GirlForward

History:

Vuka Collective. (October 12, 2016) Member Highlight GirlForward. Impact Hub Austin. Retrieved from: https://www.impacthubaustin.com/blog/2016/12/20/member-highlight-girl-forward

           This source is a transcription of an interview with Impact Hub Austin and Patricia Hagen, Program Manager of GirlForward. Hagen was hired on because her he experience studying the Syrian refugee crisis while at the London School of Economics and University of Cape Town’s joint program in Cape Town, and being a volunteer at Casa Marianella. The interview discusses how GirlForward provide refugee girls with mentorship and how Hagen became involved with GirlForward.

Greene, J. (December 19, 2016). Girl Forward Helps Refugee Girls Resettle in the U.S. Think Freely Media. Retrieved from: https://thinkfreelymedia.org/girl-forward-helps-refugee-girls-resettle-in-the-u-s/

    This article is about how Brettschneider’s experience at AmeriCorps working with a Burundi refugee family, mainly with the eldest daughter where she was a mentor for her on her own, challenged her to open her own non-profit company Girl Forward to help girls integrate in the country, succeed their language/educational barriers. Being only 22, Brettschneider began her small business with few girls she knew from agency and was surprised by the motivation of the refugee girls that decided to pursue academics thanks to Girl Forward hospitality. Since Texas has the biggest number of refugee in the nation, she decided to open a Girl Forward branch over there.

Griffin, C. (August 29, 2013). Chicago Non-Profit Founder Nominated For CNN Hero Award. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved from: http://www.chicagotribune.com/redeye/ct-redeye-xpm-2013-08-29-41589399-story.html

    This article is about Brettschneider being named a nominee for the prestigious CNN Hero Award for her contributions at GirlForward for a better society (nomination that came from her mother). Michigan native and University of Miami graduate with a degree in journalism, Brettschneider was thinking to start a magazine business for girls. Her experiences at AmeriCorps and RefugeeOne made her change her plans. She chose to open GirlForward in Chicago because of the “city’s innovative spirit”.

Meet ashley marine of girlforward in edgewater and rogers park. (2018, January 2). Retrieved October

   16, 2018, from VoyageChicago website: http://voyagechicago.com/interview/

   meet-ashley-marine-girlforward-edgewaterrogers-park/

This is an interview with Ashley Marine, who is part of GirlFoward, and helped the founder with creating what the organization is today. She talks about a lot of girls she has seen in the program, achieve things she never thought they could. She also talks about the future of the organization, and what is next for them.

Torgan, A. (2013, August 22). Girls flee bombs, build new lives in america. Retrieved October 16,

   2018, from CNN website: https://www.cnn.com/2013/08/22/us/cnnheroes-brettschneider-refugees/

   index.html

The article talks about Blair Brettschneider, the founder of GirlForward. It talks about why she founded it, and what the organization does. It mentions the things she did before founding GirlForward, and how the stuff she used to do, drove her to create the organization.

Bertagnoli, L.Blair brettschneider  Retrieved from https://www.chicagobusiness.com/static/section/20-in-their-20s-2017@recipient=g.html

-Discusses the backstory of Blair Brettschneider from her career in college to how she was inspired to start her journey. She discussed what she will bring to the table that other organizations do not and how she sees her future in it.

Awards:

Robinson, A. (2017, July 20 ,). CNN hero discusses how she builds her team. Retrieved from http://thebestteamwins.com/2017/07/20/hiring-managing-nonprofit-teams-blair-brettschneider-founder-executive-director-girlforward/

The founder Blair Brettschneider is recognized as forbes 30 under 30 and CNN Hero. Along with discussing her organization and role with the podcast “The Best Team Wins”

Howard, C., & Conklin, J. (2017, ). Presenting the forbes 30 under 30: Education. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/30-under-30-2017/education/#20c83ad45e71

Blair is acknowledged on forbes 30 under 30 list with a brief description of what she has done so far such as providing over 200 refugees mentorship along with her aclamades.

https://cct.org/what-we-offer/grants/girlforward/ - this isn’t a resource, just more about money that has been granted to them

Hartz, M. (2018, June 18,). 8 awe-inspiring women founders to applaud on world refugee day. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/marlenahartz/2018/06/18/8-awe-inspiring-women-founders-to-applaud-on-world-refugee-day/#b64d71d31e64 Blair Brettschneider is recognized on world refugee day for her work with girls forward in Forbes. A short excerpt on how her organization came to be and what it stands for to CNN.

Events:

Wellen, B. (September 16, 2015). GirlForward Gives Teenage Refugee Girls a Chance to Grow. Reader. Retrieved from: https://www.chicagoreader.com/Bleader/archives/2015/09/16/girlforward-gives-teenage-refugee-girls-a-chance-to-grow

    This article shares two stories of girls that are part of GirlForward and how they gained confidence and their life changed thanks to this program. GirlForward has an annual fundraiser event called Girl Jam where girls tell their inspiring stories they had to go through to an audience. The funds go towards the funding of the programs as well towards the girls who want to attend GirlForward’ s educational programs but their families don’t have the money for transportation.

Spektral Quartet. (March 17, 2017). Spektral Quartet Raises Over $4,000 For GirlForward. Spektral Quartet. Retrieved from: http://spektralquartet.com/blog/2017/3/17/spektral-quartet-raises-over-4000-for-girlforward

    This article is about Spektral Quartet announcing that  they’ve raised $4,150 for GirlForward through Feldman Forward Initiative. Spektral Quartet created this challenge to raise money for GirlForward at Morton Feldman’s Quartet No. 2 premiere in Chicago in March, 2017. GirlForward was chosen to be the beneficiary because of the community’s recommendations that believed the donation would make a great impact for the organization to help refugee girl

Rice, L. (2017, July 3). Edgewater's refugee girls share stories of stuggle through cooking class.

   Retrieved October 16, 2018, from dnainfo website: https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20170703/

   edgewater/feasts-of-resistance-girl-forward-refugee-cooking-class-alvin-yu-emily-kane/

This article talks about cooking classes that were held in Edgewater, that would explore food from the different cultures the girls at GirlForward have come from. It would be led by GirlFoward, and people who sign up pay $75, to help fund future programs for the girls within GirlForward.

Stockwell, A. (2018, May 29). Teen-created mural celebrates diversity in east austin. Retrieved

   October 16, 2018, from Spectrum News Austin website: http://spectrumlocalnews.com/tx/austin/

   news/2018/05/29/teen-created-mural-celebrates-diversity-in-east-austin-

This article talks about a mural created a creative group, Color Squad, partnered with GirlForward, to create a mural to celebrate diversity. Many of the reactions to the mural have been positive, and people feel good about Austin being “an inclusive place”.

Services/what it does:

Nordli, B. (May 3, 2017). GirlForward Helps Young Refugees Transition to a New Life. Rewire. Retrieved from: https://www.rewire.org/our-future/girlforward-helps-young-refugees/

    This article shares two stories of girls that are part of GirlForward and how the organization played an essential role in their development. The girls don’t learn only English to avoid language barriers, but they also learn about different cultures through trips to museums and different educational programs to integrate better. Brettschneider said the organization’s goal is not only to help girls because of the language and culture barriers, but also because of the traumas they had to go through while living in camp refugee prior to their arrival in U.S., and because of their interrupted education.

GirlForward. Huff Post. Retrieved from: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/author/girlforward

           This is brief synopsis of what GirlForward is. Mentioning how the org provides adolescent refugee girls with individual mentorship, education programs, and leadership opportunities. Serving as a resource and empowering girls to be strong, confident, and independent.

How GirlForward Helped Me Stand Out and Speak Out. Huffington Post. Retrieved from: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/how-girlfoward-helped-me-_b_3188546

    This article talks about GirlForward empowering refugee women and offering them educational programs. Rosetta Curtis, a refugee from Monrovia, Liberia, shares her journey from refugee camp in Sierra Leone to her arrival in U.S. and her involvement at GirlForward through Safe Spaces Project.

Austin Trail of Lights. Stars at the Trail: GirlForward. Austin Trail of Lights. Retrieved from: https://austintrailoflights.org/blog/stars-at-the-trail-girlforward

    This article is a blog that shares an interview about GirlForward from Austin, Texas. It talks about the three core programs of GirlForward and how people can help the organization by donating different supplies, as well as connections with businesses. Also, GirlForward will have a new program in 2018, after school tutoring at AISD high school where more girls will benefit through this program.

It doesn’t specify who was interviewed, Brettschneider or someone else from this organization.

Lee, M. (2016, April 1). Get inovlved spotlight: GirlForward. Retrieved October 16, 2018, from KUT

   90.5 website: http://www.kut.org/post/get-involved-spotlight-girlforward

This is Austins NPR station. The short snippet talks about how people can get involved with the organization, GirlForward. It also talks about what the organization does. There is a small snippet of a clip, with people who work for GirlForward, talking about what they do.

Yu, L. (2013, July 4,). Spirit of giving: 'GirlForward' founded to help teen girl refugees. Retrieved from https://abc7chicago.com/archive/9161666/

This article discuss how the founder Blair Brettschneider feels about her organizations and why she founded it. This also gives excerpts of different refugee’s experience and feedback on the organization.