Tag: Community

Thriving or Just Surviving?

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Recently, Kelly Fair and Polished Pebbles Girls Mentoring Program have been pushing college mentoring. This isn’t only because we are developing our College Edition mentoring program, it is important! The media is filled with mixed messages about African-American women, especially college students.

What is the college experience for black women? According to HuffPost: College, black students have, are, and will continue to experience discrimination and microaggressions on campus.

A student at Duke University hung a noose from a tree in Durham, North Carolina, campus on April 1. This came about a week after the university began investigating reports that a group of white men had harassed a black female. The men were reportedly singing the same racist chant…

According to one student, “Institutionalized racism has created spaces for Duke–and for colleges nationally…”.

Despite the negative and harmful experiences, black women are leading all groups in college enrollment! That is independent-black-womensomething to celebrate! But, how can we expect to keep African American women in college if their experiences on campus are not supportive or downright violent?

According to the data, 9.7 percent of Black women are enrolled in college. Asian women are second, with 8.7 percent working toward degrees, followed by Asian men at 8.4 percent, White women at 7.1 percent, Black men at 7.0 percent, Hispanic women at 6.6 percent, White men at 6.1 percent, and Hispanic men at 5.9 percent.

Despite the high enrollment rates, our women are not seeing success in the work force. ThinkProgress writes about a study conducted by Black Women’s Roundtable, the women’s initiative of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation. In their research, they found that although African American women are excelling in education and careers, they are not being equally compensated! While many people know the 77 cents to a dollar, few know that this is for white women when compared to white men. Black women make 64 cents to a dollar when compared to white men!

Race and gender bias intersect to limit access to traditional capital for Black women.

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So, what is the African American women’s experience in college? Are they thriving or simply surviving? Is their community supportive in their future success? Next week we will be sharing insights from our interviews with current college students! Check back then!

Sharing Knowledge: HBCU Nation

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As you know from our previous post, Collegiate Mentoring, Polished Pebbles is planning on expanding with College Edition. African-American women in college are just as in need of mentoring and support as younger girls. With our continued support, increasing rates of black women will be attending college and earning degrees. In fact, according to ClutchMag, black women make up the most college enrollments–now that is a success! We want this to continue. Kelly Fair has shared her hopes of providing mentoring to college students. Simply have college interns is not enough, she wants more direct, group support on campuses.

Recently on HBCU Nation, Kelly Fair shared her views on collegiate mentoring–why we need it and how we can benefit from it. Click here to give it a listen!

Tell us what you think of collegiate mentoring for African-American women? What type of support would you have wanted during your college experience?

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Representation Matters…#ThankYouDocMcStuffins

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Have you heard of the trending #thankyoudocmcstuffins? Young African-American girls and their parents are sharing their Doc_mcstuffins_familyappreciation for a line of toys (and TV show) that feature a young, black girl as the lead! The Disney Junior Program “Doc McStuffins” brings a new face to popular media. With a doctor for a mother, young “Doc” inspires to be just like her and hones her skills on her toys! While the premise of the show is simple, its impact is anything but!

There are few African-American lead characters on popular television, let alone for children’s shows. “Doc” not only represents black youth, but young women as well! She shows girls that they can have a successful future in a STEM field–that they are more than capable! At Polished Pebbles, we are whole-heartedly approve of this representation in our media. Polished Pebbles strives to provide similar mentors and role models for our girls in the program. It is important that they can see themselves in positions they are working towards! We want more “Doc”‘s on our televisions! 

Click here for the Upworthy article on #thankyoudocmcstuffins…

Click here to view the twitter feed for the trending hashtag…

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Collegiate Mentoring

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As May comes to a close, many college and university students are walking on stages and accepting their diplomas. We want to say congratulations to all you new graduates! Earning your degree is no easy feat. That’s why Polished Pebbles had expanded to collegiate mentoring. Kelly Fair is a frequent contributor to HBCU Nation Radio Show where she provides “Mentoring Minutes” to university students. She also writes for Stomping the Yard on JETMag, whose articles focus on the college experience from roommates to professors. We need to pay attention to college students, especially young African-American women and first-generation college students! First-generation students do not always arrive at college or university with the same knowledge and preparation as other students. While this does not always limit them, it shows a need for mentoring. Mentors can provide this essential bridge in knowledge, experience, and support for first-generation students at college. We want to support them from elementary through to their college degrees! 

For more information on Polished Pebble’s Collegiate Mentoring, check out the brochure! 

You can also listen to Kelly Fair speak on HBCU Nation Radio Show or read her articles on Stomping the Yard.

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Investing in the Future of Black Girls

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As many of you know, Kelly Fair was an ambassador for the Chicago Community Trust at the On the Table Discussion Tuesday evening. We had our discussion with a diverse group of people from community service members (social workers, school counselors, etc), teachers, businessmen, and even officers of the court. She lead her topic, Investing in the Future of Black Girls, with inspiring community leaders to teach them that everyday citizens are agents of change. Kelly Fair has often focused “on the other side of the crisis”. Black girls are living and developing in the same communities as black boys, yet they do not receive as much attention. Their fight is an invisible one. Polished Pebbles, Kelly Fair, and On the Table 2015 brought a voice to that struggle.

This year, Kimberlé Crenshaw released a report, Black Girls Matter: Pushed Out, Overpoliced and Underprotected. According to Crenshaw:

Ideally, the conversation Black Girls Matter: Pushed Out, Overpoliced, and Underprotected engenders within communities and among philanthropists, policy makers, stakeholders, and advocates will lead to the inclusion of girls in efforts to address school discipline, push-out, and the pathways to incarceration, poverty, and low-wage work. We are especially hopeful that ongoing efforts to resolve the crisis facing boys of color will open up opportunities to examine the challenges facing their female counterparts.

Crenshaw and Kelly Fair agree on multiple points. Like Crenshaw, Fair believes more research, media, and communities need to focus on young, African-American women. From sex trafficking to school discipline, our girls are in danger in their very communities. As local community leaders, you are able to make changes, to be a voice for this invisible fight! We want to empower you to stand up for your community, for your young, black girls. For all of those who already have, thank you for your courage, for all of those who have yet to do so, thank you for reading our message. We want to continue our discussions! Comment, share, and spark conversation with those around you. Because together she will shine!

From Polished Pebbles and Kelly Fair, thank you to all who attended Polished Pebbles facilitated On the Table discussion. We appreciate your voice, heart, and presence. Thank you to Chicago Community Trust for allowing us to share this conversation with our community.

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Kelly Fair: Ambassador to Chicago Community Trust

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If you don’t already know, Kelly Fair will be serving as an ambassador for the Chicago Community Trust “On the Table” discussions!

I’m Kelly Fair and I’m the founder of Polished Pebbles Girls Mentoring Program. Founded in 2009, Polished Pebbles Girls Mentoring Program has been intimately involved in developing and implementing successful youth development programs. I’m motivated to continue my work in mentoring, because I’m a successful byproduct of strong Chicago-based youth mentoring and job readiness initiatives. So, I know personally that mentoring works, which is why am excited every time a new company jumps on board to providing career-related mentoring to our girls.

Watch this video to learn more about Kelly Fair and Polished Pebbles’ role at “On the Table”:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xddz31GkmKk&w=560&h=315]

For more information, click here…

Let’s Help Pave the Way

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This month we have celebrated women past and present who are shaping herstory! March’s Women’s History Month is an inspiration, reminding us of the success within our reach. While we celebrate these women, it is important to remember the barriers women face, especially women of color.

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The truth? We have a long way to go to create a just world for our girls. On the Polished Pebbles Facebook we recently shared an article from PayScale, “Gender and Pay at Work”. In this article, we read what has been repeated over and over…a pay gap exists between men and women. This is even when controlling for factors such as education level. How can we raise, inspire, and educate our girls; fill them with dreams, and then release them into an unjust system?

Let’s help pave the way! Community programs like Polished Pebbles are working to push more women into the workforce. The more we are present, the more we push at the glass ceiling, the closer we will come to it shattering. Polished Pebbles’ After-School Mentoring Program has career exploration as one of its main pillars. Girls have the opportunity to explore career fields through job shadowing and workforce development. Now who doesn’t want to support that?!

For Polished Pebbles to keep reaching their goals, they need your help! Consider a one time donation, or maybe join our monthly giving program! If you’re hearts pushing you in this direction, click here…

Thank you, supporters and readers!

Positive Men: Don Krause

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Mr. Don Krause is up next for our Men’s Month highlight! He has been a strong unnamedsupporter of both Polished Pebbles and Kelly Fair. He was more than happy to answer 3 important questions for us!

What lead you to start supporting Polished Pebbles?

Mr. Krause first met Kelly Fair at Bright Star Church. He was immediately impressed with her presence and dedication. Mr. Krause was equally impressed with Polished Pebbles and the professional young ladies that left the program. As “everybody needs life skills”, it made sense to him to support such an organization! The girls are learning how to “present [themselves] properly…communicate properly” and how to be competitive in their future endeavors.

Thank you Mr. Krause for the kind words!

What is one crisis you see young, African-American girls facing? How can we intervene?

He sees young girls “growing up in an area where they are exposed to violence…negative influences”. He thinks that because of this, it can be hard for these girls to “believe that their dreams can come true”. He sees the girls going through the Polished Pebbles Program as capable and bright! Mr. Krause believes that we can intervene by becoming more involved in the lives of youth. Although there are huge divisions in our society, we can come together to to donate resources and time to better the opportunities for our youth. He wants communities to realize that money is not always the necessary intervention. It takes proper administration for organizations to provide community supports. “You can be a positive influence to somebody”.

What advice do you have for other male mentors?

“Encouragement”! That is the advice Mr. Krause has for male mentors. We need to encourage our youth, especially young girls to reach their full potential. “You don’t know how little you do can mean so much. It’s the words of encouragement, it’s that smile, it’s giving someone a compliment, it’s giving someone your advice…letting them know they can get through it”. He wants male mentors to know that there are many rewards for the time, effort, and resources you donate to community.

You tell ’em Mr. Krause! Thank you for taking the time to be interviewed! And thank you for being such a positive male role model for young African American ladies, keep spreading your message!

Positive Men: Shayne Evans

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It’s Men’s Month! At KellyFairtheMentor.com we are highlighting positive male role models in the Chicago community…and you should meet them!

socialmention_shayne_evans_4553162Our first feature will be on Mr. Shayne Evans.  Mr. Evans is the CEO and Director of University of Chicago Charter Schools. “Through effective leadership, Evans works to strengthen the collaborations that exist among the four campuses and create new partnerships to leverage the expertise of teachers, leaders, counselors, social workers, tutors, and after-school providers.” This is apparent through his collaboration with Polished Pebbles. The Donoghue, NKO, and Woodlawn campuses host the Polished Pebbles mentoring program for their young ladies.

We had the pleasure of hearing from Mr. Evans on three important questions!

What lead you to start supporting Polished Pebbles?

From the beginning, Mr. Shayne Evans was a “huge believer in Kelly’s vision for young ladies.” Through conversations, he could tell that Kelly see the potential, power, and futures of these girls. Her vision matched his for his young ladies at UC Charter Schools. He was heavily impressed by Kelly’s connections to entrepreneurial and well-rounded people, who became her network of mentors and role models for his young ladies. He says that, “her optimism and positive approach helps her to overcome obstacles”. Due to all of this, Mr. Evans had no other option, but to bring Polished Pebbles to some of his campuses.

Thank you Mr. Evans for seeing Polished Pebble’s potential! Because we see the same in your young ladies at UC Charters!

What is one crisis you see young, African-American girls facing? How can we intervene?

Mr. Evans finds that “often society presents stereotypical views of young African-American ladies”. Because of this, their exists a “belief gap of what black and brown young ladies…are capable of”. This can be detrimental to the way we treat these young ladies in the school system. He sees the UC Charter Schools and Polished Pebbles Mentoring Program as positive interventions. They help to create “counter narratives” of young African-American ladies. Together, they “reestablish a vision” of these young ladies as “leaders, problem-solvers, innovators, engineers, and role models”.

His response reminds us of a previous article on KellyFairtheMentor.com. Click here to listen to Chimamanda Adichie speak about stereotypes and how they affect self-development.

What advice do you have for other male mentors?

His advice for male role models is to develop positive, professional relationships youth, especially young ladies. Mr. Evans believes this can be done by being both warm and demanding. You want to establish and maintain high expectations–“academically, behaviorally, socially”. These supportive relationships can truly help girls as they grow. He wants men to come together and work as a community to create positive opportunities for youth–“it is a joint effort”!

At KellyFairtheMentor.com and Polished Pebbles, we want to thank Mr. Shayne Evans for both taking the time to speak with us and for believing in our girls! Thank you for being such a positive male role model for young African American ladies, keep spreading your message!

Let’s Meet the Men

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February marks Men’s Month! We want to take this time to recognize and celebrate the role responsible men play in our girl’s lives. Throughout history, there have been many black men that shaped our futures. Strong, black, men role models are essential to helping our girls build positive relationships with men.

Unfortunately, black fathers have been stereotyped as absent. Our family structure has constantly been called into question. Photographer Zun Lee eliminates these stereotypes in his touching photo series “Father Figure”. According to David Rosenberg’s article, “Lee said he is not only trying to shatter the stereotype of black men not being good fathers, but also the idea that black men are people to fear, something Lee said is obviously connected to racial profiling.”

“Basically, the statement I’m making is the reasons people assume black fathers are absent are the same reasons people assume black men are threatening,” Lee said. “People say [when looking at his work] ‘These are not the men I thought would be affectionate,’ and it confuses them to see these men with tattoos and muscles as being nonmenacing.”

Polished Pebble’s Men’s Month has similar goals. We want to encourage our girls, families, and black role models to celebrate the men in our lives! During this month, Kelly Fair the Mentor will be interviewing and sharing those interviews with you every Thursday. Don’t miss it!

A little peak at “Father Figure”….

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