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Role Model Dinner - Save the Date!
Our 27th annual Role Model Dinner will be held on Wednesday, March 16th, from 5:30-9pm at the Cobo Center. Tickets are $200 each and will go on sale in January 2016.
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Are you planning to shop online this holiday season? Here is an easy way to buy the gifts you need and support Alternatives For Girls, at the same time! If you are an Amazon customer, by shopping at smile.amazon.com and designating Alternatives For Girls as your nonprofit of choice, Amazon will donate 0.5% of the purchase price to AFG, for every eligible purchase you make!
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Alternatives For Girls
E-Newsletter
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Greetings!
 "My goals for the future are to go to college and became a nurse. I want to have a stable job so I can support my family. Because of AFG, I have gotten a lot closer to that goal," Talena, AFG Shelter resident, shares.
Talena was adopted as a child and throughout her childhood and young adult life, she had a difficult relationship with her adoptive parents. At 18, Talena was kicked out of her house and she started living from house to house. "I really didn't have any other family in the area that I could turn to, so I stayed with friends from school, and anywhere else I could," Talena shared. Talena continued to struggle while trying to achieve housing stability, and after becoming pregnant, a friend referred her to Alternatives For Girls.
Since arriving to Alternatives For Girls earlier this year, Talena has re-enrolled in school to complete her high school diploma, is on track to graduate soon, and is also moving into her own housing! She has been focused on learning budgeting skills, saving money, how to write a resume, interview skills, and many other skills to help her achieve her goals.
Because of your support, young women like Talena are completing their education, finding employment, securing housing, and becoming independent, successful adults. Click here to help change the ending for at-risk girls and women today!
Read on to hear about the recent performances the girls and young women in our After-school Program did with Matrix Theater Company and our former Shelter resident who was recently honored with the Spirit of Achievement Award.
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Matrix Theatre Company Teaches Workshop to Girls at AFG
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"I loved performing and showing off our ideas to the audience," Guadalupe smiles. Since the beginning of our Prevention Department's After-school Program (ASP) in October, the elementary, middle, and high school groups have been participating in on-site workshops with the Matrix Theatre Company. Also located in southwest Detroit, the Matrix Theatre Company teaches, creates, and shares theater as an instrument of transformation. The Matrix School of Theatre offers workshops for youth between the ages of 5-18 in play writing, puppetry, and performance. The workshops allow a safe space for youth to voice their opinions, tell their story, create their own solutions and empower them by allowing the youth to express themselves by using their own words, self-confidence, and imagination.
For a month leading up to the performances, Matrix worked with each ASP group to create their own original performance and provide them with an introduction to acting and play writing concepts. During the workshops, Matrix started by talking with the girls about the issues that they are currently dealing with and then built the story or performance from there. "My favorite part was writing our performance because everyone's ideas were crazy and I like them," Guadalupe, who performed with the middle school group, shared. "Everyone just called out their ideas and then we voted on whose we liked the best," she continued. From these discussions, the groups came up with performances on the topics of bullying, making positive choices, and self-empowerment.
After they wrote their acts, the girls then learned acting and theatrical concepts that would help them perform their pieces. "We learned to always be dramatic, to never turn our backs to the audience, how to walk on stage, and so many other things!" Jamiah, another middle school group participant, shared. "And we learned about the four brothers of movement, the different parts of the stage, and how to move on the stage," Guadalupe added. Click here to read more.
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Former Shelter Resident Receives Spirit of Achievement Award
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Alternatives For Girls would like to congratulate our former Shelter resident, O'Lissa, for receiving the Spirit of Achievement Award from the Homeless Action Network of Detroit (HAND)!
On November 21st, HAND hosted their 2015 Every Detroiter Counts: Giving 2 the Community where O'Lissa was honored alongside three other awardees. The award recognizes those who have successfully overcome barriers to achieve housing stability and celebrates their accomplishments. A group of AFG Staff and current AFG Shelter residents also attended the event to support O'Lissa and celebrate her achievement.
Congratulations O'Lissa!
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Thank you for your continued support!
Sincerely,
Amanda (Amy) L. Good
CEO
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