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SV girl action teams

SV Girl Action Team Projects (2009-2010)

Below are projects that girls across Silicon Valley created in the spring of 2010. More to come!

Santa Clara County  

Team 24, Downtown College Prep Alameda Campus, San Jose – Stop the Violence
The team at DCP Alameda wanted to take a stand against violence in their community! They created a t-shirt that educates youth about tackling the root cause of the issue, anger.  The girls decided to give a presentation on their t-shirt project at their Friday assemblies to increase awareness on how anger leads to violence and to make students aware that they have alternative solutions.   

Team 10, Monroe Middle School, San Jose – Animal Cruelty: Education on how to Treat Animals
The girls from Monroe are tired of seeing animal cruelty due to the lack of education on how to treat animals!  They visited a local animal shelter in order to learn more about the issue. They then created a video on how to treat animals in a humane manner.  The girls also arranged a school assembly to present their video and handed out fliers to inform their fellow classmates on how to prevent the unethical treatment of animals.

Team 25: Downtown College Prep Alviso, San Jose - Gay + Straight = Friends
The girls at DCP Alviso wanted to help stop homophobia at their school and in their community. They felt that by creating t-shirts with positive messages they could help other people see there is no need to be scared of someone because they are gay.  To show support to the gay, lesbian and bisexual students at their school they wore their t-shirts and carried posters to stand in solidarity against homophobia.
 

Team 12, Ocala Middle School, San Jose – Communication Awareness Week
The girls from Team #12 want families to get along with each other so they arranged a week at their school to educate their peers on best practices of effective community.  They designed t-shirts to wear during school that said, “Speak Softly, Listen Loudly” and hung up posters that carried the message, “Say what you mean” and “Speak Up”.  They hope that students feel inspired to think about their communication styles and then share it with their families.

Team 20, Friends Outside of Santa Clara County, San Jose – Pregnancy Prevention 101 with the Ladii Starz
Girl Action Team 20 feels that teen girls should have education and resources in order to make informed choices around teen pregnancy.  They designed and created a video skit that depicted realistic events and experiences of a pregnant teen.  By providing local resources in the video, they present girls with different options in order to empower them to choose a path that feels right to them.

Team 16, Sherman Oaks Middle School, San Jose - Just Say No!
The team from Sherman Oaks is tired of seeing people do drugs because of peer pressure and the effects they can have on communities and loved ones.  They created t-shirts to promote their message on the importance of not succumbing to peer pressure in order to prevent others from doing drugs.  The hope that by wearing their shirts at school and in their community that people will make smart choices and “Just Say No” to the pressure!

Team 14, KIPP Heartwood Academy, San Jose – Bake Sale to Support the Self-Esteem Fund
The girls at KIPP Heartwood identified eating disorders as an important issue facing teenage girls that is caused by low self-esteem.  The team wants to remind girls that they are beautiful just how they are so they decided to get behind the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty.  They circulated flyers to promote self-confidence and their bake sale where they raised money to donate to the Dove Self-Esteem Fund to help provide self-esteem programs for girls.

Team 11, Sierramont Middle School, San Jose – Project 11’s Keep Your Head Up!
Team #11 feels that bullying is a big problem at their school and that it is caused by low-self esteem.  To address the issue they decided to create a video composed of teacher and peer interviews about experiences and the known effects of bullying.  They want to get the word out that being proactive toward improving self-esteem can not only make a person feel better about themselves, but can stop them from being a bully.  After final edits over the summer they plan to show it to students at their school next year to prevent further bullying on campus.

Team 8, Clyde Fischer Middle School, San Jose - Project BEAU_TEE-ful!
The girls on team 8 felt that gossiping had gotten out of hand at their school.  They decided to do something about it by launching a human billboard campaign that tackled the root cause of loa self-esteem.  With the message, "Be Uniquely You!", they want others to know that it's cool to be unique.  By wearing their shirts to school they hope to reduce the gossip and spread the message that it's okay to be yourself.

Team 7, Piedmont Hills High School, San Jose – A Cleaner School and Environment Mean a Better Future! 
The girls of Piedmont Hills saw that amount of litter on campus was increasing this year.  By using the school website and reaching out to various clubs to plan competitions, they hope to ignite school pride to help spread the message that a clean campus is a beginning step to a better future.  They worked with school staff in order to incorporate their project as a permanent part of school spirit movement.

Team 6, Leadership Public Schools San Jose, San Jose – Self Esteem Video                            
The LPS San Jose Team felt that teen pregnancy is a problem for girls in their community.   They made a video and posted it online to inform girls on ways to improve their self-esteem in order to lower the rate of teen pregnancies.  To help them spread the word the team also made bracelets to hand out to girls as a reminder to have high self-esteem and to feel good about themselves.  Watch the video!

Team 15, August Boeger Middle School, San Jose – DDD: Don’t Do Drugs!                                      
Team #15 determined that emotional problems were the main cause of people doing drugs.  They developed a poster campaign that bring awareness to their issue and highlight other solutions to emotional problems instead of doing drugs. The girls coordinated with teachers to present their posters to their peers in classrooms before displaying them for their entire school community.

Team 5, Fremont High School, Sunnyvale – Money, spend wisely!                                             
The girls from Fremont High want to bring money management awareness to their community. They feel that the mismanagement of money can lead to other issues like family fights, anger and stress. In order to prevent other issues caused by financial troubles they made informational brochures on best budget practices.  The team worked with a GFC volunteer from Technology Credit Union in order to research the needed information.  They handed out these brochures to 100 people in front of the Sunnyvale Library to encourage smart spending and saving amongst their community members.
Check out the brochure!

San Mateo County

Team 21, Menlo Park: Boys and Girls Club, Menlo Park - Go Beyond It
The girls at Menlo Park Boys and Girls Club felt that disagreements and misunderstandings are the main reasons why people choose to use violence. The team designed t-shirts expressing their slogan “Go Beyond It” to encourage youth to go beyond violence and move toward peace. They also created a collage with images about violence, peace and powerful statements to convey the message.  They posted the collage at the Boys and Girls Club and wore their shirts to bring awareness to this issue and reduce the violence in Menlo Park.
 

Team 18, St. Elizabeth Seton, Palo Alto – Manage Your Stress So You Won’t Hurt Your Children
The team at St. Elizabeth Seton is concerned about parental stress that leads to child abuse.   They created 80 book marks to hand out at the school book fair that contained information on how parents can manage stress.  The bookmarks included such sayings as, “Take a deep breath and promise not to hurt your child”.  By getting parents to change their behavior the girls feel that they will help to stop child abuse in their community.

Team 9, Manuel F. Cunha Intermediate School, Half Moon Bay – What happens to that plastic bag? 
Girl Action Team #9 is concerned about the effects of litter on the environment.  They wanted to inform others on the impact their trash has on the world now and for years to come.  They took action by creating a video and posting it on the internet to educate others on what happens when they don’t pick up their plastic bags.  They hope with more information people won’t just toss their trash on the ground and will think about the impact of their actions.

Team 23, Selby Lane, Redwood City – Gangs are NOT Cool
Team #23 identified gangs as a root cause of violence in the community. They created an outreach campaign using t-shirts and fliers. Their message to fellow students is that being a part of gangs just isn’t cool. The fliers were made in both English and Spanish and were handed out by the team the same day they wore their t-shirts at school.   By educating students on the dangers of gangs, they hope to prevent the spread of violence in their community.
 

Team 1, East Palo Alto Boys and Girls Club, East Palo Alto – Self Defense Training for 6th Grade Girls
The girls of Team #1 felt unsafe in their community. They felt that a lack of community resources and education on how to defend themselves compromised their safety, so they decided to take matters into their own hands!  They wanted to educate themselves on defense techniques. The team arranged for self-defense training, donated by Impact Bay Area, for 6th grade girls at the Boys and Girls Club.  With the newly learned defense skills they empowered 20 girls to protect themselves if they are ever in a dangerous situation.

Team 19, McKinley Institute of Technology, Redwood City - Why Wait, Educate!
The girls at McKinley felt that they didn't want to wait to tackle ignorance and popular misconceptions about teen pregnancy.  They create t-shirts and bookmarks to educate others and raise awareness on teen pregnancy prevention resources that are available in their community.  They want to spread the message to teen girls that it's okay to say "no" to sex and that there are confidential resources available to them.

Team 32, College Track, East Palo Alto Voices of SistaHood
The girls at EPA College Track felt that teens aren’t getting enough trust from their parents due to the actions of other teens. The girls received a workshop on grant writing in order to fund the start of their own girl group at EPA College Track that is geared toward bringing girls and parents together to start dialog and communication. By hosting events for girls and their parents with bonding activities, an online forum for emotional support, and having merchandise to sell, the girls hope to gain the trust of their parents despite the actions of other teens. The girls have scheduled their first meeting and will be developing a name, logo and missions statement for their group.
 

Alameda County

Team 29, Lionel Wilson College Preparatory Academy (high school), Oakland
Team 29 felt that guys aren't taking their share of responsibility when it comes to the issue of teen pregnancy.  The girls want guys to understand that safe sex education is the responsibility of both parties involved.  The girls created a human billboard campaign of t-shirts with the message, "Who is responsible: Both of us!"  They also got the word out by texting their fellow classmates to wear purple the same day they wore their shirts to stand in solidarity and to help prevent teen pregnancy.

Team 22, Leadership Public Schools College Park, Oakland – Stop the Jokes!
The girls at LPS College Park are tired of hearing jokes about race and stereotypes at their school. After having a round table discussion about why people stereotype and how it has personally affected their lives,  the girls decided to get the word out by making posters to combat common racial stereotypes. By starting this conversation they hope people can find common ground rather than continue to make hurtful jokes.
 

Team 17, Leadership Public Schools, Hayward – Choosing the Right Addiction              
The girls from LPS Hayward want to decrease the number of teens using drugs and increase the focus on the importance of school and future goals.  They presented a workshop to 7th and 8th grade students at Kings Middle School in Hayward in order to raise awareness around the dangers of succumbing to drugs.  They hope the students will choose to say no to drugs by understanding the detrimental effects it can have on their future.  

Team 2, California College Preparatory Academy, Berkeley – Determined, Victorious, Great, Notorious and Strong
The girls from the Cal Prep team want to educate other girls to not believe the Hollywood hype about how they should look. They took a trip to the San Francisco DeYoung Museum to research different ideals of beauty. Following the visit, the girls created a video to showcase their feelings on how women are inaccurately portrayed women in the media.  They plan to post the video on the internet and send it to magazine editors in order to spread their message that beauty has many different faces.

Team 27, Lionel Wilson College Preparatory Academy (middle school), Oakland CA – Girls Deserve Respect!
The girls on team #27 felt that boys receive messages from society and the media that girls are sexual objects. They are tired of disrespectful comments and actions from boys in their community and school so they decided to create posters, flyers and t-shirts to convey their message that girls should be treated with respect! They hope that their project will let other girls know that they are not alone and to encourage boys to change their disrespectful behavior.
 

San Francisco County

Team 30, College Track San Francisco, San Francisco 
The girls at College Track SF wanted to put an end to domestic violence.  They felt that by educating men and women on how domestic violence affects both genders, that people would have a better understanding on how to prevent it from happening in their community.  The girls created posters and flyers with statistics on domestic abuse by both men and women in order to spread the word that it affects everyone.  They also provided San Francisco domestic abuse resources and hotlines for those seeking more information on how to stop the cycle of domestic violence.

Santa Cruz County

Team 28, Santa Cruz Boys and Girls Club, Santa Cruz - More Love, Less Gangs!
The girls at the Boys and Girls Club felt that gangs are a problem in their community.  The team felt that kids who don't get enough love and attention at home were more likely to join gangs.  They decided to get the word out by making stickers with positive messages such as, "More Love, Less Gangs".  The stickers were given out to the other kids at the club and in their community.  They hope to be a positive influence by spreading their message to other in order to prevent them from joining gangs.

Team 26, Lakeview Middle School, Watsonville- Bad Attention
The team at Lakeview has had enough with people being bullied! They developed the slogan, “Hate is easy, love takes courage” and created fliers, posters and t-shirts to encourage bullies to seek out positive ways to get attention instead of bullying.  They girls also created an announcement to be read over the loudspeaker the day they promoted their project. The announcement shared their message that students should be courageous and loving toward their fellow classmates.

Team 31, Live Oak Boys and Girls Club - Be Prepared, Use Protection!
Team 31 is tired of seeing absent fathers and the effect is has on their community.  They felt that this was less likely to occur if people were better prepared and used protection when it comes to being sexually active.  The girls created t-shirts with messages promoting protection in order to prevent unwanted pregnancies and therefore absentee fathers.  They wore their shirts while passing out buttons and stickers to other students at the Boys and Girls club hoping to pass along their message to the community.

Below are projects that girls across Silicon Valley created in the fall of 2009.

Team 1, J.W. Fair Middle School, San Jose – Violence Away from San Jose                             
The girls at J.W. Fair Middle School felt that a lack of support from family was the main reason people join gangs and commit violent acts. They created a human billboard campaign at their school to encourage youth to stay away from these harmful activities.  The team designed t-shirts to convey the message that gangs cause violence, but with support from family members it can be reduced.  They wore their shirts to school in hope that by bringing awareness to this issue they will reduce the violence in San Jose.

Team 2, California College Preparatory Academy, Berkeley – Maintaining Authenticity             
Girl Action Team 2 was concerned about middle school and high school girls making choices that did not reflect their values. They wanted girls to feel empowered to be authentic. The team believes that low self-esteem and peer pressure are the driving force behind this problem.  The girls created alter to explore their own values and think about what they want to stay true to in their lives.  They also developed a set of written tools for the team to use when faced with peer pressure that encourages a message of authenticity and staying true to who you are.

Team 4, Oak Grove High School, San Jose – Stop Animal Abuse!
The Oak Grove GFC team is getting the word out about stopping animal abuse. They believe that too many animals are not being spayed or neutered and this results in over population and leads to abuse and neglect.  The girls reached out to local animal organizations in order to gather information and resources needed to create a Facebook page. They dedicated the social networking page to informing the community on how to be responsible pet owners. They plan on using the Facebook page as a way to mobilize the community and be a resource for educating others in order to stop the cycle of animal abuse.

Team 5, Peter Burnett Academy, San Jose – Respect Is!
The girls at Peter Burnett Academy were concerned about sexual abuse and its impact on youth. They designed a project to raise their classmate’s consciousness about the value of respect in order to prevent sexual abuse.  The girls feel that sexual abuse occurs when people don’t respect another person’s body. Each team member designed and created a poster focusing on the building of respect amongst students at the school. The posters were hung in the school hallways to educate students about the importance of respecting one another in order to prevent sexual abuse.

Team 7, Ronald McNair Intermediate School, East Palo Alto – Yes to Love & Respect, No to Hatred & Guns
Girl Action Team number 7 hoped to encourage students in their community to think twice before using weapons to solve problems.  The girls feel people need strong communication skills so that when confronted with conflict, people will start peaceful and respectful dialogue.  The girls tackled this issue by making T-shirts that depicted people creating peaceful conflict resolution. They wore the shirts to school to promote conversation around their cause in hopes of creating a community that doesn’t respond to hatred with guns and violence but with love and respect.

Team 8, Lighthouse Community Charter School, Oakland - Raising Awareness to Stop Abuse   
The girls of Lighthouse Charter created an information booth to educate people about thinking before they act. The team feels that people do not analyze the consequences of their behavior before they act and therefore cause harm to people, pets, the environment, etc. The team presented their booth at the school’s Expo in December. The booth included guest speakers, informational posters and resource flyers and brochures that spread the message of not causing harm.  The girls feel that by making informed choices, people will cause less harm in the world.

Team 9, Sobrato Family Living Center, Santa Clara – Positive Thoughts, Positive Self-Esteem     
The girls of Team 9 wanted to feel better about their bodies.  They believe that women and girls are flooded with images of how society thinks they should look. The team designed buttons that say “I’m Beautiful” and distributed them at Don Callejon School and the Sobrato Family Living Center. They hope to educate other girls that it is important to feel good about their bodies and that they will feel powerful in order to change their community and their own lives.

Team 10, East Palo Alto Charter School, East Palo Alto – Gossip Hurts                                       
The team at East Palo Alto Charter wanted to spread the word that there are repercussions to gossiping and that people just don’t understand how much damage gossip it can cause. The girls educated their school on the topic of gossip by creating and wearing T-shirts that showed the negative effects that gossiping can cause.  The girls wore their shirts to school and encouraged their peers to sign them as an agreement to not gossip and to think critically before spreading negative messages about someone else.

Team 11, Notre Dame High School, San Jose – Breaking Down Stereotypes, Building Up
The girls of Team 11 determined that fear is the main cause of discrimination and stereotyping in their community.  They are currently developing a workshop curriculum for middle school students that will focus on breaking down stereotypes and unifying girls. They plan to complete the curriculum during the 2009/2010 school year and present it to their administrators for future school use.  They hope the workshops will build respect for cultural diversity through girl partners that strengthened self-respect.

Silicon Valley Girl Steering Committee
This year the Girl Steering Committee devoted their time to formulate new projects for the Girls For A Change Girl Action Network.  They designed new promotional materials in order to get the word out about the Network to girls in Silicon Valley and on Girl Action Teams.  They also developed the video interviews to be launches in 2010/2011 called, "I am a woman of Change".  These interviews include perspectives from various women in their community that support social change.  The Girl Steering Committee want other girls to feel inspired by the women they admire in their community and to encourage them to become agents of social change.


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