• The Monica Terez Girl Power Fund has invested $27,000 in Proyecto Mariposas.
• We love this program and are thrilled to support them three years in a row!

Proyecto Mariposas (Butterflies Project) is dedicated to developing brave girls and strong women. Programs involve Latina girls and their mothers, with ongoing activities that build self-esteem, encourage risk-taking, and create a community of love and learning. In other words, girl power!

New in 2023, a group of 25 young women will lead a year of activities to mentor younger girls in areas of mental health, breaking biases, education, and leadership. There's even a team project. It's a great example of peers helping peers – with everyone growing stronger as a result.

Among its regular programs, "Valiente Fuerte Latina" (brave and strong) covers a full 12 months. Program topics are wonderful: the power within you, goal setting, mindfulness, setting boundaries, bouncing back, your strength and courage, community engagement, and many more. A planner is used so the girls and their moms can track their discoveries and chart their goals.

There's a week-long day camp in the summer, led by girls for girls, to build on topics covered during the enrichment sessions. There will be a new two-day Day of the Girl conference this year, organized by girls, where they'll share their knowledge and create actions for change. Proyecto Mariposas will even be sharing its bilingual resources by adding a database of activities and resources to its website – to inspire and inform others.

We love the program's mother-daughter connection. Monica's daughter (Lauren) explains: "My close relationship with my mom was one of the reasons this project called my name. We experienced so many moments throughout life together where we were able to lift one another up, as well as both be lifted up at the same time from a shared experience."

Monica had a deep interest in cultures and customs. In Haiti, she embraced the differences and worked to learn the language. With her additional service in Africa, she would come home talking about people, places, cultures, customs, music, and more – always so interested and eager to share. Monica would love how Proyecto Mariposas inspires Latina girls and women to embrace their heritage

• Learn more about Proyecto Mariposas

• The Monica Terez Girl Power Fund has invested $22,000 in Eryn PiNK.
• This is a wonderful program led by awesome people – a guaranteed great investment in girls!

Eryn PiNK is a fictional 8th-grade girl who serves as a positive representation of a girl with purpose – a girl who shows up and never gives up, who exerts power with her knowledge and takes positive action. She's the guiding spirit of Eryn PiNK the organization, which works to instill these qualities through mentoring and empowerment.

Their mission is "to challenge the narrative of what it means to be a girl in today’s society, by inspiring girls to set standards and expectations that align with their values and morals, to encourage confidence so that they can confront stereotypes and peer pressure, and to empower them to find and use their voices."

Eryn PiNK involves several girl empowerment programs. We are especially drawn to the She's Gold Leadership Program, for girls in grades 6 to 9. The program has wonderful content and a great approach. It's filled with hands-on activities, projects, early leadership opportunities, and lots of interaction with great role models. It guides girls in challenging stereotypes, developing their leadership skills, and envisioning their future in a positive way. It's all about developing a stronger sense of confidence and belief in themselves and their ideas.

In 2023, the "She's Gold" program will reach 120 girls. That's exciting – think about all the girl power and positive future-building that will come to life as a result!

There's so much to love about Eryn PiNK, including how it encourages girls to speak up – to be loud and proud. That's a key aspect of girl power. Monica was all about taking a stand and speaking up. It was challenging for her at times, but she developed skills and strengths in this area, and she used them for good throughout her life.

• Learn more about Eryn PiNK the organization
• Meet Eryn PiNK the girl, and learn what what P-I-N-K stands for

• The Monica Terez Girl Power Fund has invested $21,000 in My Project USA.
• Their new program for girls is an important opportunity for greater girl power in the community.

My Project USA has served thousands of children in the last seven years through recreation, mentorship, career prep, and leadership development – but their leadership and empowerment program specifically for girls is new and extremely important.

A pilot program was successfully launched in 2022. In 2023, the program will grow to serve 50 girls in middle and high school. Most are immigrants or first-generation Americans and are overwhelmingly Muslim, Hispanic, and Black.

The program is all about uplifting young women and helping them define themselves as leaders – leaders who advocate for themselves, their peers, and their communities. Weekly sessions give the girls an ideal forum to interact with peers and mentors, to develop their awareness of leadership, to strengthen key skills such as assertive and effective communication, and to build self-confidence. As the program unfolds, the girls get active in their community, meeting with city, county, state, and federal leaders to address violence and other issues.

There's also an informal aspect to the program – with movie nights, game nights, and other recreational opportunities so participant develop relationships and just have fun.

It's significant to note that My Project USA provides childcare. Many teen girls are expected to care for younger siblings, but with childcare covered, they can more easily participate in the program. As an added benefit, the childcare is an opportunity for younger siblings to develop new friendships and support networks, while also seeing their older sisters learning and growing.

Through her international work, Monica developed a deep concern for people from other countries trying to find their way in the United States. She talked in particular about the Somali population in her home city – Columbus has the second-largest Somali population in the US. We are truly continuing Monica's legacy by investing in this new program for immigrant and refugee girls.

• Learn more about My Project USA

• The Monica Terez Girl Power Fund has invested $20,000 in TRANSIT ARTS for its Black Girls Glow project.
• TRANSIT ARTS is a youth arts development program of Central Community House. The organization has a long history of making a difference – they've been strengthening the community with programs and services since 1936. It's wonderful to be supporting one of their current projects.

The Black Girls Glow project gives girls a transformative opportunity to express themselves, learn about themselves, and empower themselves. It uses creative expression as the vehicle for exploration and discovery – including music, visual arts, and writing.

Each cohort meets for six weeks of workshops that combine creative arts with wellness activities. Four cohorts are planned for the current year, with about 12 girls in each.

Activities are planned with a licensed professional counselor, in collaboration with artistic staff and contract artists. They tailor the sessions to address stressors that the girls are experiencing. Activities focus on developing skills to help participants envision how they see themselves, how they believe others see them, and how they want to be seen in the future.

For the girls, Black Girls Glow is a journey of personal discovery – a journey that's free of adultification, with a safe space for girls to be girls. The outcome is improved social-emotional health, strong self-esteem, and greater self-confidence to stand tall and stride with purpose into the future.

Monica knew firsthand the power of creative expression. She kept a journal to celebrate joyful experiences, process painful experiences, and try to make sense of it all. Some of the people who were especially close to her use art, music, and writing to work through their own emotions, to spread joy, and to achieve solace in times of strife. Truly, an embrace of creative expression can create a glow that benefits us all.

• Learn more about TRANSIT ARTS, which is leading the Black Girls Glow project

• The Monica Terez Girl Power Fund has invested $6,000 in the Girls LEAP STEM program.
• It fills a big need by providing an early path to STEM for girls who don't always have these opportunities.

The Girls LEAP STEM program bridges the gap in bringing STEM know-how and hands-on experience to girls in under-resourced communities.

The organization is partnering with Tech Corps to provide Techie Workshops on Saturdays during the school year – and a week-long STEAM Camp during the summer. The aim is to spark curiosity, build girls' confidence in learning technical subjects, and nurture their interest in technology-based careers.

The monthly workshops involve hands-on activities that encourage creative problem solving and teamwork. It's learning by doing, with the girls delving into robotics, programming, app development, and more.

During the summer, the week-long STEAM Camp is all about Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Mathematics. STEAM is STEM with the important addition of arts programs

Monica would love the LEAP Pledge. Its four affirmations are all about girl power!

          I Lead because I have gifts to give
          I am Empowered when I support my sisters
          I Achieve because I know no limits
          I have Purpose to be a change maker

• Learn more about Girls LEAP

• The Monica Terez Girl Power Fund has invested $19,400 in Girls on the Run Central Ohio.
• It's a joy to support a standout program that gets girls striding boldly into the future!

Girls on the Run Central Ohio inspires girls to be joyful, healthy, and confident through a fun, experience-based curriculum that integrates running.

Teams are formed in the spring and fall, but this program is about so much more than running. With support and guidance from dedicated coaches, the program enhances girls’ social, psychological, and physical skills and behaviors – so they can better navigate life experiences. The girls even create and roll out a community service project, and they celebrate their progress with a concluding 5K event. Together, the activities fortify girls with a real sense of achievement and an inner confidence for setting and achieving goals.

Girls on the Run is passionate about inclusion, diversity, and accessibility – and they do a great job breaking down barriers in order to reach and serve more girls. Powering all of this is their vision of a world where each girl recognizes her limitless potential.

Monica would love this program. She liked to run, she inspired others to run, and she collected her share of race bibs. But most important, she understood the bigger benefits. Running powered her with increased self-esteem, a can-do spirit, and good health – all of which strengthened her in so many aspects of her life.

• Learn more about Girls on the Run of Central Ohio

• In 2022, the Monica Terez Girl Power Fund invested $1,000 to support ROX empowerment programming for 5th grade girls at United Preparatory Academy (State Street).
• This targeted investment was an outstanding opportunity to build girls' can-do capability. ROX rocks!

The ROX program involves 20 weeks of exceptional sessions in which girls build confidence from the inside out – with nurturing guidance from experienced facilitators. The aim is to create confident girls who control their own relationships, experiences, decisions, and futures.

Support from the Monica Terez Girl Power Fund made programming possible at United Preparatory Academy-State Street. ROX participants worked on developing many of the keys to inner strength: finding value and self worth, recognizing and appreciating our abilities, addressing pressure and coercion, defending themselves physically, viewing their bodies as strong and powerful, and more. It's a holistic approach that's nicely summed up in what ROX stands for: Ruling Our Experiences.

The ROX program is part of the larger national ROX organization. They know what they're doing – the program is informed by outcome data and empirical insights that have been gathered since 2006.

Monica would love the can-do spirit of ROX – and how the program strengthens girls' confidence at such an early and formative age. Her daughter (Lauren) explains:

“My mom paved the way for the next generation of young women when she signed up for her international healthcare job. She stepped up to the plate with a level of confidence that was built on a lifetime of former pain, struggle, wins, losses, and accomplishments. Her can-do spirit at the time demonstrated that women CAN take the 'scary' jobs, they CAN be the boss, they CAN lead, and they can do it all very successfully. I love that this program focuses on empowerment and confidence building because we need more girls and young women to be secure in their ability to step up to their own plates with confidence and courage!”

• Learn more about United Preparatory Academy – State Street
• Learn about the national ROX program

• The Monica Terez Girl Power Fund has invested $6,000 in Thank Goodness I'm Female.
• Thank goodness for programs like this one!

Thank Goodness I'm Female (TGIF) is a youth-led leadership experience through HelpLine of Delaware and Morrow Counties. The organization's larger mission is to support and strengthen the emotional health and wellness of the community through empowering, educating, and connecting. Its TGIF program brings together teens and adult women leaders to develop, cultivate, and implement leadership skills.

Tailored for a cohort of high-school girls, the year-long program includes leadership learning and skill-building on crucial topics: time management, stress management, leadership in school and beyond, assertive communication, finding your leadership style, advocacy and grassroots organization, and more.

But the TGIF experience goes far beyond learning. As the year unfolds, participants lead mini service projects and a capstone project. And they're trained to serve as mentors (“strong and safe role models”) to middle school girls, and to be role models in their community. While some of the TGIF participants are older than the pre-teen, early-teen window for the Monica Terez Girl Power Fund, we love the fact that these high-schoolers go on to provide support and guidance to younger girls in the community.

We were especially drawn to the TGIF focus on reducing and eliminating relational aggression. This was something that Monica encountered in high school and at times in her work years, so it hits close to home for us, as it does for so many people. It's so reassuring to know that programs like TGIF are helping girls deal with bullying in ways that can make it stop.

• Learn more about the program