Mission

Original ECO Girls artwork by Rachel Dennis, 2011.

The ECO Girls mission is to foster environmental awareness and stewardship, ecological literacy, cultural education, friendship building, self-confidence, and leadership skills for elementary and middle school girls in the southeastern Michigan cities of Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, and Detroit. ECO Girls has the goal of encouraging girls to integrate environmentalism into their lives, share environmental knowledge with their communities, and contribute to environmental problem solving as future thinkers and leaders. Because cultural practice shapes personal and communal identities and therefore has the power to facilitate social change, ECO Girls treats culture as a critical link in the advancement of ecological consciousness and the vision of a just, sustainable future.

ECO Girls Home Base: Department of Afro-American and African Studies

ECO Girls would like to thank Crazy Wisdom Bookstore and Tea Room for selecting us as their special community organization for the year. Funds contributed to Crazy Wisdom by customers and staff will help to support our eco-cultural activities for girls. To make a donation, stop by Crazy Wisdom in downtown Ann Arbor (and don't miss the peaceful Tea Room up in the sky). Many, many thanks!

Partners

• YMCA
• Leslie Science and Nature Center
• Museum of Natural History, UM
• It’s Great To Be A Girl, UM
• The Ginsberg Center, UM
• Women in Science and Engineering (WISE), UM
• Trotter Multicultural Center, UM
• Growing Hope

• American Association of University Women
• This Project is funded in part by the Michigan Humanities Council, an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this project do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
• Department of Afroamerican and African Studies, UM, Ann Arbor
• Program in American Culture, UM, Ann Arbor
• This Project is funded in part by the National Center for Institutional Diversity, (NCID) at U of M. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this project do not necessarily represent those of the National Center for Institutional Diversity.

Eco Girls Recitation

by Tayana Hardin

These words of reflection were written to help the Eco Girls focus our thoughts and gather a shared sense of purpose at the end of our time together.

We are grateful today for

Ourselves

Others

The earth

Let us remember the Five Pines to help

Ourselves

Others

The earth

Let us walk tall

Like the trees

Be strong

Like the stones

Be curious

Like the stream

And fly to our dreams

Like the birds

Until we meet again,

Let us love and respect

Ourselves

Others

The earth