Explanation
The Commission on Black Girls studied and assessed the current quality of life for Black girls ages 11-22, residing in central Ohio. Through the culmination of analytic results from listening sessions, focus groups, literature reviews, expert discourse and survey results, the Commission developed and implemented recommendations to ensure opportunities, successful futures and the achievement of a high quality of life for Black girls.
This ordinance authorizes the Board of Health to enter into grant agreements with Image Character Etiquette Inc.; Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. Gamma Zeta Zeta Chapter; Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. Sigma Iota Zeta Chapter; Thiossane Institute; Actions That Matter for Youth; The Ohio State University; Bumblebeez; Physicians CareConnection; and Brown Girls Mentoring because they align with the efforts of the Commission on Black Girls.
Founded in 2011, Eryn PiNK (Image Character Etiquette Inc.) is a Columbus-based non-profit organization dedicated to the empowerment of girls and teens, with a targeted emphasis on creating pathways of advancement for girls and young women of color to thrive. Their innovative programs provide girls with consistent access to mentorship and tangible resources needed to become leaders in their communities and beyond.
As a direct response to a survey completed by Eryn PiNK program participants and the feedback of the girls, the Eryn PiNK “She’s Gold Leadership Program” is a training and project-based cohort for middle school age girls. This program offers leadership opportunities where students are equipped and given opportunities to lead and amplify their voices. In addition, the program addresses and provides resources to girls to support mental health concerns, isolation and anxiety caused by COVID-19.
Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.; Gamma Zeta Zeta Chapter, in partnership with its 501C3 entity, the Gamma Zeta Zeta Education Foundation, serves more than 75 young women of color in its programs. Programs include:
- The From Girls to Pearls Rites of Passage Program
- The Archonette Club
- Zetas Helping Other People Excel (ZHOPE)
The From Girls to Pearls Rites of Passage Program provides a program for female adolescents of color to prepare them - physically, socially, emotionally, intellectually, spiritually, and culturally for passage from childhood to teen. Targeted constituencies: girls age 13 or in the 8th grade.
Archonette Club & Black Girls Programs are high school-aged young ladies who demonstrate an interest in the goals and the ideals of scholarship, sisterly love, and community service. Archonette groups are a nationally recognized auxiliary of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated. Funding will support a HBCU College Tour & Enrichment Programs for Black Girls, as well as a Black Girls Curriculum, Youth Summit, & Mentoring.
ZHOPE offers ACT Preparatory Courses, Adopt- a- School literacy & mentoring, and quarterly initiatives. Funds will support college access, soft skill training, and ACT Prep Courses for Black Girls.
Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. - Sigma Iota Zeta Chapter continues to positively impact the community with informative programming focused on health, education, youth development and empowerment as well as social justice. The chapter is continuously driven to uphold and uplift the sorority’s principles of scholarship, service, finer womanhood and sisterhood.
Sigma Iota Zeta Chapter currently maintains all auxiliary groups- Amicae, Archonettes, Amicettes and Pearlettes. We strive to provide positive role models and opportunities to young ladies in the community as well as provide women the avenue to come together in the name of Zeta, as a friend to Zeta.
The Sigma Iota Zeta Affiliates have 4 strands of curriculum:
• Cultural Awareness and Social Skill Enhancement:
● Our goal is to provide and promote experiences specific to our local Columbus community that bridge the gap between the Black experience (currently/historically) that isn’t taught in schools and the curriculum that is taught in schools.
● While participating in our program the girls will be taught and practice awareness of society’s expected behavioral norms such as active listening, communication, and conflict resolution
• Educational Enrichment:
● Our meetings and programs aim to strengthen the youths’ knowledge in language arts, math, science, and fine arts. Last year, we had several speakers in different career fields speak with our girls to stress the importance and possibilities with continued education.
● We keep track of our girls’ progress in school, and they receive awards for scholarship.
• Leadership Development:
● We build leaders within our program. The Youth Affiliates are encouraged to hold positions within their meetings (President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer), and we make sure they help plan their outings/events.
● Participation in the youth affiliate group means that they must attend conferences on the local, state, and regional level.
• Community Service
● We provide community service opportunities that are in alignment with Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated’s programmatic thrust.
● The community service they participate in allows them to exhibit their leadership skills and fosters an awareness for the community around them.
● Community service days gives our girls safe and productive ways to socialize and spend their time.
● One service activity they were extremely proud of this year was donating over 600 toiletries to Choices Shelter.
The Thiossane Institute was formed with the express purpose of bringing authentic West African cultural representation to a variety of local, national, and international communities. Thiossane introduces the richness of West African culture through dance and music to create a space of learning and growth in traditional African culture.
The Ready Set, G.R.O.W. program will focus on pathways that will provide resources of learning for quality instructional training to address job readiness, financial sustainability, and physical health and wellness. Research shows that interpersonal connections, knowledge, and information support positive youth outcomes, school retention, and delayed parenthood. Program sessions will focus on an educational component to learn grounded principle for adult readiness.
Actions that Matter For Youth, is a non-profit that focuses on providing educational services for youth that are economically and academically disadvantaged specifically on out of school time services for middle and high school students. The organization is a combination of programs that serve the community through youth development, financial literacy, life skills, social/emotional and challenges within the society.
Through The Power within her C.R.OW.N. Initiative, young ladies will gain skill set to enhance their sense of Confidence, Responsibility, Opportunity, Worth and Natural Beauty. By focusing on grade levels 5th-9th, The Power within her C.R.O.W.N curriculum will be implemented as an enrichment program that will take place both during and after-school. Utilizing newly developed partnerships with Woodward Park MS, Walden JRHS and Medina MS, program implementation will take place within each building. To provide a small group setting, 6-12 young ladies per grade level will be selected/referred to participate per school.
The Ohio State University School of Social Work established a program creating opportunities for healing with a mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) intervention with justice-involved Black girls and their parents and caregivers. This project builds Phase I that was funded in June2021 based on an existing partnership with the CCC and FCJC to provide services for local Black girls who are justice-involved and their parents/caregivers. The project will also be led by Dr. Camille R. Quinn, a licensed independent social worker in Ohio and Assistant Professor at the OSU CSW. Her work draws on over 20 years of prior experience in social and health services as a practitioner and administrator.
The targeted constituents include court-involved Black girls aged 14-17 who are also disproportionality affected by PTSD, with 70% of girls with histories of sexual or physical abuse as well as their parents/caregivers. The parent/caregiver-child dyads (N=5 dyads) will undergo a stress reduction intervention, i.e., Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) that shows promise for addressing PTSD in other populations except this population. MBSR may improve PTSD symptomatology, which is linked to delinquency and other risky behaviors. MBSR may help modulate the dysregulated stress response in the body to improve physical and mental health concurrently.
Bumblebeez is a non-profit mentoring program for African-American girls ages 10-13 years of age. Its purpose is to provide young ladies with resources and information to combat the many social and emotional issues girls face daily. Bumblebeez operates over a ten-month period, January through October, called a cycle. As they matriculate through the program, they are identified as Worker Bees (wearing pink tee-shirts). We celebrate the young ladies’ completion of their cycle with a graduation where family, friends, and community partners are invited to attend and support the girls as they are promoted to Bumblebees. Among their graduation gifts, they receive their highly anticipated yellow t-shirt. We have identified the following topics as key areas of importance which Black girls should be familiar with on a surface level in order to become the best versions of themselves.
Physicians CareConnection, an affiliate of the Columbus Medical Association, is a volunteer-based, charitable organization that helps coordinate care for vulnerable adults in Central Ohio. Physicians CareConnection is the umbrella organization for physicians free clinic, the colorectal cancer screening initiative, the eye health initiative, dentist careconnection, and stepone for a healthy pregnancy. Physicians CareConnection’s network of community partners includes primary care physicians, subspecialists, dentists, and nurses and 13 hospitals.
Made for Medicine is a program designed to support and increase the number of African American or Black students with an interest in the field of medicine. The program is divided into 3 phases-Intro. to Medicine (Grades 6-7), Deeper Dive (Grades 8-9), and Commitment to Medicine (Grades 10-12)-all of which provide students with critical foundational knowledge, hands-on learning, job shadowing, internships, and much more. The goal of Made for Medicine is for participants to leave the program with solid preparation and commitment to pursuing a future career in medicine.
Brown Girls Mentoring was founded in 2016 with a mission to equip Brown Girls with tools to build her self-confidence, develop relationships, resolve conflict, make wise decisions, work in teams, and develop practical life skills. They educate your Brown Girl(s) through lectures, trainings, activities, simulations, role play, and affirmations. Brown Girls Mentoring aims to empower young Brown Girls in all shades of beauty to know their worth, strive for excellence, and to embrace their natural beauty.
To help the Black girls in low resource areas of Columbus, Brown Girls Mentoring will focus Leadership development for Black Girls ages 5-16. The goal of the leadership development program is designed to:
• help Black Girls find their voices
• teach them how to withstand adversity and challenges
• introduce them to Black female leaders and change-agents who are making their communities better
• promote creative ways to make changes in their communities
Emergency action is necessary to avoid causing interruptions in the delivery of program services.
Fiscal Impact: Funding is available within the Neighborhood Initiatives subfund.
Title
To authorize the Board of Health to enter into grant agreements with the following entities that align with the efforts of the Commission on Black Girls: Image Character Etiquette Inc.; Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. Gamma Zeta Zeta Chapter; Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. Sigma Iota Zeta Chapter; Thiossane Institute; Actions That Matter for Youth; The Ohio State University; Bumblebeez; Physicians CareConnection; and Brown Girls Mentoring; to authorize appropriations and expenditures of $278,179.00 within the Neighborhood Initiatives subfund; and to declare an emergency. ($278,179.00) (AMENDED BY ORD. 1051-2023 PASSED MAY, 15 2023 BA)
Body
WHEREAS, the Commission on Black Girls studied and assessed the current quality of life for Black girls ages 11-22, residing in central Ohio; and
WHEREAS, through the culmination of analytic results from listening sessions, focus groups, literature reviews, expert discourse and survey results, the Commission developed and implemented recommendations to ensure opportunities, successful futures and the achievement of a high quality of life for Black girls; and
WHEREAS, the following entities: Image Character Etiquette Inc.; Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. Gamma Zeta Zeta Chapter; Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. Sigma Iota Zeta Chapter; Thiossane Institute; Actions That Matter for Youth; The Ohio State University; Bumblebeez; Physicians CareConnection; and Brown Girls Mentoring; all align with the efforts of the Commission on Black Girls; and
WHEREAS, an emergency exists in the usual daily operation of the Board of Health in that it is immediately necessary to authorize grant agreements to avoid causing interruptions in the delivery of program services, all for the preservation of the public health, peace, property, safety, and welfare; NOW, THEREFORE,
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS:
SECTION 1. That the Board of Health is hereby authorized to enter into a grant agreement with Image Character Etiquette Inc. in alignment with the efforts of the Commission on Black Girls.
SECTION 2. That the Board of Health is hereby authorized to enter into a grant agreement with Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. Gamma Zeta Zeta Chapter in alignment with the efforts of the Commission on Black Girls.
SECTION 3. That the Board of Health is hereby authorized to enter into a grant agreement with Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. Sigma Iota Zeta Chapter in alignment with the efforts of the Commission on Black Girls.
SECTION 4. That the Board of Health is hereby authorized to enter into a grant agreement with Thiossane Institute in alignment with the efforts of the Commission on Black Girls.
SECTION 5. That the Board of Health is hereby authorized to enter into a grant agreement with Actions That Matter for Youth in alignment with the efforts of the Commission on Black Girls.
SECTION 6. That the Board of Health is hereby authorized to enter into a grant agreement with The Ohio State University in alignment with the efforts of the Commission on Black Girls.
SECTION 7. That the Board of Health is hereby authorized to enter into a grant agreement with Bumblebeez in alignment with the efforts of the Commission on Black Girls.
SECTION 8. That the Board of Health is hereby authorized to enter into a grant agreement Physicians CareConnection in alignment with the efforts of the Commission on Black Girls.
SECTION 9. That the Board of Health is hereby authorized to enter into a grant agreement with Black Girls Mentoring in alignment with the efforts of the Commission on Black Girls.
SECTION 10. That the City Auditor is hereby authorized to appropriate $278,179.00 in the Neighborhood Initiatives subfund, fund 1000, subfund 100018, to Columbus Public Health, in Object Class 03 - Contractual Services, per the accounting codes in the attachment to this ordinance.
SECTION 11. That the expenditure of $278,179.00 or so much thereof as may be needed pursuant to the actions authorized in SECTIONS 1-9, is hereby authorized per the accounting codes in the attachment to this ordinance.
SECTION 12. That the funds necessary to carry out the purpose of this ordinance are hereby deemed appropriated, and the City Auditor shall establish such accounting codes as necessary.
SECTION 13. That for the reasons stated in the preamble hereto, which is hereby made a part hereof, this ordinance is hereby declared to be an emergency measure and shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage and approval by the Mayor, or ten days after passage if the Mayor neither approves nor vetoes the same.