As a donor we respect your questions and concerns and have attempted to reach as many of you personally as possible. Thank you for allowing us time to pause, organize our priorities and reaffirm our strategic direction as an organization.  We have appointed Kristen Nichols to head our executive search committee and are moving forward with committee selection and consultant interviews. 

This summer we invite you to call or visit Girls Inc. for a tour to see for yourself how solid and impressive the girls are. Kay Mathers may be reached at 941- 366-6646 or if you prefer to call me, my cell number is:  941- 320-3148.

This summer, girls of all ages are participating in NASA's Summer of Innovation curriculum!!  Lessons in rocketry, aeronautics and earth science have made our science lab the most popular room in the building!!!!  Our science instructor, Ms. Malia Rowland, describes the experience as "so exciting!  The girls can't wait to get in the lab and find out what we are doing each day.  The hands on activities have been perfect for our summer camp!"   

To even further enrich this already very dynamic program, NASA has invited 20 4^th-8^th graders to visit the Kennedy Space Center to watch the Rover, Curiosity, land on Mars!!  Girls will sleep under the world's largest rocket and participate in a variety of exciting activities!  Truly a Summer of Science!!

Micro-Society News

Girl's Inc. recently received a great honor. We received an award for our Innovative Savings Initiative when our girls realized that few of their peers were not saving much money, if any, at all. 

The Dream Harbor bankers received national recognition in the form of a George Award for Outstanding MicroSociety Agency from Microsociety, Inc. for their innovative solution to the savings deficit. That solution involved creating tiered incentives to motivate students to spend less and save more. Consumers who tucked away $25 dollars would earn extra playground recreation time, and the enterprising girls who deposited $150 dollars would earn an after-hours party with dinner and a movie. The plan worked and savings rates rose sharply after an emergency presentation of the new savings benefits by student-bank manager. The girls then received a double dose of financial literacy skills when the rewards plan became too popular and students were withholding spending of their earnings in the student-run marketplace. "Facing a dilemma much like the banking and finance quagmires currently playing out on Wall Street -  Students had to find a way affect change without just sending the problem further down the line, to the next generation, or to consumer in a neighboring country," saidMicroSociety, Inc. President and CEO, Carolynn King Richmond. "These are the real-world experiences that will help prepare today's kids to take charge and make positive changes in the world they are soon to inherit."

Recently our Government Center for Dream Harbour was able to attend Court School. Ms. Kim's girls were able to simulate the actual ongoings of the daily jobs in a court room. They shadowed the many different duties that are in the courtroom. From what a judge does to the duties of a courtroom clerk the girls were given the opportunity to witness each job. Dawn Buff, prosecuting attorney, was one of the individuals that was a part of the Court School and showing the girls the ins and outs of court. Our girls learned so much about court, and the many different career opportunities within the justice system. 

In other news regarding the Government Center Ms. Kim's girls developed the Department of Parks and Recreation. They rent out space to vendors to sell their merchandise. But, the biggest seller is customers can buy time to use the facility to hang out, swing on the hammock and have a relaxing time during the consumer break. They only have to pay a $3 fee to use the space!