Since we have the $5,000 Inspiring Soles grant, we are now focusing on expanding our Liberia program to include 100 girls; we also hope to offer them some sort of meal plan, a stipend for books and uniforms, and we want to offer them some after school programs dedicated to raising awareness of reproductive issues, STDs, and other issues. I'm researching grants right now. We hope to have some grants out by the end of the year.
Our next board meeting is next week. I'll include notes from our last board meeting below and below that notes from my meeting with Bruce Grant, one of the founders of Engineers Without Borders.
-Lizzy
MEETING 10/14/08
Topics:
Where are we going:
Do we want to grow? And how? Growing small and slow seems to be the consensus.
Executive director discussion
Grant writing discussion
Possibly having paid positions.
Fund raising:
Fund Raiser 10/9:
1. We made $700 roughly.
Finances:
We have roughly $10,000
Need to make a schedule of allotted money for the year.
Project Updates:
Update on Pakistan:
1. We are on hold at the moment, but things seem to moving ahead.
Update on Liberia:
1. Need to Clarify how much each student receives, where remainder goes, how many students we are sponsoring.
2. Need to start writing grants.
Update on Nepal:
1. Possibly look into finding a Nepali NGO to partner with. **If we find potential partners perhaps I can go meet with them in Jan/Feb 09.
2. Need to send money for Jamling.
Tasks:
Justin:
1. Looking into 501(c)(3)
2. put together report of current financial status
Lizzy:
1. Fix website so that people can donate and link to TMF
2. Grant proposal
3. Get specifics for money in Liberia
4. Get money from Justin and send to Jamling.
Heidi:
1. Look into Executive Director duties and salaries
2. Contact Boulder Reach
3. Check with Emily on GEI Video
4. Work with Tsoler on connecting with Jah Vintage
5. Contact Sarah (new graphic designer) about Logo
Elizabeth:
1. Continue working with PDCN to push forward on Pakistan project
Summary of meeting notes with Bruce Grant of Engineers Without Borders:
1. We need to create an auditable database from day one. All the “big charity watchdogs” (online sites) that evaluate nonprofits will only start evaluating us from the time we start auditing ourselves. We have to pay an accountant to do this. We have to be licensed or approved by these watchdog groups in order to get foundations to pay any attention to us at all. We also have to be recommended by these groups if we’re going to have any chance of getting a grant.
a. Also, foundations will find us if we are on these charity watchdog sites.
b. Charity groups: Charitynavigator.com, charity.org, etc
2. We need to plan out a five-year plan now. Question: what do we want to look like in five years.
3. There is nothing wrong with paying ourselves to get going, but we have to be careful to not spend more than 20% of our income on overhead. We never want overhead to go over 20% of our income.
4. We need to do extensive networking as soon as possible.
a. We need to hit every female business owner on the Front Range. I have a list of the top 100 female-owned firms on the FR.
b. We need to get out and start talking with people in person, including legislators & politicians, businesswomen and men, and anyone else who might be able to help us.
c. We need to find an Angel donor.
d. Boulder Reach. We need to speak to these women.
e. We need to find out how to access charity lists and rolls.
f. Schedule a meeting with Heidi, the main fundraiser for EWB.
g. We need to get on Linked in and link to as many people as possible.
h. We need to find Top Tier people who can influence our success and tie us into other people.
i. We need to get in contact with as many other nonprofits as possible and learn from them.
j. Avoid faith-based orgs and government grants. The moment we take US government money, our Muslim students are at risk.
5. We need a marketing plan:
a. We need to write a quarterly email newsletter that we send out via constant contact
b. We need to figure out how to better market our nonprofit with Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing.
c. Annual Giving Challenge. Parade Magazine. 700 nonprofits registered last year. Through viral marketing they wanted to find out how many people could give how many people 10 dollars.
10. We need to start a “Year-End Giving” letter writing campaign now, so that we get letters out to 500 people before December. 80% of individual donors give money around holidays.
a. These letters should be from each of our board members and should be personalized.
b. These letters should include a powerful story about one of the girls we have helped.
c. These letters should also include the founders’ story
11. We should not focus on grants until we make more contacts because we will not likely get grants unless we know people in high places.
12. We must emphasize transparency on our Web site as much as possible. Everyone wants to know that we’re honest. We need to report every dime on our site or blog.
13. We need to find more board members, and we need to make sure that every board member brings at least two of these three things to the board: Time, Talent and Treasure (or Work, Wealth and Wisdom).
14. We need to have a “prudent reserve.” Which means we should always make sure to have a certain amount of money in the bank. In this case, since we have just $10K, we should make sure to keep $2K always in the bank. We can increase this number once we raise more money. Money has to come in all the time if it’s going out.
15. We need to build a donor list asap.
16. We should never write a grant unless we have a high expectation of winning that money. You have to know people in high places to even be considered.
17. We need to refine our Bylaws
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Interesting information on education in Liberia
PROJECT INFORMATION DOCUMENT (PID)
CONCEPT STAGE
Report No.: AB3636
Project Name Economic Empowerment of Adolescent Girls and Young Women
in Liberia
Region AFRICA
Sector Vocational training (70%);Adult literacy/non-formal education
(30%)
Project ID P110571
Borrower(s) Project is a grant for GOVERNMENT OF LIBERIA
Implementing Agency Will depend on final design of the program
Environment Category []A []B [X] C [ ] FI [ ] TBD (to be determined)
Date PID Prepared January 30, 2008
Estimated Date of
Appraisal Authorization
Estimated Date of Board
Approval
December 31, 2008
1. Key development issues and rationale for Bank involvement
Liberia’s 14-year long war (1989-2003) debilitated the country’s human development capacity,
paralyzed markets, and left a generation of young people with little education and few skills.
Girls were particularly disadvantaged. In 2003, almost 60% of young girls and 40% of young
boys had no formal schooling (ILO/UNICEF 2005). Their disadvantage reflects long-standing
gender inequality in Liberian society. Preliminary findings from the DHS survey show that more
than 40% of women had no education, compared to less than 20% of men, while 23% of women
and 44% of men had some secondary schooling (DHS 2007).
While both adolescent girls and boys need to “catch up” quickly in terms of education and skills
training for productive employment in the short term – and broad-based economic growth in the
medium and long term – adolescent girls need additional policy and program efforts to achieve
better outcomes. As in many other post-conflict situations, emergency skills training and public
works programs in Liberia have targeted male youth ex-combatants, likely reinforcing rather
than reducing adolescent girls’ disadvantage. The few skills training programs for adolescent
girls, run largely by NGOs, have focused on traditional female skills (such as sewing, soap
production, tie-dying) for which there is little or no market demand. Unless there is an additional
effort specifically targeted to adolescent girls, Liberian policies developed within the PRS
exercise may overlook girls’ economic needs and potential economic contributions; with
subsequent costs for poverty reduction and economic growth.
The proposed project builds on the Bank’s comparative advantage in designing demand-driven
approaches to skills and entrepreneurship training and in conducting serious impact evaluations
of new initiatives. There have been few evaluations of youth-oriented training programs, and
none on programs targeted to young women and girls. The lessons that will be drawn from this
program can be used to change program design, scale up activities, or to replicate the program in
other settings.
2. Proposed objective(s)
The proposed development objective for the project is improved employability and incomes for
adolescent girls and young women in the Monrovia area, and development of a new model for
demand-driven training of youth in Liberia.
3. Preliminary description
The project proposes to provide skills training to adolescent girls and young women (aged 15-24)
in such a way as to increase their employability and place them in jobs or self-employment. The
target population will comprise adolescent girls in urban and peri-urban Monrovia. The need for
investments outside Monrovia will be decided once the results of the initial pilot phase have been
analyzed. The target population may be more narrowly defined, for example, to concentrate on
adolescent girls who have recently completed or are completing the Accelerated Learning
Program, or with a certain educational profile. Further targeting details remain to be determined.
Four government agencies have been identified as key partners and potential government
counterparts: Gender and Development, Youth and Sports, Education, and Labor. All will be
involved in project design and implementation, whether directly or indirectly. The choice of
government counterpart will depend, in part, on the final design of the program and will be
determined in the pre-appraisal mission.
The project design envisions the following four components:
Component 1: Job skill training for wage employment –The focus of this component will be on
providing relevant skills training to girls and young women to enable them to obtain paid
employment. Examples of areas of employment might include high-quality urban services (such
as telecommunications, administrative and secretarial services, equipment repair and contract
management, and the hospitality industry.
Component 2: Entrepreneurship training with linkages to micro-finance – The focus of this
component will be to provide young female entrepreneurs access to training and micro-credit
that will boost their productivity, competitiveness and access to markets. A key element of this
package will be training in business development services, which typically include business
planning, consultancy and advisory services, marketing assistance, technology development and
transfer, and links to finance and financial services.
Component 3: Institutional strengthening of counterpart ministry – The war, under-investment in
human and institutional capacity, and the lack of engagement with the international community
have taken their toll on local capacity for project implementation and financial management in
key ministries. As soon as a government agency is selected to execute this project, the formation
of a Project Implementing Unit will also begin. Institutional strengthening will be focused on
three areas: (i) basic introduction to World Bank operations and fiduciary issues; (ii)
procurement and financial management of World Bank operations; and, (iii) results-oriented
monitoring and evaluation systems.
Component 4: Impact evaluation – The focus of this component will be designing and carrying
out a rigorous impact evaluation framework for the initiative.
Representatives of private sector groups in Liberia have noted the great difficulty in finding
young employees with appropriate job skills, including both technical knowledge as well as what
arereferred to as “non-cognitive” skills, including the ability to show up for work on time,
interact creatively and positively with colleagues, and take initiative to solve problems.1 Given
the relatively slow pace of private-sector jobs growth relative to the high rate of unemployment
currently existing in Liberia, however, providing training only for wage employment would not
be prudent. Thus, the project contains training options for both wage employment and self-
employment (entrepreneurship). Adolescent girls and young women will be able to self-select
into the training option that best suites their needs and preferences.
Ideally, training should be provided for skills and occupations for which demand will be
expanding in coming years. The Ministry of Commerce (2007) predicts that growth will come
from all sectors: agriculture, manufacturing, natural resource extraction, and services. Radelet
(2007) notes that in other African post-conflict countries, output growth was initially most rapid
in the service sector, with agricultural growth rebounding strongly 3-5 years after the end of the
conflict. Growth in manufacturing was the slowest to rebound but the most robust in the
medium term.
The a priori identification of future high-growth sectors in which to conduct training, however, is
prohibitively risky. Instead, mechanisms will be built into the project to ensure that training is
done—thus avoiding a pitfall that has plagued previous training programs in Liberia and
elsewhere. Two mechanisms will be put in place to promote linkages to the demand side of the
labor market and hence maximize the probabilities of employment for graduates of training.
First, a private sector advisory council will be formed to advise training providers on which
employees will be needed in the short-term.2 Second, the institutions offering training for wage
employment will be hired under performance-based contracts: providers that are more
successful in placing their graduates in jobs will be given performance bonuses and will have
their contract renewed and expanded; those that are less successful may have their contracts
cancelled.3
Training will be delivered by training providers (which may be quasi-governmental, NGO or
private sector agencies) who will be invited to submit bids to provide services under this project.
The government institution in charge of execution of the project will select, on a competitive
basis and subject to Bank contracting rules, the providers who will deliver the training. Key
criteria for selection will include quality of training curriculum, track record of delivering
training, and documented demand for the skills that the training will impart. Training will stress
development of marketable skills. In addition, training curricula should address some of the
1
Interviews conducted during the identification mission.
2
As collaboration increases between the advisory council and the training providers over time, it is possible to
envision training providers entering into direct relationships with businesses to train for particular vacancies or
needs.
3
The project will also consider performance-based contracts for institutions providing business development
services and microcredit to entrepreneurs; it must be recognized, however, that measuring performance in this
component may be more difficultSome potential measures include: beginning a business within six months of
graduation and business surviving one year after graduation.
crucial barriers to the development of adolescent girls in Liberia, including early pregnancy and
endemic sexual violence and transactional sex.
4. Safeguard policies that might apply
[Guideline: Refer to section 5 of the PCN. Which safeguard policies might apply to the project
and in what ways? What actions might be needed during project preparation to assess
safeguard issues and prepare to mitigate them?]
No Safeguard policies apply.
5. Tentative financing
Source: ($m.)
Borrower 0
Gender Trust Funds 2.96
Total 2.96
6. Contact point
Contact: Andrew R. Morrison
Title: Lead Economist, PRMGE
Tel: (202) 458-5062
Fax: (202) 522-3237
Email: amorrison1@worldbank.org
CONCEPT STAGE
Report No.: AB3636
Project Name Economic Empowerment of Adolescent Girls and Young Women
in Liberia
Region AFRICA
Sector Vocational training (70%);Adult literacy/non-formal education
(30%)
Project ID P110571
Borrower(s) Project is a grant for GOVERNMENT OF LIBERIA
Implementing Agency Will depend on final design of the program
Environment Category []A []B [X] C [ ] FI [ ] TBD (to be determined)
Date PID Prepared January 30, 2008
Estimated Date of
Appraisal Authorization
Estimated Date of Board
Approval
December 31, 2008
1. Key development issues and rationale for Bank involvement
Liberia’s 14-year long war (1989-2003) debilitated the country’s human development capacity,
paralyzed markets, and left a generation of young people with little education and few skills.
Girls were particularly disadvantaged. In 2003, almost 60% of young girls and 40% of young
boys had no formal schooling (ILO/UNICEF 2005). Their disadvantage reflects long-standing
gender inequality in Liberian society. Preliminary findings from the DHS survey show that more
than 40% of women had no education, compared to less than 20% of men, while 23% of women
and 44% of men had some secondary schooling (DHS 2007).
While both adolescent girls and boys need to “catch up” quickly in terms of education and skills
training for productive employment in the short term – and broad-based economic growth in the
medium and long term – adolescent girls need additional policy and program efforts to achieve
better outcomes. As in many other post-conflict situations, emergency skills training and public
works programs in Liberia have targeted male youth ex-combatants, likely reinforcing rather
than reducing adolescent girls’ disadvantage. The few skills training programs for adolescent
girls, run largely by NGOs, have focused on traditional female skills (such as sewing, soap
production, tie-dying) for which there is little or no market demand. Unless there is an additional
effort specifically targeted to adolescent girls, Liberian policies developed within the PRS
exercise may overlook girls’ economic needs and potential economic contributions; with
subsequent costs for poverty reduction and economic growth.
The proposed project builds on the Bank’s comparative advantage in designing demand-driven
approaches to skills and entrepreneurship training and in conducting serious impact evaluations
of new initiatives. There have been few evaluations of youth-oriented training programs, and
none on programs targeted to young women and girls. The lessons that will be drawn from this
program can be used to change program design, scale up activities, or to replicate the program in
other settings.
2. Proposed objective(s)
The proposed development objective for the project is improved employability and incomes for
adolescent girls and young women in the Monrovia area, and development of a new model for
demand-driven training of youth in Liberia.
3. Preliminary description
The project proposes to provide skills training to adolescent girls and young women (aged 15-24)
in such a way as to increase their employability and place them in jobs or self-employment. The
target population will comprise adolescent girls in urban and peri-urban Monrovia. The need for
investments outside Monrovia will be decided once the results of the initial pilot phase have been
analyzed. The target population may be more narrowly defined, for example, to concentrate on
adolescent girls who have recently completed or are completing the Accelerated Learning
Program, or with a certain educational profile. Further targeting details remain to be determined.
Four government agencies have been identified as key partners and potential government
counterparts: Gender and Development, Youth and Sports, Education, and Labor. All will be
involved in project design and implementation, whether directly or indirectly. The choice of
government counterpart will depend, in part, on the final design of the program and will be
determined in the pre-appraisal mission.
The project design envisions the following four components:
Component 1: Job skill training for wage employment –The focus of this component will be on
providing relevant skills training to girls and young women to enable them to obtain paid
employment. Examples of areas of employment might include high-quality urban services (such
as telecommunications, administrative and secretarial services, equipment repair and contract
management, and the hospitality industry.
Component 2: Entrepreneurship training with linkages to micro-finance – The focus of this
component will be to provide young female entrepreneurs access to training and micro-credit
that will boost their productivity, competitiveness and access to markets. A key element of this
package will be training in business development services, which typically include business
planning, consultancy and advisory services, marketing assistance, technology development and
transfer, and links to finance and financial services.
Component 3: Institutional strengthening of counterpart ministry – The war, under-investment in
human and institutional capacity, and the lack of engagement with the international community
have taken their toll on local capacity for project implementation and financial management in
key ministries. As soon as a government agency is selected to execute this project, the formation
of a Project Implementing Unit will also begin. Institutional strengthening will be focused on
three areas: (i) basic introduction to World Bank operations and fiduciary issues; (ii)
procurement and financial management of World Bank operations; and, (iii) results-oriented
monitoring and evaluation systems.
Component 4: Impact evaluation – The focus of this component will be designing and carrying
out a rigorous impact evaluation framework for the initiative.
Representatives of private sector groups in Liberia have noted the great difficulty in finding
young employees with appropriate job skills, including both technical knowledge as well as what
arereferred to as “non-cognitive” skills, including the ability to show up for work on time,
interact creatively and positively with colleagues, and take initiative to solve problems.1 Given
the relatively slow pace of private-sector jobs growth relative to the high rate of unemployment
currently existing in Liberia, however, providing training only for wage employment would not
be prudent. Thus, the project contains training options for both wage employment and self-
employment (entrepreneurship). Adolescent girls and young women will be able to self-select
into the training option that best suites their needs and preferences.
Ideally, training should be provided for skills and occupations for which demand will be
expanding in coming years. The Ministry of Commerce (2007) predicts that growth will come
from all sectors: agriculture, manufacturing, natural resource extraction, and services. Radelet
(2007) notes that in other African post-conflict countries, output growth was initially most rapid
in the service sector, with agricultural growth rebounding strongly 3-5 years after the end of the
conflict. Growth in manufacturing was the slowest to rebound but the most robust in the
medium term.
The a priori identification of future high-growth sectors in which to conduct training, however, is
prohibitively risky. Instead, mechanisms will be built into the project to ensure that training is
done—thus avoiding a pitfall that has plagued previous training programs in Liberia and
elsewhere. Two mechanisms will be put in place to promote linkages to the demand side of the
labor market and hence maximize the probabilities of employment for graduates of training.
First, a private sector advisory council will be formed to advise training providers on which
employees will be needed in the short-term.2 Second, the institutions offering training for wage
employment will be hired under performance-based contracts: providers that are more
successful in placing their graduates in jobs will be given performance bonuses and will have
their contract renewed and expanded; those that are less successful may have their contracts
cancelled.3
Training will be delivered by training providers (which may be quasi-governmental, NGO or
private sector agencies) who will be invited to submit bids to provide services under this project.
The government institution in charge of execution of the project will select, on a competitive
basis and subject to Bank contracting rules, the providers who will deliver the training. Key
criteria for selection will include quality of training curriculum, track record of delivering
training, and documented demand for the skills that the training will impart. Training will stress
development of marketable skills. In addition, training curricula should address some of the
1
Interviews conducted during the identification mission.
2
As collaboration increases between the advisory council and the training providers over time, it is possible to
envision training providers entering into direct relationships with businesses to train for particular vacancies or
needs.
3
The project will also consider performance-based contracts for institutions providing business development
services and microcredit to entrepreneurs; it must be recognized, however, that measuring performance in this
component may be more difficultSome potential measures include: beginning a business within six months of
graduation and business surviving one year after graduation.
crucial barriers to the development of adolescent girls in Liberia, including early pregnancy and
endemic sexual violence and transactional sex.
4. Safeguard policies that might apply
[Guideline: Refer to section 5 of the PCN. Which safeguard policies might apply to the project
and in what ways? What actions might be needed during project preparation to assess
safeguard issues and prepare to mitigate them?]
No Safeguard policies apply.
5. Tentative financing
Source: ($m.)
Borrower 0
Gender Trust Funds 2.96
Total 2.96
6. Contact point
Contact: Andrew R. Morrison
Title: Lead Economist, PRMGE
Tel: (202) 458-5062
Fax: (202) 522-3237
Email: amorrison1@worldbank.org
World Bank and Nike launch adolescent girls gender inititative
We are hoping to tap into this. I am currently doing research on the best grants to apply for. However, we are also planning on doing more networking and sending out end of the year Giving Letters to at least 500 people.
-Lizzy Scully
Why adolescent girls?
Today, 1.5 billion people are ages 12–24 worldwide, nine out of ten of these young people live in developing countries, the most ever in history. Of these, approximately 625 million are girls and young women, ages 10-24. This is the next generation of economic and social actors.
Adolescence is a critical time to intervene to break the intergenerational cycle of poverty, by helping girls stay in school, build capital assets, resist early pregnancy and marriage and a future of low earnings. Furthermore, investing in adolescent girls’ economic opportunities can have a large development impact with long term benefits to economic growth.
Closing the gender gaps in school enrollment could increase per capita growth by as much as 3%.
An extra year of secondary school for girls can increase their future wages by 10% to 20%.
Progress in education by girls is not matched by higher labor force participation by young women where by age 24 young women lag far behind men in labor force participation.
Purpose
The Adolescent Girls Initiative aims at smoothing the transition from school to productive employment by, among other interventions, helping girls complete education, build skills that match market demand, find mentors and job placements, offer incentives to potential employers to retain, and train young women or to overcome some of the cultural barriers to young women's employment. These interventions will be tested and evaluated for impact.
Origins of the Initiative
This Adolescent Girls Initiative has its origins in President Zoellick’s six commitments announced on April 11, 2008 when he accepted the MDG3 torch and the challenge to “launch a work program with private and public sector leaders on ‘young women count for economic development’”. Since then the World Bank and the Nike Foundation have been at work designing the first pilot in Liberia, due to execute in January 2009, to help smooth girls’ transition from school to quality work.
Our Partners
Governments of Liberia, Australia, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the City of Milan, Goldman Sachs, The Nike Foundation, and Standard Chartered.
The Adolescent Girls Initiative is part of the World Bank Group’s Gender Action Plan--Gender Equality as Smart Economics, which is helping increase women’s economic opportunities by improving their access to the labor market, agricultural land and tools, credit, and infrastructure services.
-Lizzy Scully
Why adolescent girls?
Today, 1.5 billion people are ages 12–24 worldwide, nine out of ten of these young people live in developing countries, the most ever in history. Of these, approximately 625 million are girls and young women, ages 10-24. This is the next generation of economic and social actors.
Adolescence is a critical time to intervene to break the intergenerational cycle of poverty, by helping girls stay in school, build capital assets, resist early pregnancy and marriage and a future of low earnings. Furthermore, investing in adolescent girls’ economic opportunities can have a large development impact with long term benefits to economic growth.
Closing the gender gaps in school enrollment could increase per capita growth by as much as 3%.
An extra year of secondary school for girls can increase their future wages by 10% to 20%.
Progress in education by girls is not matched by higher labor force participation by young women where by age 24 young women lag far behind men in labor force participation.
Purpose
The Adolescent Girls Initiative aims at smoothing the transition from school to productive employment by, among other interventions, helping girls complete education, build skills that match market demand, find mentors and job placements, offer incentives to potential employers to retain, and train young women or to overcome some of the cultural barriers to young women's employment. These interventions will be tested and evaluated for impact.
Origins of the Initiative
This Adolescent Girls Initiative has its origins in President Zoellick’s six commitments announced on April 11, 2008 when he accepted the MDG3 torch and the challenge to “launch a work program with private and public sector leaders on ‘young women count for economic development’”. Since then the World Bank and the Nike Foundation have been at work designing the first pilot in Liberia, due to execute in January 2009, to help smooth girls’ transition from school to quality work.
Our Partners
Governments of Liberia, Australia, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the City of Milan, Goldman Sachs, The Nike Foundation, and Standard Chartered.
The Adolescent Girls Initiative is part of the World Bank Group’s Gender Action Plan--Gender Equality as Smart Economics, which is helping increase women’s economic opportunities by improving their access to the labor market, agricultural land and tools, credit, and infrastructure services.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Heidi Wirtz an Inspiring Soles semifinalist press release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 1, 2008
Media Contact: Lizzy Scully, lizzy@lizzyscully.com
Background: www.girlsed.org
Photos available
October 1, 2008—Boulder-based climber and The North Face Athlete announced as semi-finalist for Inspiring Soles
The North Face athlete and Boulder resident Heidi Wirtz, co-founder of the nonprofit Girls Education International (GEI), was recently notified that she is one of five semifinalists for the Inspiring Soles Award. Created by Crocs. Inc and Outside Magazine, the Inspiring Soles Award celebrates athletes who have dedicated their lives to shattering boundaries and raising awareness for meaningful causes. Wirtz has worked tirelessly for the past two years on fundraising and implementing projects for GEI, and over the years she has regularly volunteered for HERA Climb4Life events and the Khumbu Climbing School, and she has raised money for the dZi Foundation.
As a semifinalist, Wirtz will receive $5,000 to donate to the charity of her choice plus $500 worth of Crocs merchandise.
“This is really exciting,” said Wirtz of the award. “The $5,000 will pay for Girls Education International’s Liberia program through spring of 2010.” Implemented as GEI’s first major project, the Liberia Scholarship Program provides $71 per year to 47 girls in the mountainous regions of Liberia so they can pay their school fees.
“Now we can focus our fundraising efforts on expanding that program and raising funds for the other projects we are working on,” Wirtz added. Wirtz’s next major fundraiser will at the B Side Lounge in Boulder on October 9.
The overall winner of the Inspiring Soles award, to be announced later this year, will receive a $25,000 donation for a charity, a Crocs shopping spree, a trip to Santa Monica, a full-page profile in Outside Magazine and a PSA ad for their charity.
Girls Education International seeks to raise awareness and funds to help educate women and girls in impoverished areas throughout the world, and will particularly support an ongoing girls scholarship program in Liberia and a new project in northern Pakistan. For more information, please visit: www.girlsed.org.
For more information, please contact Lizzy Scully at 303-903-2768 or girlsed@gmail.com. To contact Heidi Wirtz directly, please call 303-908-7795 or email heidiwirtz1@yahoo.com
October 1, 2008
Media Contact: Lizzy Scully, lizzy@lizzyscully.com
Background: www.girlsed.org
Photos available
October 1, 2008—Boulder-based climber and The North Face Athlete announced as semi-finalist for Inspiring Soles
The North Face athlete and Boulder resident Heidi Wirtz, co-founder of the nonprofit Girls Education International (GEI), was recently notified that she is one of five semifinalists for the Inspiring Soles Award. Created by Crocs. Inc and Outside Magazine, the Inspiring Soles Award celebrates athletes who have dedicated their lives to shattering boundaries and raising awareness for meaningful causes. Wirtz has worked tirelessly for the past two years on fundraising and implementing projects for GEI, and over the years she has regularly volunteered for HERA Climb4Life events and the Khumbu Climbing School, and she has raised money for the dZi Foundation.
As a semifinalist, Wirtz will receive $5,000 to donate to the charity of her choice plus $500 worth of Crocs merchandise.
“This is really exciting,” said Wirtz of the award. “The $5,000 will pay for Girls Education International’s Liberia program through spring of 2010.” Implemented as GEI’s first major project, the Liberia Scholarship Program provides $71 per year to 47 girls in the mountainous regions of Liberia so they can pay their school fees.
“Now we can focus our fundraising efforts on expanding that program and raising funds for the other projects we are working on,” Wirtz added. Wirtz’s next major fundraiser will at the B Side Lounge in Boulder on October 9.
The overall winner of the Inspiring Soles award, to be announced later this year, will receive a $25,000 donation for a charity, a Crocs shopping spree, a trip to Santa Monica, a full-page profile in Outside Magazine and a PSA ad for their charity.
Girls Education International seeks to raise awareness and funds to help educate women and girls in impoverished areas throughout the world, and will particularly support an ongoing girls scholarship program in Liberia and a new project in northern Pakistan. For more information, please visit: www.girlsed.org.
For more information, please contact Lizzy Scully at 303-903-2768 or girlsed@gmail.com. To contact Heidi Wirtz directly, please call 303-908-7795 or email heidiwirtz1@yahoo.com
Monday, October 13, 2008
BEATS FOR BOOKS
Last Thursday, Oct. 9th, GEI held a fund raising event at the B Side Lounge in Boulder, Colorado. We had a great turn out. The event raised close to $1,000, all of which will go directly towards our current project in Liberia, where we are providing 47 girls with scholarships for primary and secondary education (this is an area where they would not have this opportunity on their own).
Big Thanks to: Redstone Catering, Boulder Beer, Redwood Creek Wine, La Sportiva, The North Face, Black Diamond Equipment, Adventure Medical, Crocs, Clifbar, Wigwam, Alpinist, Oskar Blues, Primus, Jet Boil, Evolv, Pangea Organics, Third Street Chai, Prana, The Spot, The Boulder Rock Club, Ames Adventure Outfitters and Annette Yuan
Special Thanks also go out to; Dirt Monkey, Jayce and 1KONOKLO4ST for their awesome beats!
To to all who braved the cold: Thanks again for coming out and supporting GEI!
Big Thanks to: Redstone Catering, Boulder Beer, Redwood Creek Wine, La Sportiva, The North Face, Black Diamond Equipment, Adventure Medical, Crocs, Clifbar, Wigwam, Alpinist, Oskar Blues, Primus, Jet Boil, Evolv, Pangea Organics, Third Street Chai, Prana, The Spot, The Boulder Rock Club, Ames Adventure Outfitters and Annette Yuan
Special Thanks also go out to; Dirt Monkey, Jayce and 1KONOKLO4ST for their awesome beats!
To to all who braved the cold: Thanks again for coming out and supporting GEI!
BEATS FOR BOOKS
Last Thursday, Oct. 9th, GEI held a fund raising event at the B Side Lounge in Boulder, Colorado. We had a great turn out. The event raised close to $1,000, all of which will go directly towards our current project in Liberia, where we are providing 47 girls with scholarships for primary and secondary education (this is an area where they would not have this opportunity on their own).
Big Thanks to: Redstone Catering, Boulder Beer, Redwood Creek Wine, La Sportiva, The North Face, Black Diamond Equipment, Adventure Medical, Crocs, Clifbar, Oskar Blues, Primus, Jet Boil, Evolv, Pangea, Third Street Chai, Prana, The Spot, The Boulder Rock Club, Ames Adventure Outfitters and Annette Yuan
Special Thanks also go out to; Dirt Monkey, Jayce and 1KONOKLO4ST for their awesome beats!
To to all who braved the cold: Thanks again for coming out and supporting GEI!
Big Thanks to: Redstone Catering, Boulder Beer, Redwood Creek Wine, La Sportiva, The North Face, Black Diamond Equipment, Adventure Medical, Crocs, Clifbar, Oskar Blues, Primus, Jet Boil, Evolv, Pangea, Third Street Chai, Prana, The Spot, The Boulder Rock Club, Ames Adventure Outfitters and Annette Yuan
Special Thanks also go out to; Dirt Monkey, Jayce and 1KONOKLO4ST for their awesome beats!
To to all who braved the cold: Thanks again for coming out and supporting GEI!
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Meaningful statistics
If the world's population was reduced to 100 people, there would be: 57 Asians, 21 Europeans, 14 Americans and 8 Africans.
There would be: 52 women, 48 men, 30 caucasians and 70 non-caucasians, 30 Christians and 70 non-Christians, 89 heterosexuals and 11 homosexuals.
80 of the people would live in poverty;
70 would be illiterate;
50 would suffer from hunger or malnutrition
1 would be dying
1 would be being born
1 would own a computer
1 would have a university degree
500 million people suffer from war, prison or torture or are close to death because of starvation.
3 billion people cannot go to their place of worship without fear of being attacked or killed.
If you have money in the bank, in your wallet or change anywhere at home, you are one of the 8 privileged few people in the group of 100.
There would be: 52 women, 48 men, 30 caucasians and 70 non-caucasians, 30 Christians and 70 non-Christians, 89 heterosexuals and 11 homosexuals.
80 of the people would live in poverty;
70 would be illiterate;
50 would suffer from hunger or malnutrition
1 would be dying
1 would be being born
1 would own a computer
1 would have a university degree
500 million people suffer from war, prison or torture or are close to death because of starvation.
3 billion people cannot go to their place of worship without fear of being attacked or killed.
If you have money in the bank, in your wallet or change anywhere at home, you are one of the 8 privileged few people in the group of 100.
Friday, October 03, 2008
Climber-run nonprofit to hold benefit dance party at the b Side Lounge in Boulder, Colo.
Girls Education International, a nonprofit organization founded by The North Face athlete Heidi Wirtz and Rock & Ice senior contributing editor Lizzy Scully, will be hosting a late-night dance party fundraiser at the hippest new club on the Front Range, the b Side Lounge Restaurant in Boulder, Colo., 13th street between Pearl and Spruce, on Thursday, October 9, from 9:30 p.m. to 1:45 a.m.
The fundraiser includes goodie bags for the first 25 people through the door, a wine tasting provided by Redwood Creek Winery, FREE beer and hors d’oeuvres until 10:15 p.m., $5 Grey Goose Cosmos all night, and a tiered raffle for everything from artwork to quality outdoor goods. Live VJs will keep the beat going until 1:45 a.m. Music by: Jayce, Dirt Monkey, 1KONOKL4ST, Super Tuesday, along with a performance by the Kaivalya Hoopers. All proceeds will benefit GEI’s projects in Nepal, Liberia and Pakistan.
Because GEI is staffed entirely by volunteers, it is able to give 90% of its funding directly to the girls and schools it supports. Money goes for school renovation assessments, scholarships, books and uniforms.
Girls Education International seeks to raise awareness and funds to help educate women and girls in impoverished areas throughout the world, and will particularly support an ongoing girls scholarship program in Liberia and a new project in northern Pakistan. For more information, please visit: www.girlsed.org.
Lizzy Scully
303-903-2768
girlsed@gmail.com
The fundraiser includes goodie bags for the first 25 people through the door, a wine tasting provided by Redwood Creek Winery, FREE beer and hors d’oeuvres until 10:15 p.m., $5 Grey Goose Cosmos all night, and a tiered raffle for everything from artwork to quality outdoor goods. Live VJs will keep the beat going until 1:45 a.m. Music by: Jayce, Dirt Monkey, 1KONOKL4ST, Super Tuesday, along with a performance by the Kaivalya Hoopers. All proceeds will benefit GEI’s projects in Nepal, Liberia and Pakistan.
Because GEI is staffed entirely by volunteers, it is able to give 90% of its funding directly to the girls and schools it supports. Money goes for school renovation assessments, scholarships, books and uniforms.
Girls Education International seeks to raise awareness and funds to help educate women and girls in impoverished areas throughout the world, and will particularly support an ongoing girls scholarship program in Liberia and a new project in northern Pakistan. For more information, please visit: www.girlsed.org.
Lizzy Scully
303-903-2768
girlsed@gmail.com
October 1, 2008—Boulder-based climber and The North Face Athlete announced as semi-finalist for Inspiring Soles
The North Face athlete and Boulder resident Heidi Wirtz, co-founder of the nonprofit Girls Education International (GEI), was recently notified that she is one of five semifinalists for the Inspiring Soles Award. Created by Crocs. Inc and Outside Magazine, the Inspiring Soles Award celebrates athletes who have dedicated their lives to shattering boundaries and raising awareness for meaningful causes. Wirtz has worked tirelessly for the past two years on fundraising and implementing projects for GEI, and over the years she has regularly volunteered for HERA Climb4Life events and the Khumbu Climbing School, and she has raised money for the dZi Foundation.
As a semifinalist, Wirtz will receive $5,000 to donate to the charity of her choice plus $500 worth of Crocs merchandise.
“This is really exciting,” said Wirtz of the award. “The $5,000 will pay for Girls Education International’s Liberia program through spring of 2010.” Implemented as GEI’s first major project, the Liberia Scholarship Program provides $71 per year to 47 girls in the mountainous regions of Liberia so they can pay their school fees.
“Now we can focus our fundraising efforts on expanding that program and raising funds for the other projects we are working on,” Wirtz added. Wirtz’s next major fundraiser will at the b Side Lounge in Boulder on October 9.
The overall winner of the Inspiring Soles award, to be announced later this year, will receive a $25,000 donation for a charity, a Crocs shopping spree, a trip to Santa Monica, a full-page profile in Outside Magazine and a PSA ad for their charity.
Girls Education International seeks to raise awareness and funds to help educate women and girls in impoverished areas throughout the world, and will particularly support an ongoing girls scholarship program in Liberia and a new project in northern Pakistan. For more information, please visit: www.girlsed.org.
For more information, please contact Lizzy Scully at 303-903-2768 or girlsed@gmail.com. To contact Heidi Wirtz directly, please call 303-908-7795 or email heidiwirtz1@yahoo.com
As a semifinalist, Wirtz will receive $5,000 to donate to the charity of her choice plus $500 worth of Crocs merchandise.
“This is really exciting,” said Wirtz of the award. “The $5,000 will pay for Girls Education International’s Liberia program through spring of 2010.” Implemented as GEI’s first major project, the Liberia Scholarship Program provides $71 per year to 47 girls in the mountainous regions of Liberia so they can pay their school fees.
“Now we can focus our fundraising efforts on expanding that program and raising funds for the other projects we are working on,” Wirtz added. Wirtz’s next major fundraiser will at the b Side Lounge in Boulder on October 9.
The overall winner of the Inspiring Soles award, to be announced later this year, will receive a $25,000 donation for a charity, a Crocs shopping spree, a trip to Santa Monica, a full-page profile in Outside Magazine and a PSA ad for their charity.
Girls Education International seeks to raise awareness and funds to help educate women and girls in impoverished areas throughout the world, and will particularly support an ongoing girls scholarship program in Liberia and a new project in northern Pakistan. For more information, please visit: www.girlsed.org.
For more information, please contact Lizzy Scully at 303-903-2768 or girlsed@gmail.com. To contact Heidi Wirtz directly, please call 303-908-7795 or email heidiwirtz1@yahoo.com
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