Uncategorized

Melissa Yaich has developed a new program to help young girls achieve self respect through running and physical fitness. Working through the national Girls on the Run nonprofit organization, Yaich and Geogie Koch developed a 12 week training program culminating in a 5 kilometre run. The Mountain Mail of Salida, Colorado wrote a story about the programme.

‘Girls on the Run’ to found local program

Two local runners are working to found a new program as part of an existing council of Girls On The Run, a non-profit development program for pre-teen girls.

Melissa Yaich is starting the program along with Geogie Koch.

The program is for girls 8-13 years old and combines a 12-week, 24-lesson curriculum with running training. The curriculum emphasize importance of healthy choices, avoiding peer pressure, and physical activity.

Classes will be delivered by volunteers who serve as role models and take place in after-school programs, recreation centers and other non-profit settings.

The group will begin to meet this spring, and their mission is to educate and prepare girls for a lifetime of self-respect and healthy living through running and physical fitness.

Participants will meet two days per week and prepare for a 5k run to culminate the program. Each session will combine elements of classroom discussion and physical activity will be a part of every meeting.

The run will not be competitive, and participants are encouraged to walk or run the five kilometers.

Yaich was introduced to the program while training for the New York Marathon with her sister, who raised money for the group.

Koch is also a long-distance runner, currently training with Yaich for an upcoming marathon.

Colorado chapters currently exist in the Denver area as well as Grand Junction and the western slope.

Girls On The Run is an international parent organization, responsible for more than 160 local chapters across the United States and Canada.

Yaich and Koch are looking for coaches and volunteers to help get things started.

For more information about the program, visit: www.girlsontherun.com.

Yaich can be contacted at melissa.yaich@gmail.com, or at 539-5078 for more information.

The Chicago Defender recently ran a piece about the landmark SELP project of April Preyar, which is designed to impact the lives of female African American teenagers in Chicago through a “Li’l S.I.S.” mentoring Expo event being held in December. Here’s how it appeared.

Saving Our Girls

Cheryl Burton, ABC 7 Chicago newscaster, and Bionce Foxx, WGCI-FM/107.5 Radio’s “on-air” personality, will each receive high honor and peacock praise at the inaugural “Li’l S.I.S. (Sisters Inspiring Sisters) Expo Chicago,” a two-day event this Saturday and Sunday at Paul Robeson High School. The free, city-wide non-profit expo for African American teen girls, ages 13-18, will feature an open-mic poetry cafe, public speaking competition, entertainment and computer giveaways in addition to intensive workshops on life skills in four areas: my body, my future, my world and my relationships. Both professionals and girl peer groups will lead seminars.

The expo is designed, says April D. Preyar, a criminal defense attorney who created this event as a result of her participation in the Self Expression Leadership Program in Landmark Education, to tackle the challenge of turning around the trend of failure currently facing this demographic. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 50 percent of African American teen girls have at least one sexually transmitted disease, and the Ill. Dept. of Health lists Illinois as having the third highest rate of teen pregnancy.

Li’l S.I.S. Expo has partnered with the Chicago Public Schools, Cook County Juvenile Disproportionate Minority Contact Initiative, Cook County Juvenile Probation Department (girls division), Englewood Difference-Makers Coalition, Girl Scouts of America and Metropolitan Family Services to promote this program. For more info and or/to register, call Attorney Preyar at (773) 648- 1285.