The primary focus of the second-annual See the Girl Summit hosted by the Delores Barr Weaver Policy Center at the Jessie Ball duPont Center on Thursday focused on that all of a girl’s experiences impact her needs and life.
The summit, which continues Friday, drew 125 participants from across the First Coast, Florida and the U.S., brought in local and national experts in their fields to discuss girl-centered practices, activism and wellness.
Lawanda Ravoira, president and CEO of the Policy Center, said the summit was designed to include that focus in order to encourage participants to see the girls as whole people — not in pieces.
“So much of our response — from a policy perspective, from a service perspective, from training our staff — is siloing these parts of the lives of girls so we fragment it, and that’s not how we live our lives,” Ravoira said. “The intersectionality of my race, my gender, the community I live in, my educational status — all those things aren’t segregated in how I live my life.
Ravoira said looking at the overall context of a girl’s life is especially important for girls in the justice system.
Race and ethnic minorities are disproportionately represented in the justice system, and juvenile girls are no different, Ravoira said.
“If there is a call to action for us, there is for all girls, but that intersectionality of gender, and race, and poverty, economic status — that’s clearly influencing decisions about disposition and incarceration,” she said.
[For more of this story, written by Tessa Duvall, go to http://jacksonville.com/news/m...unity-see-whole-girl]
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