The Girl Scouts of Northeast Ohio have had troops located in the Central neighborhood for over 15 years now, with the troops adding up to over 110 girls, all ages kindergarten through 12th grade. These 110+ scouts, along with funding providers, Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority and the Sisters of Charity Foundation, as well as many different community partners, have allowed the Girl Scouts of Northeast Ohio (GSNEO) to build out a great family of scouts and stakeholders in the Central neighborhood.
Kareemah Rose, the Program Coordinator for Grants and Funding Initiatives with GSNEO, has played a key role in building out this family. As a Grants and Funding Coordinator, Rose oversees GSNEO’s grant-funded programs and implements different events for scouts living in CMHA housing. Rose gets the girls together at regular meetings, finds ways for the girls to obtain different badges for things such as health and safety, and gets them involved with a variety of activities and group events.
Rose has helped in setting the Girl Scouts in Central up with opportunities to volunteer with Mayor Frank Jackson, volunteering at St. Andrew’s Church, read to students at the Outhwaite Elementary School, and spend time at NASA Research Center in Brook Park. A few scouts even had the opportunity to see Michele Obama speak at Playhouse Square earlier this year after she gifted the girls and a few staff members 10 tickets, with one scout, Darriel, being able to go on stage right before the First Lady.
Outside of the different activities and group events the scouts take part in, they also work towards obtaining their bronze, silver, and gold awards. These awards allow the girls to choose an issue they are interested in and find innovative ways to help solve it. These projects can be centered around anything from homelessness to bringing more life to a local park. When a scout reaches her gold award, she can then be given a chance to obtain scholarship money for college.
For Rose, building connections with the girls, their families, funders, and different stakeholders is a big reason why she has stuck with the organization for over 18 years. “We’ve developed a sisterhood,” Rose says, “The Girl Scouts are girls of courageous confidence and they make the world a better place.” Moving forward, Rose hopes to see the girls be able to grow up and become stakeholders in their own neighborhood.
To learn more about the Girl Scouts of Northeast Ohio, click here.
For those interested, reach out to krose@gsneo.org to learn more about the upcoming Day Camp for girls entering kindergarten- 1st grade at the Outhwaite Community Center on July 29- August 2 from 10 am-2 pm (for CMHA residents only).
Article by: Connor O’Brien