Readers Care Fund profile: Powerful Voices

Tuesday, November 23, 2004

By D. PARVAZ
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

The best way to effect positive change in young lives is to nurture self-esteem, provide individual care and show the promise of a bright future.

EDITOR'S NOTE

For a quarter- century, Seattle Post-Intelligencer readers have donated generously to the newspaper's annual Readers Care Fund drive, generating more than $5 million for local charities. Today we look at one of the charities benefiting this year: Powerful Voices.

Celebrating its 10th year, Powerful Voices does just that through workshops, mentoring and other programs aimed at developing leadership skills and critical thinking in at-risk adolescent girls in Seattle public middle schools as well as girls in and out of juvenile-detention centers.

Julie Edsforth, director of Powerful Voices, gives us the details on the organization.

Use five words to describe the mission of Powerful Voices.

Potential, activism, self-esteem, opportunity, grass roots.

Between war and economic strife, how do you inspire young girls to have hope?

There's no doubt that teenagers -- boys and girls alike -- are growing up in a very complicated world filled with negative influences. But when you really listen to a girl -- when you look into her eyes and feel the urgency of her questions -- you realize that she is absolutely dauntless in her intention to change the world. Girls yearn for a deep connection to people who give her hope and access to opportunity.

At Powerful Voices, we give girls a safe place to learn and grow. We help them see adolescence as a time of great opportunity rather than great threat. We help them become critical thinkers and problem-solvers and encourage them to proactively work to make the world a better place.

What is the greatest challenge facing your organization?

Powerful Voices serves some of our community's most marginalized girls whose potential, unfortunately, often goes untapped. Hidden in their potential are the answers to some of the world's biggest problems. Getting that message out there and understood is a huge challenge. And then getting financial resources allocated to programs that build strong girls into strong women is an even bigger challenge.

What's the most surprising thing about the girls in the Powerful Voices program?

They have more to teach us than we have to teach them. As the executive director, I'm several layers removed from directly serving girls, but every time I visit a workshop, exchange ideas with girls in our office or overhear girls talking to each other after a training session, I am simply overwhelmed by their keen sense of justice and deep understanding of the issues that affect them.

My greatest wish is that their voices are heard.

Mission: helping at-risk girls reach their maximum potential through leadership workshops and other programs.

Number of girls served last year: 750.

Annual budget: $410,000.

Percentage of budget from Readers Care contributions: 9.7 (or $40,000).

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