Madison SOS (Speak Out, Sister!) is a youth-led initiative to foster leadership and activism among high school teen girls in the Madison community. Its current initiative is the Young Women's Leadership Forum, a series of six 90-minute workshops in fall 2007 for high school teen girls to develop skills in community leadership and grassroots activism. Madison SOS operates under the non-profit Girl Scouts of Black Hawk Council, with additional support from the YWCA of Madison, Girl Neighborhood Power, the Wisconsin Women’s Network, ACLU of Wisconsin, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin, DoSomething.org, the Case Foundation, and generous community businesses and individuals.

Description:
The Young Women's Leadership Forum will offer six 90-minute workshops from September to November for Madison high school teen girls. Through multimedia presentations, guest speakers, and youth-led discussions, participants will discuss what it means to be a teen girl in Madison. In addition to developing personal leadership skills and activism tools like letter-writing, public speaking, and lobbying, participants will identify and take action on the local social justice issues affecting them as teenagers. Participants will also receive mentoring from and meet with a wide variety of Madison women active in social justice and political leadership and activism.

Participants will have additional opportunities to explore city-wide leadership upon graduating from the program. During the winter, this core group of teen leaders will help create a unique report on the status of teen girls in Madison. Girl leaders will conduct personal interviews, run listening sessions at community centers and high schools, write personal narratives and gather other data. This report, which will focus on providing a forum for girls to express their hopes for the future of their community, will include resources and suggestions for community groups and leaders on how to best work to advance the status of teen girls in Madison. Girls will then use the report as a basis from which to conduct trainings for nonprofit organizations and meetings with elected officials and other leaders on how to best serve the unique needs and challenges of teen girls.

History:
Madison SOS was founded by a local teen girl in the spring of 2007 as a response to several key community issues, including a need for a safe, comfortable space for Madison girls of all backgrounds to connect through leadership and activism on the issues affecting their lives. After the pilot year of 2007-2008, Madison SOS may be launched as a sustainable organization offering leadership development and support to local high school teen girls.

Contact people:

Natalia Thompson, Program Coordinator, (608) 320-3882, (email) Ti Gauger, Program Specialist, (608) 237-1164, (email)

Office fax number: (608) 276-9160

Address:

2710 Ski Lane Madison, WI 53713 (See a map)

Web Site: http://www.girlscoutsofblackhawk.org

Directions:

Madison SOS workshops will be held downtown at a central location, NOT at the Girl Scout Center.   Nearest Metro/Subway Stop: --,   Walk distance (in minutes): --   Nearest Bus Stop: --, -- minute walk

Miscellaneous Information

Will you be using VolunteerYourTime.org for Donation Match ONLY?
	No