Texas Border Business
EDINBURG, Texas– (June 9, 2016) Recent statistics confirms that our girls need positive female role models. 42% of Texas families are single mom head of household. 52.2% of children live in poverty. One way to improve the chances of a healthy start for two generations of kids is to help teens delay having children until they’re ready. Teen mothers are more likely to live in poverty, and the children of teen mothers are also more likely to be born at low birthweight, face health problems, developmental delays, and perform poorly in school. The teen births rate for Hidalgo County, TX is 79.2 (per 1,000). Texas also has the highest rate of repeat births to teens.
Five female executives, business owners and partners convened at the inaugural Empowering Girls Forum hosted by Boys & Girls Clubs of Edinburg RGV.
Panelist were: Alma Ortega Johnson – President, Wells Fargo Bank; Dora Brown- Senior Vice President IBC Bank, Sarah Sagredo-Hammond- Owner, Atlas Electrical AC Refrigeration & Plumbing, Citlalli Rojas – Partner, New York Life and Ellie Torres – CEO, At Home Health Care, LLC & ECISD Board member. The moderator was Fay Beard from Boys & Girls Clubs of America.
The Empowering Girls Forum, provided a platform for these women to share their life lessons, decision making and challenges they have overcome to be successful.
Thirty girls ages 10-14 got a head start on their future and were able to exchange views on viable life options; and explore various approaches and experiences for their life journey.
“Step up and build yourself up and tell yourself I am going to be the one who conquers the world,” said Dora Brown to our girls.
Club member Amaya Hernandez’s take away from Sarah Sagredo-Hammond was “Love yourself just the way you are with all your mistakes and all your greatness.”
“We are grateful to the panelists for their support and time and we thank our Board of Directors for backing programs which connect our girls with successful women,” said Sabrina Walker Hernandez, CEO of Boys & Girls Clubs of Edinburg RGV. “Our goal is to increase our girl’s self-esteem and feelings about becoming a strong, independent female.”
Two more Empowering Girls Forums will be scheduled prior to August 12. If you are a successful woman and would like to share your story and inspire the next generation please email swalker@edinburgkids.com.
