minute conversation grew to... girls and mentors which grew to... years of changing lives.
Our story began 22 years ago. Irma Johnson, then principal of Dallas Nicholas School, said: “I need something for my girls. They show so much promise and potential, but when they leave me, when transition to middle school, we gradually begin to lose them. Some may say they lose themselves.
I heard what she said and the story began. It began that simply, with six girls and a vision. By the second year, there were three schools and eighteen girls and a program that just grew and grew. Mentors stepped up. Funders stepped up. Volunteers stepped up. This is how things begin. People understand; hearts are moved.
As we embarked on this journey, some said that most non-profits don’t make it; others asked where will you get the money, and…what about the boys? While all important things to consider, I couldn’t let someone else write our story. The story must be your own. And for that reason, Sisters Circle came into being to empower young women to discover their stories.
Many life stories were written for our girls, not by them. Stories that say a child in poverty is two times less likely to go to college or to become employed but two times more likely to become pregnant as a teenager or become incarcerated. A story written by yesterday, not rewritten for tomorrow. But for that life to change, what we believe about that life must change. How we envision that life must change.
And so we go to camp and learn to swim, we go to the museum, the symphony, the theatre, we visit a college, or shadow someone at her job, and say: this can be me, this will be me. We erase some of the words others may have given to us. Perhaps we wipe the slate clean. We delete the text. And then we begin to claim our story: this is who I can be, this is who I am called to be, this is who I am.
We are so fortunate to have gifted and caring mentors who are there for our girls at those times. These incredible women give so much of themselves: their time, their wisdom, their humor, their patience, their understanding. Over our years together, they have done so much. Rides to monthly events. Trips to the dentist. Shopping for camp gear. Honest, sometime uncomfortable, conversations. Women who recognize the importance of sticking with their mentees for the long-haul.
Still, we realize that one person, one mentor, cannot do it alone. Our purpose, then, is to serve as a gateway to a web of resources – and to provide a network of support — through the context of this relationship and established trust. And that is where Sisters Circle can, and does, make a difference. And that’s because each of us continue to re-write our own scripts, change the way we see, question our perceptions, challenge our biases, and dare to change.
These are the ways life stories are rewritten. And for many, Sisters Circle has taken us to places we never imagined, opened doors we thought were closed to us, helped us see things in a new way, encouraged us to dream, and taught us to believe.
Don’t get me wrong. Success does not mean perfection. We are currently working with a student whose battling depression and another whose mother just passed away, a parent who disclosed that her daughter was sexually assaulted as a young girl, and a family whose about to be evicted. It is not easy.
But we can work together to say: “This will not define me. This is my story and I’m writing it with new words, words that say we have something to learn from one another. We are building a community that is anti-thetical to the isolation and narcissism and winner-takes-all madness. Our city and our world so badly need what our girls can and do become. We are called to competence, compassion, and community.
And we are not done. We commit to further growth and transformation. There are so many wonderful, talented girls eager to begin the journey. From middle school to high school—from who they are to all they can be. And here’s the thing: this possibility was always true. The power and truth of this love-filled story was deep down all along. It was always there.
What an honor and a gift it is to be among these amazing young women. I cannot wait to see all that is in store for them in the years to come. I cannot wait to see how their stories unfold.
