Adult Involvement

Adult leaders include founder, Fran Frazier, and Co-Chairs Charla Sheppard and Lara Belliston. An additional seven to twelve Committee members that meet monthly to support the RSR activities. Frances Curtis Frazier is a Community Engagement Consultant and Educator .”...” As a School Climate consultant she assesses principal leadership, teacher morale, student behavior and parent involvement. A school climate area of Fran’s expertise is addressing relational aggression in girls. Her work with girls in urban schools is exemplary and has changed the way many schools provide services and resources to female students. Consulting for an urban school district in Ohio, Fran developed a “Safe Place” school survey in which 246 girls in three high schools participated. “...”The leader designed the structure of the Think Tank, and selected topics to be researched with feedback from the girls. Used the Everyday Democracy facilitation model which includes: tell your story; looking at the issues; seeing the impact of the issues locally, statewide, nationally; determining what your action is going to be; developing action steps; and developing an accountability table. The leader creates empowering settings in which girls can engage, respects youth, actively listens, is open-minded to ideas, and the youth relate to her very well. Parents provide transportation to and from meetings, attend quarterly meetings with RSR committee, attend BGTT events, and provide support when problem-solving around girl issues. Rise Sister Rise is a Network, not an Agency. All Commitiee members are volunteers. “...” Available resources are Alcohol, Drug and Mental Health (ADAMH) Board of Franklin County, CareSource, Central Community House, Columbus Urban League, Creative Women of Color Arts Collective, Divine Nine Sororities, Franklin County Children Services (FCCS), FCCS Malaika Program, Franklin County Youth Council, IMPACT Safety, Mount Carmel Health, National Coalition of 100 Black Women of Central Ohio, Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, OSU African American and African Studies Community Extension Center, PrimaryOne Health, Suzanne Roberts, Unifying Solutions, Sylvia Garrett, Women’s Fund of Central Ohio

Group Structures

Girls are provided a continental breakfast at all monthly meetings. All Rise Sister Rise activities are free/no cost to all girls. BGTT girls receive a necklace of pearls upon their induction to remind them that resiliency can ameliorate adversity, much like an oyster can create a pearl from a grain of sand. Think Tank members also a􀆩end some special events for free, such as: Self-defense training where girls learned to take care of our body, mind, and heart, Self-expression opportunities with the Creative Women of Color Arts Collective, Attending a City Council meeting, Meeting with Columbus City Councilwoman Priscilla Tyson, 2017 Washington, DC trip:, Meeting with Congresswoman Joyce Beatty and her staff, Visit National Museum of African American History and Culture, Tour of the White House, Meet with interns from the White House Council on Women and Girls, Dinner with Dr. Monique W. Morris and members of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women Central Ohio Chapter, YWCA Activists and Agitators event. The Think Tank came up with their own ground rules. They revisit the rules each session. The ground rules make space for a respectful conversation. Through a facilitation process where each girls’ ideas, suggestions, and recommendations are solicited by the facilitator and shared with the group. All decisions are shared during this group process. All disagreements are heard. Before moving on to another topic, all girls who haven’t talked yet are asked for their input. Group consensus is achieved after all viewpoints are heard. Rise Sister Rise adult advisors and allies play a pivotal role in providing guidance, support and resources in a non-judgmental, non-intrusive approach. Our adults bring a variety of skill sets and prior experiences to enhance the work of our girls. Examples include program development, small group facilitation, girls' empowerment, media relations and training, organizational collaboration and capacity building, board development, research skills, fiscal accountability, performance-based evaluation, trauma informed care and teen mental health training. Adult advisors have attended professional development workshops and seminars on trauma informed care, building resiliency in teens, the role of neuroscience in brain development, empowerment self-defense, and group facilitation. We encourage the women to not teach, preach, or tell their story unless they are asked. The biggest gift that the adults can give to the girls is active listening. Women who work with girls need to have addressed their own trauma before working with the girls, so that they are able to stand back and listen. You have to establish that trust and respect and let the girls ask you, not tell them. All of the work, whether it’s a think tank, summit, conference, is designed to help the girls get comfortable with their own voice, and the only way to do that is to serve as a facilitator as opposed to as a teacher or mentor. Committee members are invited to attend all Think Tank meetings, when available women attend. Women are involved in the discussions, provide input, however if any decisions are made, they are made by the girls. The Committee women treat young people like they can be leaders as they are and recognize that they can be leaders now, even though there is still room for growth. The I Am Good Enough mental health campaign is co-chaired by two girls from the RSR BGTT Charter Class. One charter member shared, "the experience working on the campaign is challenging and wonderful. Being able to sit down and try to figure out all the factors that go into this project takes a lot of critical thinking. I enjoy working with my fellow sisters to come up with a conclusion. The most exciting part of the campaign is imagining the outcome and change the advocacy will bring." With some guidance by the leader, girls plan each of the activities. For example: As part of the I Am Good Enough Campaign the BGTT held a Girl/Boy conference, “Get Woke With Us”. During one of the monthly BGTT meetings, girls iden􀆟fied the two main goals of the conference, three topics/issues, and identified important approaches – particularly small group discussion (TT members facilitated each small group). Additionally they identified the need to split up youth upon arrival to increase participation – everyone was equal (no friendship groups). Girls also identified several activities to include: a Wicked Warm-up, a get-to-know you Speed Bingo, the Ideal Person activity, and the Closing Dance Party Unity Circle. Girls also assisted in creating the recruitment flyer. Rise Sister Rise Committee members help with meeting logistics. For example, for the Get Woke With Us conference the adults contracted for the space, planned meals, printed programs, secured speakers and spoken word artists, created table tickets, provided informational resources, secured giveaways, handled registrations, etc. Rise Sister Rise Committee members raise funds to support the BGTT and other RSR activities. The Committee members represent many other organizations in the community that when called upon support or guide the work of the youth group. We have a Psychologist in Residence who is the Director of a youth center connected to a mental health organization.

Group Climate

The Charter Class Think Tank members have continued to meet for 3 years with no attrition, only “graduation”. The 2017 cohort has also had very little attrition. Girls commit to attend and keep attending. Personal contact with the founder and committee members, and support by the committee members in their activities has helped. Girls also stay connected with each other during monthly conference calls, emails to one another, and occasionally get together outside of the official group for activities. When tasks are identified, each girl volunteers or is assigned pieces of the work and girls follow up with each other on coordination calls, and some􀆟mes also with the women. Meetings are often started with mindfulness movement as well opportunities to share and become more familiar with each other. The girls set the ground rules and the facilitator holds the girls accountable to those ground rules. When necessary the leader uses her facilitator skills to help reflect and clarify statements, to summarize main thoughts across participants, making sure all members thoughts are heard, asks probing and follow-up questions to help youth explore disagreements and understand multiple perspectives, help girls discover common ground, and manages conflicts and disagreements. Our logo is circle. Our circle is bound by listening to girls’ stories, asking questions, recruiting community involvement, conducting research, promoting community engagement by opening the dialogue about trauma and Black girls, and offering community-based activities to honor the resiliency in girls. We believe this circle approach makes room for all of us to be responsible and engaged. At each monthly meeting the girls sit in a circle. Circles facilitate connection, we face each other and make eye contact, we are visible to each other. In a circle, everyone is equal and part of the community. The leader makes sure that when tasks are identified, each girl volunteers or is assigned pieces of the work and girls follow up with each other on coordination calls, and sometimes also with the women. The girls experience that what they plan comes to fruition, repeatedly, such as with the I Am Good Enough mental health campaign kick-off walk, and the Get Woke With Us Conference. Monthly meetings are always held and never cancelled. Personal connections between girls and women are maintained through regular contact. The logistical support provided by the women provides avenues for girls goals to become realized.