by Heather Nannery
Communications Manager, YWCA New York City
Who is the 21st Century Girl? How can we support her aspirations? What happens when 200 girls and women unite to find out?
The YWCA of the City of New York (YW) took on these questions and more on June 2 at the First Annual Potential to Power Girls Symposium. The YW convened over 200 girls and 50 influential women to engage in important discussions about racial and gender equity in New York City.
The event kicked off with girls and women walking into the room to the sound of musical empowerment by DJ Abby, 17, on the turntables and then a special step performance by the youth from The Door.
The day featured a blend of fun and enlightening discussion between the girls and women. Young women were able to let their voices be heard as the event featured a Youth Keynote by Mehar Gujral followed by two panel discussions. CEO Dr. Danielle Moss Lee facilitated the panel discussions, which featured two high school girls and two college aged young women who expressed the challenges that arise for teenage girls and young women.
After the youth speakers, the floor was opened for discussion at each individual table between the girls and the influential women. Influential women guests included author of Orange is the New Black Piper Kerman, MSNBC Host Melissa Harris-Perry, and Political Analyst Zerlina Maxwell and model and activist Christy Turlington-Burns. To see the full list of influential female guests, click here.
After the discussions, 2014 NYC Youth Poet Laureate Ramya Ramana silenced the crowd with an original poem written for the symposium (read it here) and a special reading of Maya Angelou’s “Phenomenal Woman” to commemorate Angelou’s passing.
Following Ramana, the YW’s Board Chair announced that the Mayor’s Office had issued a Proclamation stating the Mayor’s commitment to women and girls and declaring June 2, 2014 “YWCA’s Potential to Power Symposium Day.”
Thank you @deBlasioNYC and @Chirlane for this awesome celebration of #yw21cg @YWCANYC pic.twitter.com/NgqtZOr2jY
— Dr. Danielle Lee (@DrDanielleLee) June 2, 2014
The energy in the room was electric and erupted into celebration as #yw21cg trended on Twitter. Women and girls alike were posting their thoughts and reactions to the event! Here are some examples below:
Table 7 Rocks! @gabbylevinson and the crew #yw21cg @YWCANYC pic.twitter.com/tlabRSYAeM
— Christina Greer (@Dr_CMGreer) June 2, 2014
Such Amazing Women and Speakers @YWCANYC Potential to Power Girls Symposium. What a wonderful way to start a Monday Morning. #yw21cg
— Girl Be Heard (@GirlBeHeard) June 2, 2014
My amazing discussion table at #yw21cg with @Piper, Zenab, Jaina, Daisia, Maida, Meghan and Mehar #potentialtopower pic.twitter.com/aiVR00yG7L
— Alondra Nelson (@alondra) June 2, 2014
#factsonly “We want to be beyonce and Hillary Clinton at the same time.” — @Mehar_Gujral #yw21cg
— Zerlina Maxwell (@ZerlinaMaxwell) June 2, 2014
A woman who’s bossy is a b-i-t-c-h while a man who’s bossy is a CEO @YWCANYC #yw21cg
— Mehar Gujral (@Mehar_Gujral) June 2, 2014
After an inspirational morning, the girls broke out into groups facilitated by Global Kids where they began to lay the foundation of policy recommendations for the New York City Girls Agenda before they returned to the main space for a moment of reflection.
Girls queued up to the microphone and shared their thoughts and impressions of the event discussions. It was a powerful moment of sharing and excitement for a new movement of feminism.
Dr. Danielle Moss Lee said, “We made it clear to girls in New York City, you are valid now, you matter now, and you have power now – in essence, you are power… not potential.”
The First Annual Potential to Power Symposium was the start of a movement – join us in changing New York City for women and girls.
We got now, New York City.
- Dr. Danielle Moss Lee and Melissa Harris Perry
- Merle McGee and Melissa Harris Perry
- Dr. Danielle Moss Lee with Katy Ma and Allie Primak
- Influential woman Elizabeth Sackler
- Zenaida Mendez with high school girls.
- Ramya Ramana reciting her poem.
- Youth Keynote Mehar Gujral
- DJ Abby on the turntables
- ESPN’s Prim Siripipat
- Political analyst Zerlina Maxwell
- Girls spoke out on our Talk Back Wall!
- June 2, 2014 is Potential to Power Girls Symposium Day!
Cross-posted with permission from YWCA of the City of New York Symposium Blog. Follow YWCA New York City on Facebook, their Facebook Event Page, Twitter and Instagram.
An intriguing discussion is worth comment. I do
believe that you should publish more on this topic, it may not be a taboo
subject but usually people do not speak about these topics.
To the next! Kind regards!!
I like the valuable info you provide in your articles.
I’ll bookmark your blog and check again here frequently.
I’m quite certain I’ll learn many new stuff right here! Good luck for
the next!
Hi, this weekend is pleasant for me, since this occasion i
am reading this enormous educational post here at my home.
Asking questions are in fact fastidious thing if
you are not understanding anything entirely,
except this piece of writing offers nice understanding even.
Great blog here! Also your web site loads up very fast!
What web host are you using? Can I get your affiliate link to your host?
I wish my site loaded up as quickly as yours lol
Hello! Do you use Twitter? I’d like to follow you if that would
be ok. I’m absolutely enjoying your blog and look forward to new posts.
Hi, I do think this is an excellent web site. I stumbledupon it 😉 I
will come back once again since i have book marked it.
Money and freedom is the best way to change, may
you be rich and continue to guide other people.
always i used to read smaller posts which as well clear their motive, and that is also happening with this article which I
am reading now.
Ahaa, its good discussion on the topic of this post here at this weblog, I have read all that,
so now me also commenting here.
I read this post completely on the topic of the comparison of latest and preceding technologies, it’s remarkable
article.
Hey! I just wanted to ask if you ever have any trouble with hackers?
My last blog (wordpress) was hacked and I ended up losing
months of hard work due to no backup. Do you have any solutions to stop hackers?
Howdy! Would you mind if I share your blog with my myspace group?
There’s a lot of people that I think would really enjoy your content.
Please let me know. Thank you
hey there and thank you for your information – I have definitely picked up something new
from right here. I did however expertise several technical points using this website, as I experienced to
reload the web site lots of times previous to I could get
it to load correctly. I had been wondering if your web hosting is OK?
Not that I’m complaining, but sluggish loading instances times
will sometimes affect your placement in google and could damage your high quality score if ads and marketing with Adwords.
Well I’m adding this RSS to my e-mail and could look out
for a lot more of your respective exciting content.
Make sure you update this again very soon.
Somebody essentially lend a hand to make critically posts I would state.
This is the first time I frequented your web page and thus far?
I amazed with the analysis you made to create this particular put up amazing.
Magnificent activity!
Great delivery. Sound arguments. Keep up the good work.
Very good information. Lucky me I recently found your blog by accident
(stumbleupon). I’ve saved it for later!
Thanks for one’s marvelous posting! I definitely enjoyed reading
it, you may be a great author. I will be sure
to bookmark your blog and may come back someday.
I want to encourage one to continue your great posts, have
a nice day!
Exceptional post however I was wanting to know if you could write a litte more on this topic?
I’d be very grateful if you could elaborate a little bit more.
Thanks!
I every time used to read piece of writing in news papers but now as I am a
user of net so from now I am using net for posts, thanks to web.
I’ve read several good stuff here. Certainly value bookmarking for
revisiting. I wonder how so much attempt you set to make this kind of magnificent informative web site.
Does your site have a contact page? I’m having a
tough time locating it but, I’d like to shoot you an email.
I’ve got some creative ideas for your blog you might be interested in hearing.
Either way, great website and I look forward
to seeing it expand over time.