Hardy Girls Volunteer Opportunity Meet-and-Greet

Interested in becoming a volunteer for an organization that is dedicated to the health and well-being of girls and women?

Please join us on Monday, August 25th at MJ's Wine Bar (located at 1 City Center in downtown Portland) from 6 to 8pm for an informal meet-and-greet to learn more about our amazing volunteer opportunities!

We are currently looking for volunteers to facilitate our middle school and elementary school girls' groups in the Portland area.

About HGHW and our mission:

Hardy Girls Healthy Women (HGHW) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the health and well being of girls and women. Our vision is that all girls and women experience equality, independence, and safety in their everyday lives. To that end, our mission is to create opportunities, develop programs, and provide services that empower them. Since day one, Hardy Girls programming, resources and services have been powered by the latest research in girls' development. Much of that research comes from the work of Hardy Girls co-creator and board member, Lyn Mikel Brown.

Although many, if not most, national programs designed to support girls in the past 15 years have focused on self-esteem and other internal, psychological issues, HGHW is one of the few programs that addresses girls'lives in relational and social contexts. We believe that it is not the girls, but rather the culture in which they live that is in need of repair. The developmental psychology concept of "hardiness" shifts attention from the individual to their environment-families, schools, and community organizations- as the key agents of change in girls' lives.

Our goal is to connect girls to these environments, while transforming their surroundings into safer havens. By providing parents, teachers, and community members with as many possible resources and skills available to us, we first raise awareness about their capacity to serve as agents of change, and then enlist their action.

We see girls not as the sum of any particular pathology (self-cutting, disordered eating, drug use) or struggle (body image, self-esteem, early sexual activity), but as whole beings living within and affected by a variety of social systems. With increased control in their lives, greater challenge from adults, and closer commitment to their communities, girls will and do thrive. We are connecting with the field of positive youth development that envisions individuals as potential change agents within their schools and communities.

Overall, the purpose of our work is to create a more equitable culture that meets the different needs of girls and boys. We do so by engaging and educating our communities and by empowering youth with new opportunities for control, commitment, and challenge in their lives. To that end, we encourage all youth to continue the ultimate struggle to create healthier societies in a world in which we all are valued for who we are and what we contribute.