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Greetings!
"New Choices is a place I call home when I feel lost. It's a place that helps me find my way," writes Babydoll, author of this month's AFG blog. Read on to hear more from Babydoll, to learn about the 10th anniversary of AFG's New Choices program, and to meet one of AFG's 2013 Role Models and two Role Model introducers. Click here to sneak a peek the myriad of items available in this year's silent auction.
 | | University of Michigan student members of Detroit Partnership lead an after-school workshop focused on preventing tobacco use. Partnership Detroit assists with AFG's after-school programs every Wednesday. |
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Go-Getters
Meet two of the young women speaking at our Role Model Dinner
"When my sister told me about AFG I knew I had to be part of it!" smiles Brooke, a bubbly 15-year-old junior who has been
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Brooke
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involved with AFG's Young Women Changing Communities (YWCC) group for the past three years. "We get to meet new people, go out and do things in the community, like community service," Brooke describes.
Sankeydra, a 20-year-old fellow YWCC member who has been involved with the leadership group since 2010, adds, "Being a part of YWCC and AFG gave me more self-confidence, and taught me that there are no limitations on what she can do!"
Keeping Busy
Outside of AFG, both young women keep busy! Brooke is a member of the National Honor Society, and has interned with Congressman Sander Levin. She is also an avid member of her school's debate team. "We compete throughout the U.S., and it's a great way to meet new people and stay updated on current events," explains Brooke.
When she's not attending classes at a local community college, Sankeydra is busy at her part time job and working
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Sankeydra
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with the Skillman Foundation. "Several young people, including myself, help to review grant applications from local organizations," she explains. "It's a really rewarding experience!" Sankeydra also recently celebrated moving into her own apartment.
Future Leaders
Through her debate experiences, Brooke was inspired to study political science after she graduates. "I love the idea of what politicians can do, the way they can shape everyday life for people," she shares. "Politicians today don't address the needs of everyone - I want to listen to the people, and take into account what everyone has to say."
Sankeydra, inspired by her experiences with AFG, also wants to pursue a career that allows her to give back. And, "I hope to become a social worker who specializes in early childhood psychology," she shares. "I really just want to be able to help children, many of whom go through so much at an early age."
Meeting Role Models
This year, Brooke will be introducing Mary Ellen Gurewitz, an attorney with Sachs Waldman P.C., with the Champion Award, while Sankeydra will present Dr. Trina Shanks, a professor at the School of Social Work at the University of Michigan Ann Arbor, with the Professional Role Model award.
Both young ladies are excited to experience their first Role Model Dinner. "This is a great opportunity to put myself out there!" exclaims Brooke. "I've heard so many good things, and can't wait to attend myself!" adds Sankeydra.
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Celebrating New Choices
Event celebrates 10 years of critical program
As AFG celebrates its silver anniversary, Outreach's unique New Choices program is celebrating a milestone of their own. This year, New Choices is proud to be celebrating its 10th year of helping women to exit sex work.
Sharing Success
"AFG shows us that there is a safe place other than the streets. It's here for you, but you have to want it for yourself,"
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Three women welcome over two dozen attendees to an event celebrating the 10th anniversary of AFG's New Choices program, a unique program that helps women exit sex work. Happy anniversary, New Choices!
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stated New Choices member Donna as she welcomed over two dozen women, staff members, and other community members to AFG earlier this month to celebrate New Choices.
Undoubtedly, the highlight of the event was when current and former New Choices members shared their stories with the crowd. One such women was Sherry, who was proud to declare that [thanks to New Choices], "all my goals have come to pass." She continued, "Now, my family knows me for me, and not the person I was on the streets."
Inspiring others
Also on hand to celebrate the occasion was AFG CEO Amy Good, who congratulated New Choices and the women it serves. "Thank you so much for inspiring me, and so many others," she shared. "Your immense courage does not go unnoticed."
Amy also acknowledged AFG Outreach Director Deena Policicchio. "None of this would have been possible without Deena's vision!" Amy exclaimed. The women of New Choices echoed this sentiment, with one woman sharing, "I was out on the streets and down on my luck. Then I met Deena...she brought me in the door [to AFG], and I stayed in the door."
Congratulations to New Choices on this momentous accomplishment!
Want even more New Choices news? Click here to read this month's AFG blog.
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Meet the Role Model
Meet Mary Ellen Gurewitz, attorney at Sachs Waldman, PC. Here are some clips from her recent conversation with AFG.
AFG: Who are your role models?
Gurewitz: If we talk about female role models, I think that I would have to say that the people who have inspired me most are the women who were active leaders and thinkers in the feminist movement. People who have been really important, not in a personal way, but in an ideological way, would be Betty Friedan, whose book The Feminine Mystique spoke so powerfully to me, and Simone de Beauvoir, whose book The Second Sex was hugely influential. When I look at the formative periods of my life, there were not very many women out there who were practicing law or medicine. There weren't many women in the public sphere, in the political sphere, so it's hard for me to identify a particular person or persons who inspired me as opposed to identifying the feminist movement that most inspired me to look beyond the conventional roles that were defined for women.
If we speak more generally about role models, I would have to cite Dr. King and the leaders and activists in the civil rights movement (which, of course, inspired the feminist movement.) I was not brave enough to go to Selma or to Mississippi, but I was hugely moved by those who did. I was moved by the students, in elementary schools, high schools, and universities, who were brave enough to be on the forefront of school integration. I remember my horror at the deaths of Goodman, Schwerner and Cheney, and my admiration for the courage and idealism which motivated them to risk, and lose, their lives to advance the cause of freedom and equality.
And as I am now cutting back in my legal career, and considering other things I want to do, I find myself inspired by people who are involved in social service work, who are looking for opportunities to help others and who are actively involved in advocating for a more just society.
AFG: What do you like best about the Detroit area?
Gurewitz: I've lived here all my life, and my family has lived here for generations. I like the people. I like the nitty-gritty, no-pretenses Detroit. I like the opportunities that it has given me. I really like the way Detroit appears now to be in the midst of a revitalization that is inspired by people who are determined to make a difference. I see what is happening in Detroit as really exciting and as a recognition of the importance of urban areas and, importantly, of a more cohesive urban area where the barriers between young and old, between races, and particularly between the suburbs and the city...I think we're moving to a place where those barriers are not as high as they used to be. I think that people are recognizing common interests.
AFG: Which of your accomplishments are you the most proud of?
Gurewitz: That is a hard question. I'm really proud of my accomplishments in my legal career. I think that I have helped many many people over the course of my working life, both collectively and individually. And I am pleased that I was able, at least a little, to advance women's profile in law in ways that I had not anticipated. For example, when I started practicing in labor law, the assumption was that unions wouldn't want a woman attorney, and that was something that I was able to overcome, as have others.
I am pleased with my personal life. I have a wonderful husband, who is my best friend, and a son who has developed into an interesting, kind and generous person. I am blessed with great friends so I guess I would say that am proud that I have been a good friend. I have been able to use my talents in a number of organizations and I am proud that people have sought me out to do so.
AFG: Why do you believe that it is important to empower girls and young women?
Gurewitz: It is widely recognized now, around the globe, that limitations on women limit the ability of societies to advance. Empowering women strengthens entire societies and so it also empowers men. If half of a society's members are crippled, as was the case everywhere in the not so distant past, and as is still the case in much of the world, then the society itself has lost half of its potential.
In addition, empowering girls and women allows them to live more personally fulfilled lives. They have so much potential, so much to offer, and I think we should all have the opportunity to achieve our full potential. The opportunities for women have changed so dramatically during my lifetime. The roles to which women were confined in the past were so limited but that is certainly no longer the case. But I think that notwithstanding these enhanced opportunities, we're still fighting against so many assumptions about what women should do, what girls should do. I think the opportunities which opened up for me, and women of my and subsequent generations, are not as available to women whose economic circumstances are more limited, whose families are in disarray or who don't have the ability to support or encourage them. So I think that helping girls and women to achieve their potential needs to be a societal effort rather than simply an individual or familial effort. For women to be able to define for themselves the kind of life that they want, rather than have those expectations shaped by others or confined by others...I think that's just hugely important. |
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Thank you for taking the time to learn more about us, and I hope to see you at the Role Model Dinner!
Sincerely,
Amanda (Amy) L. Good
Alternatives For Girls | |
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Role Model Dinner Just a Week Away!
Tickets for the 2013 Role Model Dinner are still available! The annual event will be held on Thursday, March 21st at The Fillmore Detroit. Tickets are $150 each. To learn more, visit the RMD webpage or purchase tickets online now.
AFG Blog
This month's blog was written by Babydoll, a longtime member of AFG's New Choices program, a program focused on helping women exit sex work.
" New Choices is a place I call home when I feel lost. It's a place that helps me find my way. New Choices helped me become more self-sufficient. The staff are beautiful women, powerful and influential, dedicated, supportive, kind, understanding, strong, and sensitive. These women make me a better person. They gave me back my will to live. I have much love to all the staff for their unyielding support and encouragement," says Babydoll. Click here to read the complete blog.
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