Yesterday I heard from Caitlin
Dean, who is starting a non-profit outdoors program, Girl Guides, for sixth through
tenth grade girls.  She is launching a pilot group in Northwest Brooklyn, focused on Park Slope,
and trying to spread the word through as many community networks as
possible. She is hoping that OTBKB’s readers might be interested in the program for their daughters or
other girls they know of! There is a listing of information sessions below.

A bit of background: I graduated from Yale University in 2005 and was most recently
working for Sen. Dick Durbin on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., but I left my job to start
Girl Guides.  For years, my sister and I spent part of our summers in
Belgium, where we have family friends.  There, we participated in
summer wilderness camps with Girl Guides, which is the Belgian
equivalent of Girl Scouts (and actually the name of most countries’
Scouting programs for girls). 

In practice, it’s very different from
Girl Scouts here in America.  For one thing, Girl Guides is a youth
movement, which means that the groups are run by young adults (usually
college-age girls or recent graduates), not parents, and that over
time, the participants learn leadership skills and take on increased responsibility within the
group.  Girl Guides also puts a strong emphasis on outdoor activities
and environmentalism, and it encourages teamwork, cooperation and
communal living over individual recognition (there is no focus on merit
badges, for example).  Activities are held throughout the school year,
usually on weekends (afternoons, day trips and overnights), building up
to a two-week camp in the summer.  Our "camp" is actually just a field
that we transform into a community.  We pitch tents, build our
campsites (literally – the constructions are incredible!), cook over
open fires, hike, play games, sing around the campfire, and learn to
live in nature as a group.  For more information, check out our website at www.girlguidesusa.org.

I have long wanted to make it possible for American girls to
participate in such a wonderful program, and so I have decided to take
on the challenge of starting an American version of Girl Guides.  The
necessary infrastructure for the program is in place, and I am now
looking
for interested girls to participate and schools and community groups to
partner with.  There will be information sessions about the program at
local libraries in mid-November.

Girl Guides was without a doubt one of the best experiences of my
life, and I know it can be a life-changing experience for other girls
as well.  I appreciate your help in getting the word out about this new
and exciting opportunity.

The Where and When

Sat. Nov. 15 10:30-11:30am, Brooklyn Heights Library (280 Cadman Plaza West)
Sat. Nov. 15 2:00-3:00pm, Williamsburgh Library (240 Division Ave.) and
Wed. Nov. 19 6:30-7:30pm, Park Slope Library (431 6th Ave. at 9th St.)

Please RSVP to caitlindean(at)girlguidesusa(dot)org by November 12.