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Local Girls Spend Summer Learning Skilled Trades
More than two dozen girls from Richmond spent six weeks of their summer getting their hands dirty learning skilled trades that defy conventional gender expectations and exploring educational, work and career options.
Sponsored in part by the West Contra Costa Unified School District, Rosie’s Girls challenged 27 girls in grades 6 to 8 to express themselves creatively and explore what the world has to offer. The program culminated in a graduation ceremony where the girls displayed the projects built using their newly acquired skills.
“We are here to give them their voice, to teach them some trade that ordinarily girls wouldn’t learn,” Rosie’s Girls site coordinator Vanessa Calloway said. “We also teach them how to properly communicate, build diversity, and get them out of their ordinary culture.”
The girls learned about trades such as carpentry, welding, painting, and silk-screening. In some years, the program has taught electricity and plumbing skills, Calloway said. The program is in its seventh year in Richmond, part of a nationwide effort to help women and girls recognize their potential through education and vocational training activities that build self-esteem, leadership and physical confidence through an exploration of trades and non-traditional activities.
“It’s a program really dear to my heart because I grew up on a ranch learning carpentry, construction, digging ditches and building fences, all kinds of things when I was young,” Executive Director of Rosie the Riveter Trust Marsha Mather-Thrift said. “Girls don’t get enough opportunities to really use their hands, figure out how strong they are, or figure out how much they can be in life.”
For Isabella Garcia, a sixth grader at Wilson Elementary School, the best part of her experience was hiking in Yosemite National Forest. “Even though we were tired, every step we would take got us closer to the cabin. It taught me to never give up. Even though you’re tired, you got to keep going and never stop,” Garcia said.
Rosie’s Girls was named after Rosie the Riveter, the fictional icon used to recruit thousands of women for factory and shipyard jobs to support U.S. defense efforts during World War II.
The program was sponsored by Chevron, Kaiser Permanente, Mechanics Bank, PG&E, Wells Fargo, NatureBridge, the City of Richmond, the East Bay Community Foundation and the West Contra Costa Unified School District.
To learn more about Rosie’s Girls of Richmond, contact the Rosie the Riveter Trust or Vanessa Calloway at vcalloway@ymcaeastbay.org