CL: City Lifestyle welcomes Vanessa Helbig Johnson, the Senior Director of Youth Services and the Executive Director of Girls, Inc., Nashville, to tell us about Girls. Inc. and its very special mission.
VHJ: Girls are constantly receiving messages from the world, sometimes through social media, regular media, or community members, and a lot of times they can put our girls in this little box. It tells girls what they need to be and “should” be, how to look, how to act, what to like, and what skills to have. We want to help our girls receive messages that compensate for what’s missing. We like to educate them about careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math), and let them know they can be good at engineering and science and all of those areas, as well. So we give them experiences, let them explore new things, and give them a chance to decide who they want to be for themselves. We try to make sure they get well-rounded messages that then allow each of them to thrive in their individuality, help them be leaders, and have a successful future.
We also try to build up protective factors. Girls, Inc. is within the YWCA organization, and our mission is to eliminate racism and empower women. Our girls’ programming is under that mission as well, and we are the largest domestic violence shelter in Tennessee. We want to be a part of the solution when it comes to domestic violence so we work to build up skills that could help protect our girls and give them things to look out for. We know that a victim is not to blame, but hopefully, we can build up skills, safety plans, and red flag awareness to help reach positive outcomes. Financial literacy is a big piece of what we do. We've noticed when looking at domestic violence that a lot of times when one doesn’t have independent financial funds, or those funds are controlled in the relationship, that’s a factor for domestic violence. We help our girls think through financial literacy, see what it means to have a budget, what it takes to live, and pay rent. We assist them in thinking through school and what degrees they are interested in as well as what might reward them as far as their income.
CL: Explain a little bit about your programming to our readers.
VHJ: All of our programming is for ages 7 to 18, for elementary, middle, and high school students. We cater all of it to the different age groups. For elementary school students, we talk about the difference between financial needs and wants, and we help middle school girls create a budget. Our high school girls talk about scams, building credit, and loans. We want to make sure they have tools that can help them be successful. We also look at healthy and unhealthy relationships, communication skills, media literacy, and self-esteem, as well as living a healthy life, critical thinking, emotional regulation, and so much more!
CL: Who does Girls, Inc. serve?
VHB: Our programming is provided in Metro Nashville Public Schools, as well as other community sites, to the same girls every week. We also provide free summer and spring break camps, as well as family engagement opportunities. We are grateful for the relationships we get to have with the girls as mentors through supporting relationships and recognize that we are one piece of the puzzle and their family is a huge piece. We can come alongside and support the family as well. We let our girls know that their voices matter and that they have the right to use them for the things that they are passionate about. We want to empower our girls to be civically engaged and become agents of change for an equitable world for women.
CL: How is the program implemented?
VHJ: It's best for us to meet our kids where they are. We have after-school programming and centers, and school day programming, where we get to see our kids during lunch or clubs. We go with the same group once a week for the whole school year and provide sustained exposure throughout the girls’ education. We might be at an elementary school and follow through to high school so we can be with them for as long as possible. Girls Inc. has the benefits of research-based and evidence-based curriculum programming we can implement.
CL: Tell us about the camps you offer.
VHJ: We host camps during spring break and summer and focus them on STEAM (science, tech, engineering, art, and math). We have different people who come in from different jobs and share about their career paths, how they got there, what their skills are, and how those skills work with their jobs. Last spring break camp we had 45 girls ages 7 to 13. The skills and knowledge students learn in Girls Inc. equip them to set goals, overcome obstacles, and improve academic performance. We couldn’t provide these amazing experiences without our fabulous community partners and donors like Cummins, Enterprise, and Asurion!
CL: Can readers volunteer?
VHJ: We've been lucky to employ a great staff of three full-time workers and one part-time worker, so we love volunteers, especially for camps! For summer camp we serve about 80 girls, and they come to us with a variety of personalities. One of the special pieces about having volunteers is that there are going to be those girls who connect to volunteers in a different way than they do to our staff. It is a great opportunity for our girls to increase positive connections with trusted adults.
CL: How else can readers get involved?
VHJ: As for anyone who wants to get involved and volunteer, we're currently preparing for graduation for our seniors. We typically try to give our kids little special things that they may not get elsewhere, gifts to help prepare them for their future. Also, menstrual equity is important, and we try to make sure the girls have resources for those products. Donations of hygiene products such as deodorant or toothpaste – anything like that.
We serve as a one-stop destination for our young girls, a place they turn to in times of need. For those who share our passion for children and resonate with our mission, any contribution they can offer is invaluable to us. We welcome and make room for any support they wish to extend to our girls and their families!
ywcanashville.com/girls-inc
vanessa.helbig.johnson@ywcanashville.com
@girlsincnashville
“Girls, Inc. is a national organization and we're the local affiliate here in Nashville under the YWCA. We've been here since 2008, and our mission is to inspire all girls to be strong, smart, and bold. We have a vision of a future full of successful, independent women, and we believe all of our girls are already strong, smart, and bold. It is part of who they are, built into them, and we are just walking alongside them to help them grow and thrive. We believe in our girls!” - Vanessa Helbig Johnson, the Senior Director of Youth Services and the Executive Director of Girls, Inc., Nashville
Vanessa Helbig Johnson has been with Girls Inc. at YWCA Nashville & Middle TN since 2015. She is passionate about advancing the rights and opportunities of youth and their families. She is impacting the lives of hundreds of girls in our community every day and was recently honored as the 2023 winner in the Community Service/Nonprofit Leader category at the Nashville Emerging Leader Award.
"We want to help our girls receive messages that compensate for what’s missing."
