Advocacy

Girl Scouts have a long-standing commitment to the well-being of girls and among the seven councils serving North Carolina, we serve more than 90,000 girls and adult volunteers statewide. As our council CEO Rusine Mitchell Sinclair said in her letter to our legislators in January of 2009, four issues are of particular interest to Girl Scouts: Encouraging healthy living among girls; increasing their involvement in science, technology, engineering and math; helping girls learn to lead; and increasing their financial literacy.

The North Carolina Association of Girl Scout Councils has hired a contract legislative monitor to keep all seven councils apprised of important legislation. In addition, our council has its own advocacy function. Similar to what the GSUSA Advocacy Office does at the Congressional level, we work to inform and educate our own members as well as key representatives of North Carolina’s legislative and executive branches about issues important to girls and Girl Scouting.

Our council has been named one of 17 Advocacy Champions nationwide to work in partnership with GSUSA staff over the next year positioning Girl Scouts as the voice for girls in North Carolina and at the national level. Together, Advocacy Champions will help advance the Girl Scout Movement and improve girls’ lives through legislative awareness and education to address issues that impact girls.

Much of the information on the healthy development of girls that we pass on to our legislators and other key decision makers comes from research done by the Girl Scout Research Institute (GSRI). The GSRI originates national projects and initiatives, synthesizes existing research and conducts outcomes evaluation to support the development of the Girl Scout program. They provide information to educational institutions, not-for-profits, government agencies, public policy organizations, to parents seeking ways to support their daughters and perhaps most importantly, to girls themselves.