By Aaron Allen, The Seattle Medium
Girls On The Move (GOTM), a mentorship program for girls by Compukidz, will begin enrolling girls ages 11 to 18 years of age for their upcoming session.
GOTM is a four-week program that is designed to instill a better sense of self-awareness, self-esteem, decision making, and life management in its participants. The program also helps the participants cultivate better relationships with their parents, peers and professionals.
Studies have shown that when teens have positive role models and guidance it can make a huge impact in their development. GOTM provides its participants with the tools that they need to avoid some of the pitfalls in school that result in higher rates of suspensions and discipline.
“Girls On The Move is about teaching and facilitating soft skills to our young ladies,” says Wendy Armour, Director of Girls On The Move.
“How this [program] came about was I was observing the behavior of young girls in of all places the mall and noticing a sense of lack of self-worth and self-pride as I watched them interact with young men,” continued Armour. “So, the idea was I wanted to pour into these young ladies because I had many amazing women that poured into me and gave me direction and love, just helping me to make good choices. So that’s what GOTM is really all about.”
According to experts, women mentoring young girls is important, as it helps them gain access to opportunities and cultivates their confidence. When more women lead, it creates a diversified leadership open to discussing multiple perspectives that improves decision-making and strengthens young girls to face the challenges of the future.
Armour says that GOTM’s programming is all about teaching the young ladies about leadership, while instilling in them that they are all leaders and helping them step into leadership roles.
“We are in control of what we want people to see in us,” says Armour. “I recently read an article that talked about how damaged our girls are within our school system. Just because they are getting such a bad rap, they are higher in discipline, higher in suspensions, higher in everything when it comes to negativity in our schools, so we have to do some things to combat that.”
Through their own research and study, Compukidz has discovered that many young girls are living in an environment of “tearing each other down” and lack a sense of comradery and sisterhood. GOTM focuses on and addresses the issue of support and works to pour into young girls a support system and sisterhood that carriers into their everyday pursuits.
“There is very little comradery [these days] between girls and that they don’t know how to lift each other up,” says Armour. “They seem to be so used to this system of tearing each other down and so that is a big thing that Girls On The Move focuses on as well.”
Vision and dream boards are a vital aspect of GOTM. The program urges their mentees to think about their futures. The program also introduces the girls to etiquette, fine dining, hosting, presenting for jobs, dating etiquette, even what GOTM calls “bra fitting”, where participants learn about how a woman’s body is always changing and how to adapt to those changes.
“I have so much fun teaching our ladies all these different things that in some cases they are learning things adult women were unaware of,” added Armour with a smile. “For example, “bra fitting” which was unheard of. Many of the moms were asking, “when are you going to do Girls On The Move for adult women.”
Over the years, Compukidz, which began in 1995 as a youth mentor program providing a pathway into the tech industry, has evolved into a more holistic program that emphasizes self-awareness and potential. Girls On The Move has been part of that evolution.
“We had to adapt the community to the changing times,” says Shaun Armour, who co-founded Compukidz with his wife Wendy Armour.
“We have morphed over the years into not only just computer training but also into educational tutoring. We also expanded into “soft skills” which are communication and presentation,” he added. “We also morphed into social media training and workforce preparation. So, we have evolved over the years to be a continual stopgap for the community. If there is something that you need as far as vocational training, computer training, we can help you.”
Wendy Armour agrees and says that Compukidz is here to support the needs of the community.
“The community needs to know that we are here, we are here,” says Armour. “If you are having issues with your youth and you’re looking for a program, and you’re asking ‘I wish there was a program that helps kids’, we are that program.”
Compukidz is one of the many non-profit organizations that are participating in The Seattle Medium’s Support Black Orgs initiative to help generate community support for organizations like Compukidz through volunteerism and donations so that can further expand their reach and impact in our community. This article was made possible with support from the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle. Visit supportblackorgs.com to find out more about Compukidz and other non-profits that support our community.