On Monday March 21, 2016 I spoke at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women Meeting (UN), at the United Nation’s New York Headquarters. Me, the girl from downtown Charleston, SC, who at one time did not believe in herself enough to share her voice with anyone.
Sometimes I can’t believe this is life. I think it finally came together on a Saturday night when I was introducing BOLD to the folks at the 5th Annual National Crittenton Fundraiser in DC. It’s such a lovely event and being there put our last meetings in perspective:
America loves a scandal, but America hates a struggle. While our country rages over abortion rights and access to contraception, the Florence Crittenton Programs of South Carolina are quietly providing sanctuary and real-time assistance to the most vulnerable members of society — low-income single women and their children.
Seven nonprofit alliances and organizations have been selected as the first recipients of the National Girls Initiative’s Innovation Awards, a program designed to spotlight and support creative efforts to advance systems-level juvenile justice reforms for girls.
The National Crittenton Foundation, in partnership with ASCEND at the Aspen Institute, developed the ACE toolkit based on the implementation of the ACE survey with participating members of the Crittenton family of agencies.
Emergency Shelter Remolded for Teens in Transition
Florence Crittenton Services Topeka, KS has been serving girls, young women and their families since 1900.
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Young women from the Florence Crittenton Services in Charlotte, NC recently harvested their onsite garden.
I was 15 when I got pregnant. I didn’t even know how to change a diaper and now here I was having a baby. I was scared and confused out of my mind: what would become of me? I had a rough pregnancy; I was always sick and depressed. My baby was born premature and only weighed 4lbs. 11oz. I cried every time I had to enter the NICU. It made matters worse for me to hear things such as ‘What is this little girl doing having a baby?’ You just learn to ignore people.
It’s human nature for a parent to brag about their baby. You want to let the whole world why YOUR baby is the best and people gift you their time, their attention, and their willingness to listen you boast. For the past three days I’ve been able to do just that – talk about my other baby: BOLD (Bridging Opportunity, Love and Determination).
Gwen Bailey, Executive Director of Youth Service, Inc., is featured in NewsWorks, highlighting her passion and dedication to advocate and support young moms.
