardians and educators – and what they need to plant for themselves in order to bloom, she said.
The Girls Like Me Project was founded by Gray Sewell as a way to support African American girls, ages 11years old to 17 years old, as they navigate the world by helping them develop a strong sense of self-efficacy and awareness. Through projects like the Dear Chicago Girls Podcast, the girls who participate in the program examine social, cultural and political ideologies in media which enables them to overcome negative stereotypes and stigmas. The goal is for these girls to be able to be storytellers who will transform their communities, while fostering global sisterhood.
During Chicago Day of the Girl, participants will engage in activities around flowers and bouquet making, as well as advocacy and activism workshops, including learning how to get budget items and public policy initiatives in front of elected officials. There will also be dancing and self-care activities so the girls can have a well-rounded experience.
Gray Sewell said it is important for the girls to have moments of joy and self-care because there is a concerted effort to dismantle and attack the pieces that hold together Black girls’ self-worth. Days like the International Day of the Girl Child and Chicago Day of the Girl show the girls that Black Girl Joy is important every day. She said she intends to continue to have this day and hold this space to plant the seeds, so that Black girls will feel affirmed.
“We have to make sure that the spaces that we allow girls into actually center them and actually do affirm them,” she said. “Those that we have around our girls should be those who believe in affirming spaces and narratives of Black girls … spaces that amplify, lift up and celebrate our girls as they are.”
Gray Sewell said she wants Black girls to understand their herstory and the role of prominent Black historical figures like Assata Shakur, Ida B. Wells and Gwendolyn Brooks played in ensuring Black girls succeed and bloom. She said she also wants the adults who attend the event to take what they learn back to their communities. She wants other local organizations to also celebrate International Day of the Girl in their own way to show young girls that they are important, their voice matters and they are seen and heard. She said everyone who serves girls should be hosting and collaborating to host an event. She said every girl should be celebrated and amplified. She said every girl should be celebrated on October 11th.
The Girls Like Me Project will be hosting an event for girls to get certified in mental health emergency services. Reclaiming Minds will be facilitating that certification. The organization will also be doing a narrative analysis on Black girls in media. Gray Sewell said the analysis will enable the girls to lead the work in how Black girls are reported on and from that, a media report card will be generated to look at how Black girls are represented in the media.
For more information about Girls Like Me Project, visit www.girlslikemeproject.org.
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