Date: Saturday February 9, 2008
Time: 10 a.m. -- 2 p.m.
Location: Cisco Systems, San Jose, CA

This dynamic and energizing day for Girl Action Teams includes guest speakers, performers and workshops for girls and GFC Coaches. Courtney Macavinta, GFC Coach and author of Respect: A Girl's Guide to Getting Respect and Dealing When Your Line Is Crossed, will be this year's keynote speaker!

Girls will take workshops on skills they need for creating social change including networking, budgeting, organizing and working with elected officials. Teams also have time to work on their project plan as they are preparing to implement a social change project in their community.

The FREE event includes a light morning snack and lunch. Girls also receive goodie bags!

Interested in volunteering? Need more information? Contact Anahita at 408-529-9046 or anahita@girlsforachange.org

This event is generously hosted by:

Cisco Systems

And the event is made possible with the following supporters:

Courtney Macavinta

Luna Bar

GFC thanks the following facilitators and performers for donating their time to this event!

PERFORMERS:

Keynote: COURTNEY MACAVINTA - Courtney Macavinta is an award-winning journalist, author, speaker and teen coach who has reached more than a million girls and women through her work, including her blog RespectRx.com and best-selling book, RESPECT: A Girl’s Guide to Getting Respect and Dealing When Your Line Is Crossed. A devoted girl advocate, Courtney inspires young women to tap into their real girl power by cultivating self-respect, sisterhood and social change. Courtney has been featured on CNN, Fox, National Public Radio, NBC, and in USA Today, CosmoGIRL!, Teen People, Teen Vogue, The Seattle Times, The San Jose Mercury News and numerous other media.

Opening Performer: PARA LA GENTE - Para La Gente is a band composed of activists and musicians dedicated to triggering social change through music. Our five-member band, which features an MC and a female vocalist backed by guitar, bass and drums, delivers an inspiring mix of hip hop, rock, and soul. Para La Gente’s rhythms and words are orchestrated to incite social change by spreading awareness about the injustices and inequities that are the norm today. www.myspace.com/paralagente

Closing Performer: ADRIANA GARCIA - Raised in Zacatecas, Mexico, Adriana Cabrera-Garcia, grew up in "little portugal," and "el gallo colorado," and is now living in the Seven Trees barrio.  She has spent over a decade working with the San Jose community, specifically with youth, women, workers and immigrant groups. She coordinates youth leadership conferences, performs spoken word and creates cultural art to educate youth and motivate people to get involved in their community.  She co-founded a San Jose based community organization called MAIZ addressing issues amongst women, youth and queers.  Meanwhile, she is finishing a Master's Degree in Chicana/o Studies at San Jose State University. She has done community service publicity projects in the Philippines and Jamaica and recently performed at a Texas immigrant and refugee conference as well as at Mexico City's Palacio de las Bellas Artes. Adriana loves chile rellenos, pozole, banda El Recodo, Bob Marley and Lauryn Hill.

FACILITATORS:

COURTNEY MACAVANITA (SEE BIO ABOVE)- EVENT PLANNING

ERIN MCAULEY- NETWORKING Erin McAuley, M.B.A is an Organization Development Manager for Cisco's Global Supply Chain Management organization.  She has over 10 years of experience in leadership development, change management, organization design, training & development, and project management.   She earned an M.B.A with a concentration in Strategic Consulting from University of Southern California and B.A. in Organizational Leadership from Chapman University. Erin is passionate about changing the world for the better by tackling all sizes of problems and opportunities from one-on-one interactions to team and group dynamics to large-scale organization and global change.  In addition to this passion, she enjoys the simple gifts in life - her family & friends, her dog, dancing, snowboarding, and all kinds of travels and adventures. 

SHERYL SEVER- CREATING POWERFUL CONNECTIONS
Sheryl Sever (aka Coach Shera), president of Cross Currents Communications, began her entrepreneurial career in sales at the ripe age of 13. She is an accomplished management consultant with nearly 20 years experience and expertise in talent management and career development, leadership coaching and training, marketing communications and business development. She is recognized for her energy, creativity, compelling facilitation, and collaborative approach in developing solutions and strategies that inspire action and ignite passion. Her clients include international business and community leaders and hundreds of happy entrepreneurs who are living and thriving outside of the box. www.sherylsever.com; blog: coachshera.blogspot.com

LEVANA SAXON- ORGANIZING AGAINST GLOBAL WARMING
Levana Saxon is the Education Coordinator at Rainforest Action Network where she provides opportunities for teachers and students to take action to defend human rights and protect the Earth both inside and outside of the classroom. She has worked with various groups including Opera Piccola, Youth for Environmental Sanity, the Praxis Peace Institute, the Institute for Deep Ecology, the Paulo Freire Institute and the São Paulo World Education Forum, organizing and facilitating workshops and conferences using the arts for children, youth and adults. In addition she served for two years as the U.S. Advisor to the United Nations Environment Programme Youth Advisory Council and co-founded the Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Youth Alliance. She recently finished a Masters in Education with a concentration in Participatory Theatre at San Francisco State University.

MELINDA HAMILTON-LEADERSHIP
After spending a few years as a community activist, Melinda was first elected to the Sunnyvale City Council in 2003 and reelected in 2007. As the only woman on the council, she works to make her city a better place, balancing the needs of the residents and the businesses. Before she entered politics, Melinda’s career spanned journalism, high tech and non-profits. She holds two undergraduate degrees from UC San Diego and will graduate from Santa Clara University in June with her master’s degree in business administration. She and her husband work for social change by raising two young change agents of their own.

ALICIA WALTERS – COMMUNITY ORGANIZING
Alicia serves as a Field Organizer for the ACLU of Northern California where she supports a dynamic group of activists across the region and advocates for priority legislation at the local, state, and national level. Prior to coming to the organization in May of 2007, Alicia volunteered as a teacher-trainer and tutor at the YWCA Primary School in Oshakati, Namibia where she led workshops on everything from alternative methods of discipline to HIV/AIDS, helped raise awareness about the disease and worked closely with the learners in and out of the classroom. Alicia has also had the opportunity to research and produce documentaries on various issues including Black soldiers in the Civil War and has served in classrooms and shelters as an Americorps volunteer. Alicia graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from the University of San Diego and enjoys working with diverse communities to foster and sustain change.

HELENE EHRLICH- PHOTOGRAPHY FOR SOCIAL CHANGE
Helene has been a photographer since 110 film and flashes needed to be rotated. Her work in empowerment and social justice started before she was born, as her parents are community workers and advocates. As a banana slug (UCSC alumni) majoring in Community Studies, she was able to incorporate her passion for female empowerment and hip-hop by producing a photo documentary on Women in Hip-Hop. Following her dreams, and obtaining experience on her way, she currently works with Planned Parenthood with a program for parenting and pregnant teens in Santa Clara County, AFLP/Cal-learn. She hopes one day to be able to bring photography, social justice and empowerment to all youth in Santa Clara County.

JOAN BANICH – VIDEO PRODUCTION FOR SOCIAL CHANGE
In her role as Brand Identity Mgr. at Cisco, Joan has produced videos, live broadcasts and Second Life machinima. Joan graduated from SCU and is involved with the Global Women’s Leadership Network and the Cisco Women’s Action Network. Joan’s workshop engages girls in production, storyboarding and scriptwriting and teaches girls how to use video to tell their story on YouTube.

SEJAL HATHI & NATASHA GONZALEZ – “WHAT IF?”-PROJECT PLANNING –
Sejal Hathi and Natasha Gonzalez are longtime members of Girls For A Change and the Girl Steering Committee. They currently serve as peer-mentors to Girl Action Teams and have served as GFC advocates time and time again.