Lynn Lady Leaders – Boys & Girls Club of Lynn
2024 SCI Youth Grant Pitch Contest Project
Lynn Lady Leaders (L.L.L.), Boys & Girls Club of Lynn
With the help of the SCI Pitch Contest funding, the Boys & Girls Club of Lynn launched this new member-founded program (one of their first!). The Lynn Lady Leaders from the Lynn Boys and Girls Club was awarded $1,590 to establish a 6-week-long program focused on self-care and empowerment for girls. The initiative aimed to boost self-esteem, confidence, leadership, compassion, and healthy lifestyles.
They accomplished that and more, the planned 6-week program will now change to a year-round program! Plus, one of their top successes was seeing 5+ boys participate every week!
The Lynn Lady Leaders achieved notable successes in their program:
- Leading workshops for younger members, celebrating “Love Your Hair Day” and “National Day of the Girl” to empower peers.
- Learning journaling techniques for stress relief, practicing positive affirmations, and developing healthy cooking and nutrition habits.
- Enhancing self-care through group workshops, including lip gloss making and activities like facemasks and painting.
- Accessing a hygiene cart stocked weekly with essential self-care items like hair combs and hygiene products.
- Establishing a teen-only food pantry to ensure no teen goes home without dinner.
From the beginning, there had been hesitation about naming the program “Lynn Lady Leaders,” as there were concerns that it might deter boy teen members. Despite these worries, five boy teens participated each week.
One week, Divine, the youth lead, conducted a lip-gloss making class. Two boys attended, and one of them made a lip-gloss for his mother! This experience underscored the mission of the program and demonstrated its commitment to maintaining an open-door policy, welcoming all participants without discrimination.
The group of girls who got to attend the Pitch Contest, not only got the experience of learning about community needs, programming, and budgeting, but they got the opportunity to dress as young professionals and speak in front of a crowd and panel of judges. They radiated empowerment through the club following the pitch contest, where they could tell their peers, supervisors and guardians at the Club about their accomplishments as a group and winning money to start their own program. As a group lead, and the Lynn Lady Leaders program supervisor, I could not think of a better experience for a group of young girls. I have seen their growth from the beginning of this journey where we would sit together on my laptop, planning our pitch with our wonderful SCI coaches, to seeing their dreams come to life! The Lynn Lady Leaders is a now a known program here at the Boys & Girls Club from younger members to our board members. We are so thankful for SCI!
