GIRL POWER! COMMUNITY EDUCATION KIT NOW AVAILABLE

HHS Secretary Donna E. Shalala today announced the availability of the Girl Power! Community Education Kit designed to help coaches, teachers, business leaders and other caring adults help girls make the most of their lives.

Girl Power! is a national public education campaign sponsored by HHS to help encourage and motivate 9- to 14-year-old girls. Studies show that girls tend to lose self-confidence and self-worth during this pivotal age, become less physically active, perform less well in school, and neglect their own interests and aspirations. It's during these years that girls become more vulnerable to negative outside influences and to mixed messages about risky behaviors.

The Girl Power! campaign provides accurate health information and positive messages to girls and their caregivers; raises public awareness about substance abuse and risky behaviors; helps girls develop the skills they need to resist unhealthy influences and make positive choices; and supports girls and adults who care about them. The campaign also challenges caring adults to reach out to young girls at this transitional age when they are forming their values and attitudes, and help them pursue opportunities to build skills and self-esteem through sports, academics, the arts and other endeavors.

"We want to tell every parent and every caring adult to listen to girls, to encourage them, to help them set high standards and to provide them with opportunities," said Secretary Shalala. "The Community Education Kit will help everyone who works with girls create programs with the message that girls have the right to be the best that they can be -- confident, fulfilled and true to themselves."

The Girl Power! Community Education Kit was developed by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP). The kit can be previewed and downloaded from the Girl Power! Web site at http://www.health.org/gpower. Individual components or the entire kit can also be ordered by calling SAMHSA's National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information (NCADI) at (800) 729-6686. Components of the kit include:

• Welcome to Girl Power! -- an overview of the Girl Power! campaign and information on the issues and challenges facing 9- to 14-year-old girls;
• Girl Power! Across the Country -- an anthology of statewide, one-time, or annual community-based programs;
• How to Access and Activate Girl Power! in Your Community -- a booklet that helps to assess existing resources for developing community-based programs;
• Girl Power! Speaker's Guide -- an easy-to-use summary of talking points and transparencies for speakers;
• Girl Power! How To Get It! -- an activity guide developed with the Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. for 9- to 11-year-old girls to help them build the skills they need to realize their full potential;
• Girl Power! Keep It Going! -- an activity guide developed with the Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. for 12- to 14-year-old girls to help them develop skills in communicating, problem solving, critical thinking and resisting peer pressure; and
• Girls: A Guide for Caring Adults -- a resource guide of books, audiovisuals and other resources designed to help adults develop programs.

A part of the Girl Power! campaign, the kit provides useful and demonstrated activities to assist adults in building on the strengths and ideas of others to create their own programs for girls. Across the country, national, state and local organizations have enthusiastically embraced the Girl Power! message by developing community-based programs and activities that assist girls in realizing their full potential.

Since its creation in November 1996, the Girl Power! campaign has teamed with nearly 5,000 community-based programs and organizations, 300 local endorsers and over 60 national endorsers including the American Association of University Women (AAUW), American Medical Association (AMA) and the Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. to promote the Girl Power! message nationwide.

In March 2000, the Girl Power! Web site received more than 2 million hits, raising the total number of hits to the site since its November 1996 launch to more than 29 million. The average length of stay on the Girl Power! site is more than nine minutes.

CSAP is a component of SAMHSA. SAMHSA, a public health agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the lead federal agency for improving the quality and availability of substance abuse prevention, addiction treatment and mental health services in the United States. News media requests for information on SAMHSA's programs should be directed to Media Services at (800) 487-4890.

###

Note: For other HHS Press Releases and Fact Sheets pertaining to the subject of this announcement, please visit our Press Release and Fact Sheet search engine at: http://www.os.dhhs.gov/news/press/.