The Riverside Press-Enterprise
Great Encouragement Movement boosts teen girls, their families
With an intention of spreading good vibes and wanting teen girls to thrive in their everyday lives, Geneva Perry set out on a mission to create Great Encouragement Movement. Between its unique programs that offer support and networking and a prosper facilitator program that can be used at schools, the intrepid nonprofit has fast become a powerful agent of change.
“We’re all individuals but we’re all connected in a way in which we can help bring out the best in each other,” said Perry, executive director and founder of Riverside-based G.E.M. “That’s what our organization focuses on. We partner with different schools or entities that work with teen girls and provide them with the resources to start their own intimate, or I would say, more personally connected network in small groups. It’s all so they can have that opportunity to create a community.”
Culling from her years of developing curriculum and advocating for social, mental, and physical well-being while working as a mentor and school counselor, Perry was eager to broaden the net and help more students in the Inland Empire and high desert regions. “Girl empowerment through the powerful act of encouragement” became one of the bases of Geneva’s work.
“Our curriculum is tailormade and focused on social emotional learning and well-being,” she said.
G.E.M.’S impact is growing. Programs allow young girls opportunities to shine. The G.EM. Gather Group, for instance, is designed for children in fifth grade to 10th grade. G.E.M.’S Thrive Connection is designed to improve life skills, high school preparedness, college and career readiness, guided talks,
and much more.
“Connection is a really important component,” Perry said.
Recently, G.E.M. received a grant from the Black Equity Fund through Inland Empire Community Foundation. The fund is made possible through a unique partnership between the Black Equity Initiative of the Inland Empire, IE Funders Alliance, and IECF with the goal of advancing the missions of Blackled organizations in the Inland Empire.
The grants are awarded to nonprofits that focus on systems change and power-building
work in the areas of civic engagement, criminal justice transformation, housing justice, health equity, education equity, and economic liberation.
“The grant helped us partner with families in need in the Moreno Valley community and beyond,” Perry said. “We were able to provide various resources and work on marketing so that way we can reach more people with opportunities. Because we have resources for teen girls, we want to help as many as we can.”
Perry started the organization four years ago, in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic. She said she created it because, as a school counselor, she saw the need for girls to have something which allowed them to “connect with one another” as well as themselves in a holistic way.
“It was important to use a holistic approach and also have wellness and purpose attached to it,” she said, “because I don’t know if they fully understand that they are absolutely amazing beings. Culturally, they might be told the opposite or maybe have a comparison. Our job as an organization is to ensure that their identity, their skills, and their purpose are tailored to who they are.”
As things evolved, Perry did too, and the thrust of her vision has gained momentum.
“My focus has always been to not only focus on the teen girls themselves, because we know that at the end of the day, when they go back home or go back to their own environment, there’s still a need for their families as well,” she said. “And maybe the community that they live in.
“We really want to focus not only the teen girls themselves, but also on how we can service their family if there’s a need, as well as servicing the community,” she said. “We can do that by offering different resources, whether it be groceries or a backpack giveaway, or a foster youth Christmas gift exchange. These are just different ways we can serve the community as well as the teen girls and their families. That’s what we’re all about.”
Information: gemwithin.org