Blog
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Stand & Deliver Partner Profile: Girls Inc. of Chattanooga Wednesday, August 04, 2010
You don’t have to be an elected official or a city planner to think about what goes into the making of a city—you don’t even have to be old enough to vote. The girls who attended the July session of Girls Inc. of Chattanooga’s Tech-Know-Girl summer camp for girls ages 6 to 8 built a model of their very own all-girl city.
The all-girl city has many businesses including a mall, a bank, a daycare center, a restaurant, and a beauty salon, as well as The Dark and Scary Movie Theatre, a venue that only shows scary movies. The girls also planned the layout of the city’s roads and divided their city into areas for businesses and homes. Each girl designed her own business and home. Throughout July, the girls visited local technology businesses in Chattanooga and learned about how technology affects their daily lives. They took what they learned and made plans for a city that they later build from recycled objects they brought from home.
After construction was complete, the girls chose their roles within the city. The positions included city mayor, bank president, mall manager, business owners, and daycare administrator. Seven-year old city mayor Nia Townsend of Harrison Elementary School explained that, “We made our city out of things we don’t use anymore. We all brought it from home, and now the stuff can be used again.” The idea of sustainability was a reoccurring theme in the camp and the girls learned how important a healthy environment is to a city’s future.
The Tech-Know-Girl camp is one of the many programs that make up Girls Inc. of Chattanooga, an organization that seeks to inspire all girls to be strong, smart and bold by providing a healthy and positive environment where girls can enjoy being girls; enriching programs that nurture their capacity for personal achievement, confident adulthood and economic independence; and by advocating for an equitable society. Girls Inc. offers informal educational, cultural and recreational activities through in-school, after-school, seasonal break camps and career academies that are age and gender-appropriate and research and outcome-based. Since 1961, Girls Inc. of Chattanooga has served over 23,000 girls.
Building a model city, like all Girls Inc. programs, helps girls learn from an early age that they can play a role in what happens around them. Through the Tech-Know-Girl camp, the girls have learned about the ubiquitous roles that technology plays in their lives—from transportation to infrastructure—and how technology is a key element to their all-girl city. They also learned about the many components of a city and the community they live in. As 8-year-old Director of Urban Development, Raven Lanier of Lakeside Elementary put it, “In our city there is a bank and a beauty salon and a restaurant, but the people live all together in one place, and that’s called a neighborhood.”
