Women and Girls Day Summit 2023

MARCH 2023

Women & Girls Day SUMMIT

REPORT

WOMEN & GIRLS DAY SUMMIT Summary: The Belafonte TACOLCY Center hosted a Women and Girls Day Summit on March 11, 2023. The summit was designed to bring together women and girls of all ages and backgrounds to engage in empowering discussions, activities, and workshops aimed at promoting gender equality and empowering women and girls to reach their full potential.

The CEO, Shownda Pagan, led a focus group on parenting needs, followed by presentations from Marco Aurelio Torrealba from ViiV Healthcare about HIV/AIDS history and resources, and Kalenthia Nunnally, who shared her story and discussed the services of S.O.S. Mark Meyer, founder of Me'yer Deus Foundation, shared his personal story of failure turned success. Shownda Pagan led a session on Gender Pride, and a knowledge check revealed that all attendees learned something new about the services offered by TACOLCY. One parent expressed excitement about returning, and a seventh-grader found the event enjoyable and planned to spread the word to friends.

Theodore Swett Consulting, LLC

2

PARENT FOCUS GROUP

The CEO of Belafonte TACOLCY Center, Shownda Pagan, welcomed 19 adult family

41

members and 22 children to the ENGAGED PARTCIPANTS

Women and Girls Day Summit on March 11, 2023. During the event, Pagan led a focus group on parenting needs, where attendees

100%

were encouraged to share their PARTICIPATION

thoughts and ideas about parenting challenges they face on a daily basis.

Topics raised included: Helping kids navigate emotions Positive communication Financial Literacy and many more

Theodore Swett Consulting, LLC

3

DIARY OF A VIRUS

Health Disparities in Minority Communities Marco Aurelio Torrealba from ViiV Healthcare gave a presentation titled "Diary of a Virus" during the event. He talked about the history of HIV/AIDS and shared resources on how to prevent the spread of the virus. Torrealba also shared that there are currently 38 million people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide.

Shownda Pagan informed the audience members that Liberty City has the HIGHEST infection rate for HIV.

Theodore Swett Consulting, LLC

4

SUPPORT OTHER WOMEN "COMMAND THE ROOM, DON'T DEMAND IT." Kalenthia Nunnally shared her story and discussed the activities and services of S.O.S. (Sistas Organizing to Survive) during the Women and Girls Day Summit. She emphasized the importance of values and finding success regardless of social determinants. Nunnally also highlighted that members of the community are often forced to be in survival mode and that they experience collective trauma. She encouraged attendees to command a room instead of demanding it and to work with other "sistas" as opposed to working against them.

Theodore Swett Consulting, LLC

5

FINDING SUCCESS FROM FAILURE

"I am going to be successful!"

-Mark Meyer, author and founder of Me'yer Deus Foundation, shared his story as a South African man who turned his failure into success. He shared his personal story being a soccer player with a full scholarship and then losing it all. He spent 9 years living in Miami blaming everyone for his failure. Through counseling, time management and commitment to his morals, he was able to find success. He closed his session by having the girls of the audience stand up and recite the affirmation "I am going to be successful" and all 41 people in the audience resounded.

41 guests (100%) walked away with a signed copy of Meyer's authored book.

Theodore Swett Consulting, LLC

6

GENDER PRIDE

Shownda Pagan's session on Gender Pride was well-received by attendees. She encouraged everyone to discuss different gender norms and stereotypes in a judgment-free way, and 100% of the audience participated in the activity.

People shared their views in a thoughtful and productive debate about gender norms, traditions, breaking barriers, and more.

Theodore Swett Consulting, LLC

7

BELAFONTE TACOLCY CENTER OFFERINGS

41 100%

PEOPLE RECEIVED FLYERS AND CALENDAR OF EVENTS

Shownda Pagan also did a knowledge

OF ADULT

check during the event to see what

PARTICIPANTS

attendees knew about the current

LEARNED SOMETHING

programs and services offered at the Belafonte TACOLCY Center.

Prior to her session, only 3 people in the audience knew that TACOLCY offered a sports program, and 1 person knew that TACOLCY had an out-of-school program.

However, after Pagan shared all the upcoming events and activities and provided an overview of all the services and programs offered by TACOLCY, 100% of adult family members expressed having learned something new.

Theodore Swett Consulting, LLC

8