Tag: Polished Pebbles Girls Mentoring Program

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!

Happy Holidays!

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From KellyFairtheMentor and Polished Pebbles, we want to say MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY HOLIDAYS! May the holidays be a blessing to you and yours. Thank you for all that you do to support our girls!

If you would like to give a little gift this holiday season, consider donating to Polished Pebbles. It can be a one time, monthly, or annual donation. The upcoming 2015 is sure to be filled with many more activities and programs to enrich the lives of our girls. We would love your support! Donate here…

Let’s keep taking care of one another!

A Look Back at Polished Pebbles 2014

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As the year 2014 comes to a close, let’s take a look back on all that has happened with Polished Pebbles!

Watch this video of Polished Pebbles’ highlights…

For those who need a little refresher on what Polished Pebbles does for our community:

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Polished Pebbles (est. 2009) is a Chicago-based, nonprofit organization that mentors girls ages 7-17 on the effective life skill of communication. We help girls to become effective communicators at home, school, and the future workplace! We have worked with over 400+ volunteer mentors who have helped 1000 girls via 30 program sites to solve their problems rationally as opposed to retaliating and develop the confidence to: speak up in class, join groups and seek leadership positions, communicate effectively and respectfully with adults, have peaceful interactions with their peers, and prepare for future careers.

We have had 30 Chicagoland sites where we host our programs, including partnerships with Chicago Public Schools, Chicago Housing Authority, and University of Chicago Charter Schools.

We have 18 companies we partner with for 50+  job shadowing opportunities, including Bloomingdales, Microsoft Store, Chicago Sky, and Blue Cross-Blue Shield of Illinois.

For Polished Pebbles to keep supporting our girls, we need your help! Consider a one-time, monthly, or annual donation. Click here to support Polished Pebbles!

Throwing Back to 2013, Pertesha Shares Her Story

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This week we are throwing it back to 2013! A little reminiscing at the end of the year is the perfect way to remind us why we do what we do. Polished Pebbles has seen great growth in the last 5 years. We have now mentored over 1,000 girls and serve 30 sites in Chicago! To think we used to be small. During this exciting time it can be easy to get swept up in the numbers and forget about our individual impact. To each girl that goes through Polished Pebbles program, the experience is different. Although we have our mission of installing positive values, effective communication strategies, and confidence in our girls, they all take a different path. Each girl comes through our program with their own unique background and personality; making sure our work is never dull!

Now, let’s hear from a Polished Pebbles alum, Pertesha, as she shares her own Polished Pebbles story:

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Thank you Pertesha!

Polished Pebbles has been working hard to ensure that all the girls that go through our program have such a positive experience. Here’s an infographic to let you know how we’ve been doing:

Updated Info.

Like what you’ve heard and read? Consider donating to Polished Pebbles to keep our program running strong, and our mission! With your help, small or large, Polished Pebbles will have a bright future! And together she will shine!

Click here to make your contribution! Remember, we aren’t just hoping for monetary support. If you have time, consider being a volunteer or mentor. Or, share your voice on our social media sites (including this one)!

How have you seen Polished Pebbles grow this year? What changes would you like to see in the next?

What Are We Grateful For…

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WE ARE GRATEFUL FOR YOU!

All of our readers of KellyFairtheMentor.com, volunteers and staff of Polished Pebbles, and our Polished Pebbles Blog 11-27girls…thank you! It is with your help that we are able to impact our communities and work towards positive change. All of our voices can be heard and together we can help support the future of our girls and boys! We are grateful for our supporters, contributors, sponsors, and collaborative business and organizations for helping to provide enriching programs for all of our Polished Pebbles girls.

You all make our world go round! 

A few words from volunteers and staff:

“Thankful for life and loved ones.” –Cecelia Donaldson

“I’m thankful for new opportunities!” –LaKisha Williams

“I am thankful for: God’s Grace.” –Joyce Rogers

“I am THANKFUL for: being blessed by the Lord and amazing family, great friends, and the Polished Pebbles vision.” –Adrienne Robinson

“I’m thankful for family, friends, and husband.” –L’Oreal Thompson

All of us have come together as social activists. Although you may think your role small as a volunteer for a single mentoring program, your impact is big! For that we are grateful! In light of events in Ferguson, our work is more important than ever. It is our mentoring and African-American youth programs that contradict the images and stereotypes portrayed by the media and by society. As mentioned in a previous post, it is important that we all speak out!

Let us all come together in gratitude for all those that have collaborated for and worked towards greater social justice in the United States. You have our thanks.

What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving?

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Celebrating Another Year of Mentoring Girls in Chicago!

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As you complete either major projects, summer initiatives, or even programming years with your youth mentoring programs, it’s always important to celebrate your victories through documentation and photographs.  It’s a great way to historically document your achievements as an organization, the achievements of the youth that you serve, demonstrate the achievements of contributing staff and volunteers, and it also serves as some evidence of your potential impact as a youth mentoring program.  This celebratory documentation can be in the format of individualized letters or communications with pictures directed towards specific stakeholders like partnering schools, organizations, and sponsors. You can share it in printed or electronic newsletters, or on social media as well.  And, it also can give you a great opportunity to motivate potential donors to give to your organization as well.  So, to mark the end of another successful programming year with my mentoring program Polished Pebbles I’ve decided to share some of our year-end newsletter with you!  Enjoy!

And, if you feel moved….you can donate to Polished Pebbles Girls Mentoring Program here: GIVE!!!

Thanks,

Kelly

KellyFairTheMentor

 

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Meet Pertesha!: From Foster Care & Fighting to Finding Success!

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Since 2009, my girls mentoring program, Polished Pebbles, has positively changed the lives of over 600 girls. Girls in Polished Pebbles receive 60-120 hours per year of interaction and learning with positive role models. These young ladies build relationships over time during sessions held directly in their own schools or communities that help to positively affect their lives. 

An example of just one of the many success stories of Polished Pebbles is Pertesha. After joining Polished Pebbles, Pertesha made many personal improvements that helped change her life from when she was in high school to where she is now.

A Polished Pebbles’ alumna, Pertesha sat down with me to discuss how being in Polished Pebbles and involved in programs such as the Bloomingdale’s Brown Bag Apprenticeship Program impacted her life.

THIS IS A STORY THAT SHOULD GO VIRAL! Please share and consider giving to Polished Pebbles Girls Mentoring Program this holiday season by clicking here:  www.gofundme.com/PolishedPebbles.com

I thank you for loving our girls, and your continued support!

Kelly

KellyFairTheMentor