President of Crittenton Services of Greater Washington, Siobhan Davenport, discusses strategies to use to deal with back to school stress.
Teens Are Experts of Their Own Lives: A Podcast
President & CEO of Crittenton Services of Greater Washington, Siobhan Davenport, joins Daniel Bauer from Better Leaders, Better schools to share her insight into why teens are experts of their own lives. Listen in as they discuss:
- Understanding barriers that girls face and teaching action advocacy.
- Creating safe space and suspending judgment as an intentional move as an organization.
- The key to building world class culture with one question.
- Reflection for leaders to help navigate and engage at school and at home.
- Serve the whole child by suspending judgment with specific staff training.
- Evolution of a sacred sister circle-hood. “Meet girls where they are, but don’t let them stay there.”
“Let Teens Lead. As adults, we have wonderful experiences in our lives and we get to a point where we say, ‘Do this, do that, do the other.’ We forget that teens are the experts in their own lives. They come with so much experience and they know what they need, and we can be a support to them and get the services that they need.” – Siobhan Davenport
How To Prioritize Your Teen’s Mental Health And Wellbeing.
As a mother to a teen girl and a leader of a nonprofit that’s helping our Black and brown girls navigate this pandemic, I see daily the importance of prioritizing the emotional wellness of our children. As parents, we must provide the tools, community, and support systems to help maintain our teen’s mental health and wellbeing for them to overcome challenges and thrive.
The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the challenges we’ve all been facing, and teens are feeling the fear, strain of uncertainty, and the stress of competing at school, work, and extracurricular demands more than ever.
“When You make space for teens to self-advocate for their personal needs, You create an environment where they feel safe and confident enough to use their voices and articulate their desires.”
They need help, but sometimes youth lack the skills and opportunity to communicate their needs. You can start by creating space for this at home. In recognition of Minority Mental Health and Awareness Month, here are some tips and best practices for parents to continue supporting teens’ mental health and wellness.
Foster a safe, non-judgmental space that inspires your teen to share what’s on their minds
Our Black and brown children are often looking for an opening to express themselves. You must keep at the forefront of your mind that youth voices matter and their experiences are real and valid. If you create an environment where kids believe their perspectives don’t matter, they may find it difficult to share their deepest concerns with you. You have to model for your children that you care, and show them what active and respectful listening looks like in conversation. They can carry these skills from home to school.
You can create the opening by asking specific questions about their day (for example: “How was class today with teacher X?” versus “How was school today?”). Asking more specific questions can help get to the core of what may be pressing or heavy for your child at that moment. Welcome and encourage frequent dialogue for your teen to express themselves to you. The more you keep an open mind, the more it builds a trusting relationship.
Encourage your teens to focus on the things they can control, even when life feels unpredictable
Help your children to identify what they can control in their lives. This includes helping them understand how to break down larger blocks of homework into smaller achievable goals, structuring manageable schedules, especially if they are engaged in multiple school and extracurricular activities. It can be simply directing them to keep their personal spaces in the home organized, as well as helping them ensure that family spaces and tasks are organized as well.
Show them that we also have control of taking care of our minds and bodies. This can be as simple as eating the healthiest food available, incorporating physical activity into each day, and getting consistent sleep — specifically, eight to ten hours of sleepper night as experts have long recommended for teens. Integrating routines will provide consistency to help keep teens’ mental health in check. These organizational skills not only provide structure but also help alleviate stress to maintain your teen’s mental health and wellbeing. It prevents young people from becoming overwhelmed when all of their “to-dos” come at them at once.
Encourage teens to practice self-advocacy and ask for help from adults and their peers
You can aid your teen in developing the skills and confidence to advocate for themself at school, out in the world, and at home. Being able to express their needs and desires is essential to them feeling valued. Asking questions and creating space for teens to first identify and then share what they are feeling, or what they need, helps them to feel as if they have a little more control over their experiences. I also have to spend more time listening to see how my daughter is working through challenges, instead of being so quick to offer solutions.
When you make space for teens to self-advocate for their personal needs, you create an environment where they feel safe and confident enough to use their voices and articulate their desires. In turn, this empowers a confident parent, equipped with the skills to be in dialogue with their children while honoring youth voices.
It’s been a tumultuous 16 months, and we need to make sure that our kids can recover. As a parent, it is imperative to create adequate spaces and support systems for your teen’s mental health and wellbeing. You can start some of the work to create spaces at home, but you’ll need every participant in your children’s learning ecosystem — schools, summer learning programs, youth-serving organizations, parents, families, and communities — to play a part in the recovery process so your children can reach their full potential.
Celebrating Crittenton’s Class of 2021!
Crittenton girls host talk for teens on COVID-19 recovery
More than 100 teen girls from Washington, D.C. and Montgomery County school districts gathered on April 22 at 6 p.m. for a virtual community conversation about the impact of COVID-19 on the area’s youth.
Crittenton Services of Greater Washington (CSGW) hosted students and community members for the nonprofit’s annual High Tea. Due to the pandemic, this year’s event was virtual and the conversation centered on empowering young women through the effects of COVID-19.
Siobhan Davenport, president and CEO of CSGW, was one of the adults who participated in the High Tea. Davenport told the AFRO that COVID-19 has exacerbated the challenges that students of Crittenton already face.
“We as an organization have many conversations on how the inequity in healthcare, and housing and in education have risen to the top because of the pandemic,” Davenport said.
According to a CSGW news release, a February needs assessment showed that out of nearly 400 students surveyed, 63 percent of the students feel more stressed than usual and 43 percent are worried about their futures.
The event included a main session that was hosted by NBC reporter Juliana Valencia and featured appearances by the Mayor of Somerset, Md., Jeffrey Slavin, and Crittenton Honoree Catherine Leggett.
After the main session, the teen girl participants were placed into several small groups or breakout rooms where they had an open dialogue with one another surrounding the pre-chosen theme: “My Voice Matters.”
How one nonprofit helps at-risk teenage girls in DC and Montgomery Co.
Crittenton Services of Greater Washington aims to help hundreds of at-risk teenage girls across D.C. and Montgomery County, Maryland, every year — even during the pandemic.
The coronavirus pandemic has been challenging for people from all walks of life and at-risk youth are no exception.
“The pandemic has certainly impacted the young ladies that we serve,” said Siobhan Davenport, CEO of Crittenton Services.
The 133-year-old nonprofit works with 500 to 600 teens from sixth through 12th grade every year.
“Our teen girls experience economic insecurity, racial disparities (and) gender inequities. Our families experience housing insecurity and food insecurity,” she said.
Davenport added that the pandemic has “increased those challenges, exponentially” for those served by Crittenton Services.
One program the nonprofit offers, called Goal Setting Girls, is a 28-week program focusing on social and emotional learning for sixth- and seventh-grade girls from lower-income families.
There is also a 26-week program for girls in high school that provides information “on healthy relationships, careers, post-secondary education, nutrition and fitness and reproductive health and sexuality,” according to the group’s website.
Another program is designed for “young women who are pregnant or parenting.”
“We also have a policy-advocacy arm called ‘Declare Equity for Girls,’ which is a girl-led project where our young ladies are advocating for themselves and for their communities,” Davenport said.
She said Crittenton Services connects with students through school partnerships, and girls who join any of its programs do so voluntarily.
“Our greatest ambassadors are the girls themselves. We have girls who have recommended additional family members, best friends … because what they’re getting from the program is so important to them.”
Davenport added that alumnae have gone on to careers in health care, higher education, the military and politics.
The group’s annual ‘High Tea’ was held virtually this year, on April 22, due to the pandemic.
Crittenton Services said it offers an opportunity for its teens to share “their views on issues impacting their lives and showcase their leadership and advocacy skills” with community leaders.
Girls of Color Held Their Communities Together During the COVID-19 Crisis
One year ago, I posted the question, “Who does home care fall on?” I warned that COVID-19’s abrupt impact on home dynamics was falling disproportionately on girls, and particularly, girls of color in vulnerable communities.
Now, after one year in the shadow of a virus, the data is in: the pandemic has had a devastating toll on women. Some experts have referred to this as the “Care Economy,” “Pink pandemic” and “She-cession” because women have borne the brunt of the crisis by nearly every measure. The gender inequities that existed prior to the pandemic have worsened.
Our teens were not immune to the impacts of the virus either.
How Philanthropy Can Recover Right from COVID-19
As the daughter of teen parents, I know a thing or 2 about defying conventional expectations for your life. Individual willpower is critical. However, beating the odds is nearly impossible without an environment conducive to success.
The COVID-19 pandemic has been described in many ways, including “The Great Exposer,” for revealing the broken systems, misplaced priorities, and neglected communities in our society. Experts now warn against a K-shaped recovery that will exacerbate the disparities that previously existed.
I’m encouraged by the philanthropic community’s efforts to combat the impacts of the virus and support issues like racial justice and social equity. But, as a Black woman and nonprofit executive, I’ve never been more concerned that funders will inadvertently accelerate the K-shaped recovery by not evolving to meet the moment.
In a post-COVID world, funders have a unique opportunity to recreate the environments conducive to success by shifting how they do philanthropy.
Youth Virtual Town Hall – Montgomery County
https://crittentonservices.org/donate/
Virtual Charla: How Latinos Can Be Better Allies to the Black Community on Tuesday, June 9th
Join our President & CEO Siobhan Davenport tomorrow with the Hispanic Heritage Foundation for the Emergency Charla: How Latinos Can Be Better Allies to the Black Community on Tuesday, June 9th from 4:00pm to 5:15pm EST. Register for this important conversation HERE: https://hhf.page.link/fmab.
Combating Racism & Inequity: A Call to Action for Teen Girls and Their Families
Combatting Racism & Inequity: A Call to Action for Teen Girls and Their Families from Siobhan Davenport, President & CEO of Crittenton Services of Greater Washington.
You may know me as the President and CEO of Crittenton Services of Greater Washington, an organization focused on the well-being, safety, equity and bright futures of our 600 mostly Black and Brown girls living in DC and Montgomery County, MD.
But I am also a Black woman and mother of a Black teenage daughter and son and the issues of racism, inequality, and police brutality against Black and Brown people that are now so publicly discussed are also deeply personal. I fear for my children’s safety as they perform mundane and daily activities – going for a run in our mixed race community, wearing a hoodie while running errands or bird watching in one of the beautiful parks – all innocent activities that, with just a phone call to the police, can become dangerous and life threatening.
And yet, even during this time of public pain and protest, I have hope.
I have hope seeing Crtittenton girls, their friends, neighbors and the world using their anger and fear to lift their voices and march in our streets to protest the the racist murder of an innocent Black man, George Floyd and the long line of Black men and women —Breonna Taylor, Sandra Bland, Michael Brown—who died at the hands of those who are sworn to protect and serve all Americans.
I have hope because I work with a team of dedicated professionals who create the trust and safe space for Crittenton girls to understand and empower themselves to overcome the daily inequities of racism, sexism and classism that they encounter in school, work, on public transportation and just about every other aspect of their daily lives.
I have hope in the network of support for Crittenton and the many peaceful protests calling for an end to structural racism. I know that Black and Brown people cannot change systems by ourselves and that we need the actions of White allies so that all Americans feel safe and have access to opportunity in our country.
A Call to Action
We are at an important moment in time. I am calling on the larger Crittenton community to come together in support of the voices of Black and Brown girls as we seek the systemic change essential to ensuring an equitable society. We all have a role to play and, having been asked by many in our community, have included concrete actions we can take to continue the change we all support.
Hear from Teen Girls
We invite you to join our virtual High Tea: Talk With A Teen Girl on Thursday, June 25th to have a much-needed open conversation with our teen girls. It is an opportunity to hear directly from and partner with our Black and Brown teen girls to move forward on advocating for equity, including very timely issues related to education, equity and mental health.
Get the Facts
In 2019, we released a report, Declare Equity for Girls: It’s Time!, that is a call to action for our District of Columbia teen girls and the adults that care about them and their future. The report illustrates with hard, verifiable data, the harsh inequitable realities that our teen girls face. Read and share this report with your network so you have a shared understanding of why the systems need to change.
Get Involved
Change happens when we take action and helping to educate and encourage our youth to identify a cause they feel passionate about and then translate that passion into votes for elected officials that support policies to address racism, sexism and classism.
When We All Vote is a non-profit, nonpartisan organization that is on a mission to increase participation in every election and close the race and age voting gap by changing the culture around voting, harnessing grassroots energy, and through strategic partnerships to reach every American. There are opportunities for adults and families to be Voting Squad Captains and separately, for high school teens to engage (and even hired) in their National Student Ambassador Program.
Staying Connected: Creating Change
The Crittenton community knows that the not-so-secret sauce to our success is that every team member cares about every teen girl we serve. Being a caring adult — centering and supporting others — is what we are each called to be not only for Crittenton girls, for the next generation and for the Black and Brown communities facing systemic racism, sexism and classism.
Grateful for your support and friendship as we commit and recommit to the change we collectively seek.
Sincerely,
President & CEO
Connecting Families to resources they need the most during covid-19
Join Siobhan Davenport, our President & CEO, May 26th, 2020 at 6:30pm for a Facebook live panel discussion with Elect Mónica Palacio.
The panel will provide information and resources to listeners and trusted intermediaries working with families facing housing challenges, healthcare needs, and stress-related mental health needs and economic challenges during this time.
Thank You for your support of our 600 teen girls!
| Crittenton Community, I am deeply touched by your generosity toward our teen girls and their families. Thank you for your kindness of giving to our Giving Tuesday Covid-19 Emergency Fund. Since March 13th, we have continued virtual service to our girls and helped to serve their families, including 375 adults, children and babies. We have also provided resources to those who have contracted or are recovering from COVID-19. I’m so proud of our team, who practice the mission, and are a source for factual information, comfort and continuity for our teen girls. We are grateful to be in a position to help provide some relief for our girls and their families during these uncertain times. I appreciate you greatly helping us in reaching our goal of raising an additional $5,000 to match the $5,000 that we received from the V&S Foundation. These funds will go a long way in helping our teens and families during this crisis. Thanks to your generosity, in partnership with HHS – SON, Victims’ Rights Foundation, Gandhi Brigade and Small Things Matter, we delivered much needed food essentials and hygiene products to 100 families yesterday afternoon. With gratitude,  Siobhan Davenport, President & CEO |
Crittenton & Partners present a COVID-19 Emergency Care Package Giveaway in East Montgomery County
Crittenton Services, Street Outreach Network- S.O.N Safe Space, Victims’ Rights Foundation, Small Things Matter and Gandhi Brigade Youth Media present a COVID-19 Emergency Care Package Giveaway in East Montgomery County TOMORROW May 5th, 3pm-4:30pm. Details to sign up are in flyer.
600 Teen Girls and Young Women In Need
Crittenton Community,
In this time of uncertainty, there’s a fundamental truth that gives us hope – that together we can do extraordinary things. Over the past few weeks and months, the entire world has been coming together to stand up, help out, give back, and heal. Whether that’s through donations to community organizations, celebrating doctors and nurses at shift changes, or reaching out to a neighbor to help with groceries, generosity has been helping the entire world get through this global pandemic. Together.
On May 5, 2020, Crittenton Services of Greater Washington is participating in #GivingTuesdayNow, a global day of unity and giving. As you know, our organization empowers teen girls to overcome obstacles, make positive choices, and achieve their goals through programs in schools throughout the Greater Washington Areas. Right now, the girls we serve are facing some of the greatest obstacles they’ve ever had to deal with; adjusting in the midst of a global pandemic.
But we can’t do this without you!
Not only do we need your support, we need your help to spread the word. Please tell your friends and family why you believe in our work and encourage them to support us too!
Join the movement on May 5, 2020! Bookmark our donate link today and click here to learn about other ways you can participate in the #GivingTuesdayNow movement. V&S Foundation will match every dollar raised up to $5,000 for this special cause of supporting teen girls which means every donation will have double the impact!
Thank you for being a part of our Crittenton Community. Hope you are healthy and safe.
With gratitude,
Siobhan Davenport, President & CEO
An internship during the coronavirus pandemic is a crash course in adaptability
April 22, 2020 5:45 PM EDT
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Clarissa Garcia began her internship before COVID-19 hit. Her job at WishSlate Inc., an e-commerce app, was focused on PR and media relations. Unsurprisingly, her tasks quickly rendered incredibly difficult due to the immense focus that the media is having on the virus.
“It’s been pretty frustrating for me,” she considers. “I’ve had no success so far”. But while difficult, this unique situation is giving her an unexpected insight in navigating a start-up during a crisis. Tuning into weekly Skype meetings with the company’s CEO has kept her well informed as to how the company is navigating everything. “I find it helpful, and it keeps me and the rest of the interns engaged,” she says.
Interns like Garcia are used to work hard to prove themselves in temporary positions, but doing that remotely—and in the middle of a global health crisis—definitely add to the challenge. Some of the high schoolers, higher education students, and those who are in full-time, post graduation internships during the school year are lucky enough to make the remote transition. Others are even more fortunate, with their employers offering full-time positions upon graduation. But many are completely left without the experience—and sometimes money—they counted on having.
Laina Milazzo, a second year law student at Touro Law Center, was working as a legal extern at the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office in Massachussetts, in the district court bureau. Once COVID-19 hit, all externs were told not to return until further notice. The next day, the courts closed indefinitely. “Since it was an externship we get credit for, they needed to find somewhere for us in order to actually receive credit for all the work we had already done,” says Milazzo.
She was reassigned to the appeals bureau, which allowed her to do research assignments from home. And she’s adapted: “The research is so different from the work I was doing in the district court bureau,” she says. “But now I have hands-on experience in two totally different bureaus—and I think overall it’ll help my career.”
Some of the students in Milazzo’s class weren’t able to switch to another department. Although they won’t substitute the hands-on experience of an actual internship, their professor is creating new assignments for them to do in order to still gain knowledge and receive credit for the time they put in already.
Zaria Wilson faced a similar disappointment. A graduating high school senior, she’s been interning at the National Institutes of Health in the Department of Cellular Development and Neurobiology since last June. With her work taking place completely within a lab, the internship had no way to translate to remote work. Plus, her schedule was tied to her Maryland-based school, so the day it shut down, the internship ended.
While Wilson is fortunate to have interned since June, she’s being proactive to make up for the last few months at the lab that she’s losing. “I’ve been doing my best to make up for the last months of the internship by doing some online courses and staying aware of the science field and biology.”
However optimistic, adapting may seem too far-fetched for some. Wilson is worried about how losing her internship stipend will affect her paying for college. While keeping up with her reading and online courses, she’s applying for scholarships. And Sammy, who had graduated from high school last June, wouldn’t be starting college until the fall.
He had been working as an intern in an investing firm in New York City for less than a month when his office was suddenly shut down due to COVID.19. Since then, Sammy hasn’t worked for them, or for anyone else, for that matter.
“I know that people like me (interns) are going to be amongst the last to be hired back,” he fears. “I hope that my school will be well equipped to deal with helping us find opportunities. There aren’t really many for me to pursue right now.”
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What we learned from Girls and Gender Fluid Youth of Color at the COVID-19 Response Virtual Town Hall
Dear Crittenton Friends,
Last Thursday, we co-hosted The COVID-19 Virtual Town Hall for girls and gender fluid youth of color with Black Swan Academy, YWCA National Capital Area and DC Coalition for Girls. We learned so much from Dr. Mariam Savabi, MD MPH and Necole D. Martinez and, especially, all the girls and gender fluid teens who were honest about their challenges and insightful about solutions.
Our time together was inspiring and informative, yet a reminder that the crisis we face is much graver for it has exposed the fragility of systems that have not worked for decades for the communities in which we serve. Though local governments and schools have responded as best as they are able, this pandemic is devastating to vulnerable families. Yesterday we asked the teens “what can we do?” And they answered.
They shared real mental health challenges: the struggles with self-isolation, of not having a schedule, of worrying about their parents, their community and missing the comfort of predictable routines.
They shared frustration with school: the challenges of dealing with uneven expectations and access to technology and teachers, of balancing school with new home responsibilities.
They shared their solutions: including the need for access to masks, hygiene and required products; of safe housing for community members who need to be quarantined and also for the homeless. They had ideas of how the government can be responsive, of how caring adults can encourage, how parents can access resources, of how together, we can create a community of care. And in their telling they showed us a way forward, a way we can work together to connect, encourage and grow these next generations of people.
At Crittenton we see a way forward. Core to our success is a caring adult providing judgement-free support, information, recommendations and referrals. While this has been essential to program delivery it is proving to be vital to responding to the current crisis. As have partnerships. We have an opportunity to work together, activating on Black Swan Academy’s call to action by signing the survey. LINK HERE http://thepeoplesdemandsdc.com/
At Crittenton we will continue to support girls in group and individually, make referrals and recommendations to the resources they need. We will test the idea of a senior-only group to address some of the real loss seniors are feeling as their graduations are canceled and colleges possibly postponed. We will continue to collect data on the individual and collective needs of 600 girls with a focus on their safety and mental well being. And we will continue to connect with incredible partners like you.
I look forward to connecting with many of you in the days and weeks to come as we navigate the unknown change and if we are persistent (and a little lucky), real opportunities to create real change for girls of color in the DMV.
With gratitude,
Siobhan Davenport
President & CEO
PS: Check out our Virtual Town Hall and hear for yourself the challenges girls and gender fluid youth of color are facing by listening to the recording HERE. (Access Password is L8^&11.7)