critical issues

The only focus of Girl Scouts is the positive development of girls.

The culture and pressures of raising competent and confident girls today is more difficult than ever.  The explosion of media and its influence on girls has never been so intense.  Technology has become so advanced it brings the world into the palm of your daughter’s hand.  Social media allows children to form relationships outside the adult view and to connect with an electronic community of their own, without the adult voice.  Marketers launch a constant assault on children to buy more, have more, eat more, and want more.  Girls are encouraged to look and act older, earlier, at younger ages, often in very sexual and provocative ways.  Seven has become the new thirteen.  These new and powerful influences have created a world where strategies which worked in the past, no longer work or have relevancy.  Growing up girl is hard.

Girl Scouts of Nassau County launched its Critical Issues Initiative in 2005.  Its purpose was to educate parents, educators, volunteers and the community about the pressures girls face, and then to become a resource for them.

Ensuring Student Cyber Safety

Healthy Families and Communities Subcommittee Hearing 10:00 AM, June 24, 2010 2175 Rayburn H.O.B
Washington, DC

On Thursday, June 24, 2010, the Subcommittee on Healthy Families and Communities, chaired by U.S. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), held a hearing to examine rising safety concerns about students using the Internet, social networking and other technology, especially the increased occurrence of cyber bullying. The hearing will also explore the role schools, students, parents and communities can play to keep students safe.

A recent Pew survey shows in 2009, 73 percent of American teens with access to the Internet use social networking websites, up from 65 percent in 2008. The survey also shows that American teens and young adults say the Internet is a central and indispensable element in their lives.

Girl Scout Cadette, Dominique Napolitano (Girl Scouts of Suffolk County) provided testimony before the Subcommittee along with television talk show host Dr. Phil and Perrry Aftab, Executive Director of Wired Safety.