Survey of Organizations Working with Girls

Summary of Responses

Respondent Information

Total number of respondents was 163

  1. Responses by Province

This pattern of responses is similar to the Girls’ Fund grant applications in 2012, with the largest percentage of applications from Ontario and British Columbia coming in second.

Yukon / 0.6%
Northwest Territories / 0.6%
Nunavut / 0.0%
British Columbia / 18.1%
Alberta / 5.0%
Saskatchewan / 3.8%
Manitoba / 9.4%
Ontario / 48.1%
Québec / 2.5%
New Brunswick / 4.4%
Nova Scotia / 5.0%
Prince Edward Island / 0.0%
Newfoundland and Labrador / 2.5%
  1. Size of Community

Over 1 million people / 16.1%
500,000 to 1 million people / 16.1%
150,000 to 500,000 people / 11.2%
75,000 to 150,000 people / 16.8%
15,000 to 75,000 people / 23.0%
Less than 15,000 people / 13.7%
Remote (less than 15,000 with limited or no road access) / 3.1%
  1. Type of Geographic Area

Urban / 77.6%
Rural / 50.0%
Remote (with limited or not road access) / 10.3%
  1. Size of Organization Budget

Under $100,000 / 13.7%
$100,000 - $250,000 / 16.3%
$250,000 - $500,000 / 20.9%
$500,000 - $ 1 million / 11.8%
$1 million - $2 million / 15.0%
$2 million - $4 million / 10.5%
Over $4 million / 11.8%
  1. Number of Girls Served in Girls Only Programs

Under 50 / 29.5%
50 - 100 / 19.9%
100 - 500 / 28.2%
500 - 1000 / 5.8%
Over 1000 / 5.8%
We don't run girls only programs / 10.9%
  1. Number of Girls Served in Co-ed and Girls Only Programs

Under 50 / 22.1%
50 - 100 / 15.4%
100 - 500 / 28.9%
500 - 1000 / 17.4%
Over 1000 / 16.1%
  1. Specific Groups of Girls Served

This is the percentage of organizations that responded who work with girls from these specific groups. It is not the percentage of girls that they work with who are from this specific group. Also note these organizations may be working with girls from more than one of these specific groups of girls.

Racialized girls / 66.0%
First Nation, Métis and Inuit girls / 68.7%
Rural girls / 58.5%
Newcomer and refugee girls / 60.5%
Girls with disabilities / 61.2%
Girls identifying as LGBTQ / 59.2%
  1. Percentage of Girls from Specific Groups

The question did not provide a lot of information that was useful. There were only 51 people who answered this question.

Specific Group / % of organizations who have more than 50% of girls they serve from this group
Racialized girls / 24%
First Nation, Métis and Inuit girls / 24%
Rural girls / 16%
Newcomer and refugee girls / 12%
Girls with disabilities / 0
Girls identifying as LGBTQ / 4%

Issues and Workshop Ideas

  1. Top 3 Issues Affecting Girls in their Communities

Respondents shared the top 3 issues affecting girls in their respective communities. The responses varied and different terminology was used to highlight some of the themes identified below:

Most common responses (each account for about 10% of total responses received)

  • Body Image
  • Self Esteem/ Confidence
  • Mental Health
  • (Hyper)sexualization of girls
  • Bullying (includes Cyber bullying / Peer Pressure/ Belonging)
  • Healthy/Unhealthy relationships (mostly related to peer and dating. Few on parents)

Secondary trends (each account for about 5% of total responses received)

  • Needs of Newcomer girls
  • Needs of Aboriginal girls
  • Drugs/Alcohol/Addictions
  • Violence against Women
  • Poverty

Other responses worth noting:

  • Teen pregnancy
  • Issues around families/ parental support
  • Media/ Social Media/ Internet
  1. Top 3 Issues Organizationally

Respondents shared the top 3 issues facing their organization. Funding and staffing were by far the most common responses.

Most common responses

  • Funding – one of top issues for 70%
  • Staffing (retention, burnout, human resource issues) – one of top issue for 18%
  • Lack of leadership (Board, director, vision)
  • Outreach/Awareness
  • Space

Secondary trends

  • Safety/safe space
  • Training
  • Volunteers (lack of, retention)
  • Partnerships
  • Responsiveness to emerging issues

Other responses worth noting

  • Consistency in programming
  • Working with school systems
  • Working with government
  • Working with parents
  • Infrastructure
  1. Have Things to Share

A number of respondents offered to share their experiences and knowledge. There is some overlap with suggestions provided in question 12.

Topic / Name
Girls in justice system / E Fry Ottawa and Peel Halton
Healthy teen relationships/sexual violence prevention / SERC Manitoba, Riseup House Society, Tricounty Women's Centre
Sexual exploitation / SERC Manitoba
Culturally sensitive programs in domestic violence / VLMFSS
Drug Use Prevention / Tricounty Women's Centre
Girls and Science / WiN- Canada
FASD / Lakeland Centre for FASD
Deconstructing gender / Rayne Tarasiuk
Developing programs for target audiences/ group dynamics exploration / YWCA Edmonton
Youth engagement/youth voice / Voices of Youth in Community Antigonish Women's Centre
Non traditional jobs for girls / CEJFI, St Laurent, QC
Body image / Jaime Bouw
Using arts based experiences / Daisy Oliver
Physical activity and healthy living / Sydney Millar, CAAWS
Soapstone carving (talks about direction and finding our way) / Mickey Decarlo
Evaluation / Girls Action Foundation
Engaging Aboriginal youth through culture and teachings / Newfoundland Aboriginal Women's Network
Dealing with Trauma and abuse (summer camp model) / Cathy Seymour, Kwadacha First Nation
Gender based programming / Antigonish Women's Resource Centre, SERC Manitoba
Girl programs - specific models / Grrlzone, Girls Unplugged, Girls Inc, Teen Talk, YELL Girls Group, STAGE, Get SHErious, The Empowerment Project
  1. Suggestions for Keynote and Workshops

This open-ended question requested suggestions for potential speakers. We received a wide array of suggestions, some of which overlap with organizations offering to share their work at the event (see question 11). The suggested speakers have been loosely organized below under different areas of focus:

COMMUNITY PRACTITIONERS

ShashiAssanand, Executive Director of VLMFSS

Saleema Noon – sexual health educators (BC)

Nancy Poole, BC women's Hospital/Centre of excellence work around girls and gender

Paulette Senior at YWCA Canada - creating avenues for young women's leadership

Windsor Essex Health Unit

Farrah Khan - issues of xenophobia and assimilation working with racialized girls

Becky Parent- Leadership Windsor Essex ()

Karen Ward, Regional Director, Region I, Girls Incorporated National,

Peter Smyth, High Risk Youth Specialist, HRY Initiative, Region 6 Child and Family Services - harm reduction and its application to the trend of young girls and exploitation

Connie Pike-Coalition against Violence Avalon East

Leslie McLeod-St. John's Women's Centre/Marguerite's Place

WendolynSchlamp-YWCA St. John's

Karen Shaver with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada.

Carol Goddard of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Halifax

Kerri Isham-Powerup workshops - sexual health educator

Joanne Van Beek, Executive Director, Riseup House Society

Big Brothers Big Sisters Go Girls National Coordinator

CAAWS National Program Director .

Tammy George - CAAWS Project Coordinator - Making Healthy Connections with Racialized Communities:

Girls and Young Women’s Experiences with Sport, Physical Activity and Healthy Living

RESEARCH

Native Women's Association on their Gender Matters report

Imagine Canada – on their standards program

Dr. Peter Jaffe (

Anne Cameron - a three-phase participatory action research initiative, Intersection Sites of Violence in the Lives of Girls

Jennifer Tipper – the Canadian Girl Child

EXPERTS/SPECIALISTS

Nicole Tarasiuk - art therapist and attachment specialist

Mary Pipher - author of Reviving Ophelia

Hope Edelman - author of Motherless Daughters and Motherless Mothers

Catherine Cerulli - Associate Professor - Department of Psychiatry, Research; Primary Director - Department of Susan B Anthony Center for Women's Leadership

Dr. Brene Brown - vulnerability and the art of being real

Lori Johnstone - Actively Engaging Women and Girls: Addressing the Psycho-Social Factors

Dr. Barbara Fitzgerald (BC) – children with school problems

Dr. Stan Kutcher (NS) – suicide risk management

UzmaShakir - Director of the Office of Equity, Diversity, and Human Rights. City of Toronto

Wendy Beddingfield – Acadia University. Mind the Gap

Ivy Prosper- for young girls on self-esteem

Sydney Millar – actively engaging girls in sports

Anita Roberts- Author of Safe Teen

Jackson Katz ( – engaging boys and men

INSPIRATIONAL/ ENTERTAINMENT

- performance poet and facilitator

Cheryl-Ann Webster – Beautiful Women Project

Martin broken leg – needs of youth/ creating positive youth culture

Arlene Dickinson – entrepreneur and feminist

Brent Rayner: achieving personal potential

Kris Moauro (MORE MOVEMENT) – putting positive social change in motion

Athletes, Canada Olympic Team Members

Christine Nordhagen – former Olympic wrestler

Jessica Danforth (formerly Yee)

Clara Hughes – Olympic Speedskater

Christal Earle – live different

Elder and Traditional song carrier Maggie Paul out of St. Mary's Reserve in NB - importance of traditions and music in building self-esteem and resilience in youth to keep them on the right path

YOUTH SPEAKERS

Jenna Wirch (Winnipeg) – Youth activist and survivor of sexual exploitation

Lisanne Turner, Kirsta Morris, and Amy MacKinnon on developing toolkits with youth

young women's advisory groups or a Young Woman of Distinction from YW Toronto

GOVERNMENT

Linda Ross -Provincial Advisory Council on the Status of Women

OTHER:

Amanda Lang – Canadian journalist and CBC correspondent

Tracy Moore from CityLine - Ambassador of Self-Esteem and girls issues

Dianne Cormier Northrup :

Wendy Pinet:

  1. Rank importance of workshop topics

Survey respondents rated the importance of the following workshop and presenter topics:

Answer Options / Rated very or most valuable
Mental health and well being / 93%
Girls engagement / 90%
Girls leadership / 90%
Innovative girls programming / 88%
Best practices in girls programming / 85%
Issues of violence / 85%
Capacity building strategies / 84%
Best practices in mentoring / 83%
Social media / 81%
Working with marginalized populations / 80%
Gender based programming / 80%
Emerging trends / 78%
Adults as Allies / 70%
Working with the school system / 70%
Current research / 69%
Working with government systems / 61%
Policy & advocacy / 53%

Respondents had the option to include other ideas. Suggestions included:

  • Music/drum circle
  • Physical wellbeing should be separate of mental health
  • Providing girls with information on sexism, gender role expectations and how to overcome them
  • How to engage men/boys in becoming allies
  • Peer mentoring
  • Co-ed programming with a feminist framework
  • Bystander education
  • Self-identity and the importance of their personal contributions to their community/environment
  1. Ideal learning format

Respondents rated the value of each learning format:

Answer Options / Rated Very or Most Valuable
Workshops / 98%
Keynote speakers / 68%
Round table discussions / 66%
Networking sessions / 63%
Panel discussions / 59%

Comments & other ideas

  • A mixture of different formats
  • Learning from each other/Sharing
  • Panel from girls/ testimonials from girls
  • Can keynotes be saved as webinar for after conference? Helps tie in those who can’t attend
  • Site visit of organization with promising practice as an optional event for the day before
  • Resource Sharing/ resource tables/ poster displays
  • No keynotes during meals to promote networking
  • Hands on activity that will encompass the goals of the conference
  1. Other comments
  • Most respondents used this section to comment that they are excited about this kind of opportunity
  • Eager to learn from others
  • Would like to see girls invited
  • Need to have conversation about online ‘bullying’ as violence against girls

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