Director's Message for February

A monthly e-newsletter for current and future women of color doctoral candidates.

GIVING BACK: MENTORING GIRLS OF COLOR
By recognizing the needs of others and taking steps to help them, we gain a bigger concept of ourselves. SisterMentors' women give back to their community by mentoring girls of color in middle and high schools in the Washington, D.C. area. We currently collaborate with an after-school program committed to empowering girls of color by helping them attain academic success, teaching leadership skills, and promoting self-esteem. The girls in this program include Latinas, African American and Asian American girls and are primarily from low-income families. Many of them are negotiating two cultures and two languages. We reach out to the girls through their mother/daughter sessions since we know that support from family, particularly mothers, is crucial to ensuring the educational achievement of girls of color. The Need is Great But why this commitment to girls of color and what do we hope to achieve? Studies show that girls of color are dropping out of school at an early age. The drop out rate among Blacks and Latinos (both boys and girls) ranges from 30 to 50 percent depending on the geographic region. Moreover, Latinas/os are at higher risk of dropping out than any other racial or ethnic group. Some of the factors that contribute to this high drop out rate among girls of color are poverty, teenage pregnancy, and teacher bias, among others. It is also suggested that the scarcity of women of color role models in college and graduate schools contributes to this troubling trend. SisterMentors' Message SisterMentors' message to girls of color is very simple: stay in school, do well and go to college. We are opening the eyes of girls of color to college-educated women who look like them and who have persevered and achieved academic success despite the odds. We hope that the girls will see themselves reflected in our eyes and know that they, too, can obtain a college degree, and even an advanced degree. We envision an amazing "trickle down" effect where girls who otherwise would have dropped out of school will stay in school, graduate from college, and even become part of SisterMentors in the future. How different the world will be when that happens! Community is Key Our mentoring is consistent with our goal of building community among groups of color. We promote education as a community process where everyone in the community contributes to each other's learning and educational achievement. This is particularly important for communities of color, which have traditionally regarded individual achievement as synonymous with group advancement. This community model has been the backbone of our success with SisterMentors' women since they mentor and support each other through the doctoral process. We are seeing that girls with whom we have been building a relationship over the last year are staying in school and developing high self-esteem. We Must Continue the Legacy The challenge for all women of color doctoral candidates and women of color Ph.Ds is to turn around and lift up girls of color so that they too can live up to their full potential. With such a high drop out rate among girls of color, it is imperative that we reach out to girls. This will be our way of giving back to our communities since we are standing on the shoulders of many women of color who, through struggle, resistance and perseverance, paved the way for our success.
Shireen K. Lewis, J.D., Ph.D., Executive Director