AFG | Summer Newsletter 2022

Note from the AFG Team On June 28th, 1969, LGBTQI+ individuals and allies, led by Black trans women, protested the Stonewall Inn raid, serving as a catalyst for the queer rights movement in the United States and abroad. While a significant amount of progress has been made since that fateful night in 1969, queer folks are still tragically having to fight for their basic civil rights in tandem with fighting the violence of how policed queer bodies are today.We know that some of the most vulnerable populations within our wider LGBTQI+ community are transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals, particularly transgender women and girls of color who face unfathomable levels of violence, discrimination and policing. This June, we at Alliance for Girls (AFG) stand in solidarity with our sisters and kin who are fighting every day for their humanity and safety.As many of you know, AFG recently released our ground-breaking Radical Visions of Safety Report (for a condensed version of the report, please refer to the Radical Visions of Safety Brief). In the report, our community of girls envisioned safety as a rich and profound presence of connection, sovereignty, comfort, trust, non-judgement, and a sense of belonging, to just name a few. The way that girls and gender expansive youth characterize safety moves away from traditional assumptions and encompasses notions of physical, emotional, and spiritual ideas of what it means to belong and exist in space. What a powerful and radical vision for what community could be. Trust, non-judgement, connection, and comfort are key to girls and gender expansive youth when thinking about safety and healthy relationships. Girls and gender expansive youth are calling out the need for deconstructed and healed understanding of self and others as a form of transgression, healing and liberation rooted in mutual respect, protection, vulnerability between people and experiences of being ones true and full self without risk of reprisal. It is impossible to not talk about sovereignty in the context of queer bodies and the environments that surround them, but especially in this moment in time. In real time we are seeing so many of our rights over our bodies – from access to birth control to access to gender-affirming healthcare - being further restricted. An assault on our right to bodily autonomy (a core tenant of sovereignty) paves the way for further restrictions around self-determination—including sexual freedom, autonomy, and marriage/partnerships. Another key tenant of our girl’s vision for radical safety is a sense of belonging. We all know what that longing feels like– queer or not– and how vital it is for being able to become our best selves and to be authentically embodied. A world where we are not asked to “fit in” but are instead welcomed physically, emotionally, and spiritually into a community and space is the most radical vision of safety and queerness we can imagine. As we close out this Pride month, we invite you to celebrate the magic, wonder, resiliency and power of our queer communities. We ask and join you in the continued fight for the rights of our most vulnerable community members and we ask you to stand boldly and loudly in affirmation that if we are not all free, none of us are free. And to our queer members and organizations: We see you. We appreciate you. And we stand side by side with you.For more on radical safety, we invite you to join us at our 2022 Annual Conference: The World We Image – where we will be focusing this year on radical safety and a vision forward for our community.The AFG TeamNote: We want to hear from you! If you have statements, resources or work that is encompassed in the #RadicalSafety work, send it our way! Our hope is to share and highlight the work of our alliance and to compile a useful snapshot of this moment in time within our network, communities and team. We encourage you to send us updates to comms@alliance4girls.org

AFG Updates 2022 AFG Annual Conference: The World We Imagine  Register Now! 2022 Annual Conference: The World We ImagineTuesday, October 11, 2022 |  8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. | Oakland, CA Ten years ago, Alliance for Girls  embarked on a journey to join the movement of self-liberation, empowerment, and leadership of girls, women and gender-expansive youth.  Today, this alliance has grown to 180 members representative of organizations and individuals who bravely work towards a more equitable and inclusive world.This year, for our 7th conference, we invite you to gather with us as we honor the legacy of our collective work, celebrate our members, and creatively engage to build "The World We Imagine," one where radical safety exists for girls and gender-expansive people, so that they may thrive in leadership, self-love, and justice. The World We Imagine Conference is filled with influential speakers, youth leaders, engaging panels, workshops, and creative spaces for community, leadership, healing, and restoration. For more information, to register + to submit a proposal, click here. In Case You Missed It AFG Message on Hate Crimes, Shootings + A Vision for Radical Safety. In the past month, there have been more mass shootings than most of us can bear to keep up with, with three in particular that have left our community reeling: a racially motivated hate crime in Buffalo, New York that murdered 10 majority Black people, a racially motivated hate crime in Orange County, California that murdered 1 and injured 5 Taiwanese churchgoers, and on Monday a gunman massacred 19 children and two teachers in Uvalde Texas, the majority of whom were Latinx children. This requires us to pause.Read our full message with resources here. AFG Message on Radical Safety in a Post-Roe WordWe want to reiterate again our commitment to reimagine, advocate for and support our next generation of leaders and change-makers as they fight to bring to life a different way of being – a vision of radical safety grounded in hope. We cannot lose heart – though the hill may be steep, it is ours to climb. Last week's news that the Supreme Court has formally overturned Roe v. Wade, restricting the rights of anyone with a uterus to choose what to do with their body, is both heartbreaking and terrifying. This ruling will have a ripple effect across the United States, igniting trigger laws in at least 13 states and even more strict restrictions in other states. Although Governor Newsom declared California a “reproductive freedom state” in September 2021 and has since proposed expansions to strengthen protections, access, and welcome people from anti-abortion states seeking services in California, ensuring the implementation of these protections across California and protecting the unique needs and rights of girls and gender expansive youth, especially those of color, across this state is essential. However, we know that it is not enough to strategize around these restrictions. To quote the late Maya Angelou, “The truth is, no one of us can be free until everybody is free.” Read our full statement here. When Young Mothers Thrive (WYMT) When Young Mom’s Thrive CelebrationOver the past year, Young Women’s Freedom Center (YWFC) and Alliance for Girls piloted the When Young Mom’s Thrive, We All Do (WYMT) funded by Santa Clara County. WYMT aims to address the harmful gender norms and stigma facing young mothers, and generate recommendations on how Santa Clara County government and community organizations can implement programs that are culturally responsive and stigma-free. On June 4, 2022, YWFC and AFG celebrated the amazing work these young moms are doing. The event included powerful words from participating young moms, resources for young moms shared by key local community organizations, music, and family fun activities including massages for young moms to destress, an interactive art station for participants to imagine what the ideal world for their families looks like, and more. We had a total of 70 participants this year with 56 young parents stipends distributed at a total of $11,200 to young mothers/parents in the community. “The celebration held for WYMT initiative coming to a close was a time for young moms and families to enjoy themselves in a space we held, we helped them to reimagne a better future for ourselves and others like us. It’s important for everyone to take time and care of themselves first especially when the life of a little one is in their hands and we highlighted the importance of this during our event. Remember,  When Young Mom’s Thrive, We All Do.” - Viviana Arenas, AFG Advocacy Fellow For a sneak peak on the experience of the young moms of the WYMT initiative, please check out more updates on the AFG website.  WYMT photoshoot June 22 for Santa Clara County Office of Education website and flyers encouraging stigma-free language and photos for families of all ages and sizes (WYMT wants their county and resources to be easily accessible and understood across multiple audiences. This work includes including photos of themselves on this website to help others like themselves feel welcomed). Pictured in the photo to the left 3 research fellows and 2 lead fellows with their children. Introducing Our New Staff  Alliance for Girls is excited to celebrate new staff members who bring new and unique energy, voices and skills to our team! Check out who's joined below, and learn more about them on our Staff Page. Michelle Sare | Director of Finance and OperationsMichelle Sare comes from a strong leadership and university operations management background working for the University of Southern California (USC).  She has over ten years of leadership experience responsible for financial and grant management programs, faculty and student administration support and university operations development.  She started her career as a budget assistant at the USC Marshall School of Business for two years, progressed in her role as a business manager to manage finances for USC Student Affairs for seven years, receiving her Master of Arts in Education from the USC in 2011.  Michelle wanted to further advance her role to understand university financial operations and served as a grant manager helping lead the department grant programs at the USC Keck School of Medicine in the Preventive Medicine for over four years and advanced to serve as the Finance Director for another two years.  In her most recent role as the Senior Finance Director for the Kaiser Permanente Medical School where she served two years to help develop the finance infrastructure during the school's start up phase. Uche Esomonu | Communications AssociateUchenna Esomonu is the Communications Associate at Alliance For Girls. She joined the organization in 2020 serving on the Young Women’s Leadership Board where she helped champion youth-driven research that produced the Uniting Isolated Voices: Girls and Gender-Expansive Youth During COVID-19 report. She also served as a youth design strategist on the first Bay Area community and youth-led effort to end gender-based violence on public transportation. She hopes to leverage this position to amplify her work as a gender justice advocate and community leader. Now as the Communications Associate, she is helping streamline AFG's communications operations and implement AFG's internal and external communications needs. Her goal is to help bring AFG's mission and work to a broader audience by ensuring consistency and accuracy in the organization's messaging. Using a combination of efficient social media and communications tools, she also hopes to engage the youth within AFG's network, uplift their voices, and inform them of the extensive resources available to them. Uchenna is a storyteller at heart. She graduated from Sacramento State University with a Bachelor's Degree in Journalism. While in college, she covered a variety of important issues in the Sacramento community and was published in local news outlets like the Sacramento Observer and the Sacramento News & Review. She is passionate about expanding support services for girls* and gender-expansive youth as well as increasing girls*’ awareness and access to these services. Her goal is to help create a society that prioritizes girls*’ wellness and safety – one where barriers to girls*’ success no longer exist. Outside of work, Uchenna is a fiction writer striving to tell stories that humanize and celebrate people who have been written off of popular narratives.

Biannual Members Impact Survey AFG is asking for your help!  We ask that all members please take our biannual survey to help us learn more about you and your organization's experience with AFG. Your responses will be kept confidential and will be used to help AFG improve our programming and services. Once you complete the survey, you’ll be entered in a drawing for one of five $100 gift cards to Target or one of two free Alliance for Girls annual memberships! If you have any questions about the survey, please contact Miari Stephens at miari@alliance4girls.org. Thank you for your valuable time and input!BUTTON: Member Impact Survey Member Impact Survey AFG in the Media Alliance for Girls LA was at the 2022 Phenomenal Woman Awards of YWCA of Greater LA. We were thrilled to meet up with the folks from MOSTe,   EmpowHer, YWCA Greater Los Angeles,  Public Counsel, and the Positive Results Center and we are thankful for their work in championing the voices of girls and gender-expansive youth! Also, thank you to the one and only Tiffany Haddish for giving AFG a lovely shout out! A Girl's Perspective

From Questioning Capacity to Strength Through ListeningJazlyn Surell (One Circle Foundation) I always knew that I had the heart to help people, but I was not clear on the path to go about it. When I think back to how I got where I am, I am often taken back to this specific time. I was a first-year at Arcadia University and I was opening a bank account for the first time all by myself. I do not remember a lot of it. It was such a mundane errand to run, but what I do remember is a conversation that I had with the bank teller. She was asking me what my major was and I told her that I wanted to go into a trauma counseling field. Then, she asked me if I experienced anything similar to what they have. I told her no. She shifted into a more serious tone and asked me how I was going to relate to anything that they tell me if I have not gone through it. That one conversation made me question my decisions. How was I going to counsel if I could never relate? You can read her full piece here.   Voices of the Alliance

Keys to Great Emotional LeadershipMark Athitakis Leaders don’t necessarily take on their jobs expecting to be emotional managers. Which may be why there’s so much evidence it’s not working out so well. According to one survey, 75 percent of stressed-out workers attribute their stress to their immediate supervisor. Happiness at the office, as I wrote last week, can be a difficult goal to achieve. It’s worth adding, though, that happiness isn’t the only emotion you may be called on to address. And given the various types of emotional strain that workers have faced in the past year, leaders have an increasing responsibility to better understand and manage them. Catch this entire piece here. L.A.’s Efforts to Combat Child TraffickingKate Walker Brown, Maria Contreras, Amber Davies …Much work remains to ensure that children from all backgrounds are identified, heard, heeded, and supported. Some young people are disproportionately impacted by exploitation, like Black girls, or under-identified, like Native youth, LGBTQIA2S+, and boys. These young people, in particular, continue to be viewed as criminals, even while being victimized, and often end up involved in the child welfare or juvenile legal systems without the community-based support they and their families need.Read the full piece here.