GIRL Project Summer 2017 was a success!
July 5–14, 2017
Video by Lillian Ocampo
Fifteen girls participated in the 10-day dance and empowerment workshop at the EastSide Cultural Center. This summer jazz dance was added to the schedule, in addition to the hip-hop and choreography classes. Mentors taught the girls about environmental awareness in self-defense and urban planning, benefits of common herbs in urban gardening, and bike safety, as well as riding a bike. The big art project this year was screen printing. The girls designed their own t-shirts and went through the screen printing process and created them! We also had the pleasure of hosting a guest dentist, who taught the girls about oral health! It was a packed schedule.
After a full 10 days, the girls presented all that they had learned at a culminating showing for their family and the community. They shared what they learned through classes and celebrated the friendships that were developed.
Through their stories, we are pleased that each girl walked away feeling more loved and empowered by their community. Every girl also left with a bike and helmet, dance tights, jazz shoes and a goodie bag with healthcare products and school supplies!
Our summer workshop would not have been possible without help from our community and the following people. Thank you to all the teachers and chaperones who hold the space for the girls to blossom. We would also like to thank Fist of Flour, Bloch, Oaklandish, and Manifesto Bicycles. We want to especially thank our fairy godmother, EastSide Arts Alliance, Danspace, the East Bay Community Foundation’s East Bay Fund for Artists, and our project coordinator Shaunnah Ray. The show of support reinforces how much the community treasures all of the girls! Thank you deeply for helping to put on a successful workshop, as well as create a safe-space for these young women to bloom.
Take a peek into our week-long Spring Break Workshop:
Video by Lillian Ocampo
We want to thank our guardian angels, ancestors, EastSide Arts Alliance, our “fairy godmother”, and the Akonadi Foundation—along with Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and Oaklandish—for partnering in making the GIRL Project possible. Thank you for sharing your resources to make a difference on a grassroots level in our Oakland community.
