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Since its inception in 1996, Mainely Girls has...

Advertised and promoted events and opportunities for girls throughout Maine.
Supported the work others are doing on behalf of girls.
Acted as a point of connection and a referral service to available community and state resources for girls and women.
Provided both phone and in-person consultations around issues affecting girls.
Advocated for girls and young women on the state level.
Worked to establish a network for girls and women statewide.

Roots

In 1992, the atmosphere in the Camden-Rockport area was the perfect place to nurture activism. Nationally, dismaying research on the status of girls in America was being released, while locally a group of middle and high school teachers were examining the culture that existed for girls in their schools and community. These women began a community grassroots project to address girls' choices around healthy relationships, body image, and educational and career aspirations: an annual conference for Camden area girls and young women. From this strong foundation, Mainely Girls was formed in 1996 to focus on girls' needs statewide and to promote women's leadership of behalf of girls throughout rural Maine.

Past Programs

The Girl-to-Girl Mentoring Program. Girl to Girl offers girls from Troy Howard Middle School a chance to get together with older trusted women in the community to try new things and have fun being girls. Activities have included belly dance, pumpkln carving, planting flowers and making spa products as well as discussions on friendship, loss, and boundaries. We've even taken the girls sledding, to performances by the Belfast Maskers, and to the the Bangor Children's Museum.
The annual Girls' Conference: One Incredible Day. Every spring for seventeen years, Mainely Girls sponsored the midcoast each spring. It has given a helping hand during the planning stages for similar conferences in Portland, Millinocket, Waterville and Old Town. An indepdent planning team will now be executing future Girls' Conferences.
The DIVA (Diabetic Initiative to Value Adolescents) Program. This program, piloted in 2008, was for girls ages 10-18 with Type 1 diabetes and their parents. The DIVA Program ran as an 8 week educational support group in which these girls and their parents learned how to better cope with, control, communicate about, and take responsibility for their disease while forming bonds with other girls with diabetes and their families. The programs will be run in Camden and Ellsworth. The program is not currently being offered due to lack of funding.

The Mid-Coast Maine Trauma Informed Community. Mainely Girls was part of this grassroots coalition of 15 local communityleaders committed to creating communities in which all adults in a child’s life are empowered to prevent or intervene early in childhood abuse and other traumatic childhood experiences.