Patricia Thompson
NYS Educational Equity Director

How-To Manual
from the Ithaca Branch

Overview
Sister-to-Sister is a daylong event, open to all middle school girls (grades 5 to 9), promoting self-esteem, healthy decision making, empowerment, and diversity, the event helps girls to accept themselves and others.

AAUW developed the model of Sister-to-Sister Summits as featured in the book, Voices of a Generation. The book is based on 125 summits held around the country in the late 1990s. AAUW came up with the Sister-to-Sister format because they wanted girls to have the chance to talk about their "issues" with their peers as well as adult and teen leaders. They know that teenage girls face unique challenges every day at school and out-of-school, and want to give girls a hand in dealing with them.

To explore this, events of the day include drama, speakers, dance demonstrations and instruction, writing, crafts, and group discussions. An event highlight is the "Love Your Body Fair" where community agencies provide information on such things as avoiding drugs and alcohol, sports, nutrition, healthy dating, and self care. A free morning program for adults is held simultaneously with the event. Parents, grandparents, caregivers, guidance counselors, teachers, friends, agency staff and clergy are invited to participate.

The theme for the 2004 program is "Visions of Me" because it takes looking at ourselves to know who we are, and to gain an acceptance of ourselves and others. This program is designed to help girls better understand some of the challenges they face while gaining tools for resistance and change. The day will be filled with a variety of activities specially designed to explore self-understanding, compassion, and respect while developing a clear understanding of the rights of girls and women. Research indicates that girls today believe rights are very important to them: to say what they think and feel, to try new things, to like their bodies the way they are, to know how to be safe in the world, and to have an interesting job when they grow up. Events are planned to assist the participants in their journey toward adulthood.

In 2004, Sister-to-Sister is partnering with Studio2B, a new program of the Girl Scouts of the USA, locally promoted by the Girl Scouts of the Seven Lakes Council, Inc. The program is based on research study involving over 3,000 girls indicating what is important to girls in this age group. Sister-to-Sister and the Girl Scouts share a common mission of wanting to keep girls healthy and strong. This partnership will allow materials that have been researched heavily to be used in the Sister-to-Sister program while promoting long term partnerships with the Girl Scouts.

Based on prior Sister-to-Sister events held in Ithaca, attendance ranged between 65 - 75 girls.

Project Timetable (based on a March/April conference)
Plan program - Ongoing
Prepare promotional & registration materials - January
Distribute promotional & registration materials; publicize event with local media - Late January/early February
Purchase non-perishable supplies - February & early March
Contact/organize teen & adult facilitators - February & early March
Purchase &/or pick up craft supplies and donated food & drinks for lunch & afternoon snack - Late March
Set up at Venue - Day before event
Sister-to-Sister event & clean up
Program Evaluation - April

Leadership and Collaboration
The organizing committee of Sister-to-Sister plan to meet throughout the year. The committee is made up of volunteer community members and participants from local agencies who are committed to running the program annually. Our supporters for the event include; Women's Community Building - City Federation of Women's Organizations, Ithaca branch of American Association of University Women (AAUW), NYS AAUW, Planned Parenthood of Tompkins County, Cornell's Family Life Development Center, Cornell Cooperative Extension, the Advocacy Center, the Multicultural Resource Center, Girl Scouts, and Ithaca Downtown Partnership. The Multicultural Resource Center has agreed to act as a 501(c) 3 conduit for our committee. The committee continues to seek partnerships with local agencies and to identify how Sister-to-Sister can work together to promote their programs.

Note: Each community has a unique blend of organizations to partner with. Use the Ithaca list to start exploring the groups your community has to offer.

Evaluation/Results Expected
Because a major goal of Sister-to-Sister is to raise the self-esteem of the participants, success is difficult to measure. We hope that the participants leave at the end of the day feeling positive about themselves, knowing their rights and responsibilities, and empowered to resist demeaning media images, drugs, smoking, and other destructive behaviors. Each girl is asked to fill out a brief survey at the end of the day. A professor from Cornell's Family Life Development Center will design the survey & help us tabulate results. Results from evaluations have been used to plan the event from year to year. Some results are recognized immediately with girls being forced to challenge themselves by writing a skit, performing in a group, dancing with instruction, or leaving old friends to meet new ones. We also see middle school participants returning as high school mentors, a testament to the importance of the program in these girls lives and a demonstration of their confidence in themselves.

To extend the program beyond the scope of one day, activities such as Letters of Reflection, where a girl writes a note to herself that we will mail several weeks after the event, are used as a reminder to her of the lessons learned, new friendships made, and goals set at the event.

Need for Project
Sister-to-Sister is a unique program in that it brings a diverse group of girls together for a day to learn about themselves and each other. Schools, agencies and organizations throughout the county receive promotional and registration materials to distribute to all middle school girls. From these events girls reported new friendships, feeling "good" about themselves, learning about why and how to make healthy decisions, and understanding their rights and responsibilities.

Trained high school Teen Mentors are key to the success of the event. The mentors have proven to be invaluable in developing trust and safe spaces for girls who may be hesitant to ask important questions of adults. Several girls have been able to increase their safety and get help as a result of the program. Our partnership with a diverse group of community agencies allows us the opportunity to bring knowledge about services to an important group of developing women.

By promoting healthy decision making, diversity, and empowerment we are giving youth the power to make change in their own lives, and in the lives of others. Research shows that youth with high self esteem are more likely to have healthy relationships, to resist drugs and alcohol, and have a lower incidence of eating disorders. The Sister-to-Sister model allows girls to explore issues that are important to them in a safe and supportive environment, one that differs from their everyday experience.

Sister-to-Sister takes the next step!

Sisters in Action
Thanks to a generous grant from the AAUW Educational Foundation (EF), in 2001 the Association launched Sisters in Action. This new initiative is building on the Sister-to-Sister (S2S) program to create new models for formalizing follow-up on the Platforms for Action developed at the summits. Detailed plans for implementing these new models are available on the website.

Find out more here.