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Face Forward Monthly Open Houses
Our Face Forward program is now hosting bi-weekly Open Houses for youth between the ages of 16-24 that have past or current Juvenile Justice involvement and want to learn more about AFG's Face Forward program! The Open Houses will be held every other Thursday from 4:30pm - 7:30pm right here at AFG. Dinner will be provided and each attendee who is eligible for the Face Forward program will receive a $5 gift card! For more information or to RSVP call Ebony Jackson at 313-361-4000 x331.
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Alternatives For Girls
News
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Greetings!
"I've learned how to speak positively of myself and how to focus on positive talk," Taysia, one of the Rise N' Shine campers participating in the Girls on the Run workshop, shares. Rise N' Shine is in full swing and the girls are having a blast learning new things, making friends, and going on weekly field trips!
Read on to learn about Rise N' Shine's Girls on the Run workshop and hear all about our Peer Educators role in The Dow Chemical Company's recent Power to Influence event.
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Girls on the Run Workshop Helps Improve Girls Self-Esteem and Train for 5k
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| | Click on the video to see a short clip of the Girls on the Run workshop in action! |
It's a beautiful and sunny day in Detroit and out in AFG's backyard a group of fifteen Rise N' Shine campers have just finished a running game. The group gathers in a circle to discuss the topic of the day. "What is something you did today to take care of your body?" one Rise N' Shine youth leader asks the group of nine to eleven year old campers. "Exercise!" one girl exclaims. "Run!" another adds excitedly.
Led by a group of youth leaders, the Girls on the Run workshop is just one of the many activities offered during Rise N' Shine, AFG's free six week summer day camp that allows girls between the ages of four and fourteen to learn new things, improve their reading skills, and make friends. The Girls on the Run workshop is being funded by the Skillman Foundation and has been made possible through a close partnership with the YMCA, who provided the curriculum as well as program support.
Girls on the Run is a physical activity based positive youth development program for girls in 3rd to 8th grade. The program curriculum teaches life skills through interactive lessons and running games and aims to inspire girls to be joyful, healthy, and confident. At the end of the program, the girls are physically and emotionally ready to complete a celebratory 5k running event with their fellow group mates.
And throughout Rise N' Shine the girls will do just that; prepare to run a 5k race being held on Belle Isle in September. During the workshop, the girls run, stretch, do jumping jacks, sit ups, and in between the movement, they stop to laugh with their friends. They encourage each other by running beside one another and cheering each other on. Each girl fully participates in the exercising and the discussions that happen afterward.
Their excitement for the program also comes through when they speak about it. "The Girls on the Run workshop has been the best! It teaches us how to exercise, how to take care of our body, and what to do if we are mad or sad," Yaritza, one of the girls in the group explains.
Click here to read more.
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The Dow Chemical Company Event Provides Vital Support to AFG Programs
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On a mild summer day, 100 employees from The Dow Chemical Company and
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| | One AFG Peer Educator helps assemble one of the ten bikes put together at the Power to Influence event held by The Dow Chemical Company |
four Alternatives For Girls Peer Educators (PEs) are outside of the H Hotel in Midland Michigan, packing backpacks and hygiene kits and assembling bicycles and picnic tables. A few of the PEs grab a packing list for the backpacks and start looking for the items that belong in the bag. Like a scavenger hunt, they check things off the list, only to look up again and search for the next item. Meanwhile, another PE works with Dow employees to assemble a beautiful, colorful bicycle. "I only did one bike, but it felt kind of intense. It was like a race because everyone was working on the bikes all at once. It was fun!" Deana, one of the AFG PEs who attended the event, remembers.
The event, held on July 15 by The Dow Chemical Company, was called Power to Influence and is a training opportunity for its technicians. "The event provides the technicians an opportunity to receive specialized training that will aid in their own development and set the stage to develop others by leveraging their learnings from the program," Sarah McManus, Operations Learning and Talent Development Administrator at The Dow Chemical Company, explains. Because The Dow Chemical Company strongly believes in
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| | The PEs take a quick swim in the hotel pool after the event! |
giving back to the community, the event also incorporates a volunteer activity.
For this Power to Influence event, the volunteer activity was assembling donations for Alternatives For Girls. In addition, Dow also invited girls from AFG to attend the event to learn about what they do, help during the volunteer activity, and even stay overnight at the hotel! The Peer Educators who attended were chauffeured to Midland by a private taxi service (courtesy of Dow!) and had a welcome basket when they arrived to their hotel room! "It made me feel really special!" Da'shea, another AFG PE who attended, shared.
During the event, the group put together 10 bicycles, 100 backpacks filled with school supplies, 90 hygiene kits, and 4 picnic tables, in less than an hour! "It was great to see all of the hard work come together. Everyone moved really quickly and wanted to help!" Sarah shared. "The whole experience was fun! It felt like they were really trying to help us out," Da'shea shared. Click here to read more.
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Rise N' Shine Photos Click here to see photos from all of the exciting RNS workshops, including gardening, cooking, and arts and crafts! | |
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Power to Influence Photos On July 15, The Dow Chemical Company held a volunteer activity to support AFG! Click here to see pictures from the event!
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Thank you for your continued support!
Sincerely,
Amanda (Amy) L. Good
CEO
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