Toronto Young Women’s Meetup


In: Blogs, Communities, Ontario, Regional
20/05/2015

First let me begin by saying, Happy 20th Birthday to the Girls Action Foundation! One way to celebrate this milestone was at the Young Women’s Toronto Meetup. On Wednesday, May 6th at the Victory Pub Café in Toronto, a group of young women (including me!) gathered over French fries, veggies and samosas. Yummy snacks aside, this was an insightful and inspirational opportunity to meet other young women and hear about the work they are doing in their communities.

The evening began with an acknowledgement of our presence on traditional territories of indigenous peoples. We then established a safe space environment. Sometimes we take for granted (or are oblivious) to the fact that someone may have a preferred pronoun, so we were asked to indicate how we wish to be addressed. After an introduction of who Girls Action is and what they do, we began a brainstorming session on how to improve leadership retreats for young women. In fact, past participants of the Amplify one-day training and National Day of Action grant recipients were present that evening. Some great suggestions were brought forth about incorporating workshops that cover how to write grants, create vision and mission statements and how to use social media for outreach. Then we broke off into pairs and took turns sharing a problem we are facing and receiving feedback from our partner.

Here’s what I learned during my discussions:

  •  Funding, fundraising and outreach are the main problems for those who are interested in developing programs to empower girls and young women. One woman I talked to shared her difficulty with raising money to purchase an incubator for a Jamaican hospital. She couldn’t believe the reluctance and disinterest she received. We realized that effective and strategic outreach is necessary more than ever to create change.
  • Some of us agreed that there is a lack of local feminist organizations to work and volunteer for. I also discovered women who agreed with my belief that girls need local female role models. Yes, we have our family and teachers, and maybe even celebrities whom we look up to. But what about women in our municipal governments, hospitals and local businesses? I explained that girls need to be exposed to women from all professions, cultures, and sexual orientations in their community. Not only does it shed light on the amazing work these role models are doing, but I believe it would showcase the potential every girl has of becoming.

Overall, I believe that it is important to have meetups like these for women. It gives the opportunity to meet in a casual and positive environment where you can share, brainstorm, inspire, network, laugh and learn. What you take away is even more important. Feedback, new ideas, different perspectives and advice are all valuable resources for improving the quality and effectiveness of our respective work. There were also plenty of electronic and print resources that were available to take home as well.

Perhaps the best part of the Young Women’s Meetup was getting to put faces to the names of awesome Kickaction Carnival bloggers and some members of the Girls Action team. I got to meet Myriam, Jill, Klara and Dvorah, who are all friendly, funny and lovely individuals!

So the next time a meetup event organized by Girls Action occurs in your city, I would strongly recommend you go!

 

Kickaction.ca
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