Girl Scouts Train to Become Social Entrepreneurs

Stories from The New Heroes are inspiring Girl Scouts across the nation to become leaders of community change. As part of a new program called “Challenge and Change,” approximately 1,000 teen-aged Girl Scouts from rural communities were trained at 22 locations in 16 states around the U.S. during the summer to become community change agents. They viewed several New Heroes videos that tell the stories of female social entrepreneurs.

“We have seen firsthand how the videos inspire the girls, as well as the community members and adults who are coming on board. The stories open their eyes to what’s possible. It has been remarkable,” said Amy Pearl, executive director of the Learning Innovation and Technology Consortium in Portland, which created the social entrepreneurship curriculum.

The videos are a core part of the learning program that is designed to teach girls to understand and put into action the strategies of successful social entrepreneurs. The girls identify a problem in their communities that they care about, then design and implement a sustainable plan for solving it. Adults do not coax them; each girl chooses a project based on her own interests and concerns.

The girls have far-reaching plans, ranging from starting community theaters to stamping out methamphetamine labs. One group from the Hornet’s Nest Council in North Carolina, serving a low-income, predominantly African-American community, is trying to rescue an old schoolhouse that has great sentimental meaning for elders and transform it into a teen center that would focus on “seeing change in our generation.” Specifically, the girls are working on ending drug abuse and preventing teen pregnancies, providing access to college admissions resources and bringing in mentors—in other words, turning their whole generation around from being mired in despair to embracing opportunities.

The girls get a year’s worth of support through the program, in hopes that they will put together a sustainable idea. Ashoka is willing to provide seed funding to any girl who puts together an initiative through its Youth Venture program.

“Challenge and Change” is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which promotes community development in rural communities that are losing their young people to big cities. Their proposal came at an opportune time for the Girl Scouts of the U.S.A., whose directors are trying to make the organization more relevant to today’s youth.

For more information about the program, contact Susan Cippoletti, project manager, Girl Scouts in Rural Communities, (212) 852-5038, scippoletti@girlscouts.org.