Nikkole Bostnar & Sunny Red Bear, Founders of Sinew, with Founder of Just Like My Child Foundation, Vivian Glyck.
Just Like My Child Foundation and Sinew, a pending 501c3 non-profit corporation, are pleased to announce a partnership to bring JLMC’s evidence-based Girl Power Project® curriculum to the members of the Cheyenne River Sioux reservation. The curriculum is being piloted with the girls, schools and families in this community with the intention of modifying the curriculum for cultural relevance so that Girl Power Project® can be implemented in more Indigenous communities within North America.
There has been a silent epidemic of disappearances, homicides, violent crimes and trafficking of Native Americans. For more than a decade, the US Department of Justice has estimated that Native American women are 2½ times more likely to be victims of sexual assault than the general population. One in three Native American women will be raped in their lifetime, they are ten times more likely to be victims of homicide, and in a new study 90% of Native women have experienced sexual assault.
Founders of Sinew, Sunny Red Bear, an enrolled member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and Nikkole Bostnar, an enrolled member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe have personally experienced the statistical vulnerabilities Indigenous girls in South Dakota face. As community organizers for the Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women’s movement Sunny Red Bear and Nikkole Bostnar have brought awareness to these egregious issues through their advocacy. In an effort to transition their advocacy into action, they founded Sinew an organization dedicated to creating an environment where healing and transformation can occur by equipping and inspiring youth to become visionaries through indigenous-based education and mentorship.
They approached JLMC to learn more about Girl Power Project® and asked to have JLMC to train them in teaching the Girl Power Project and for assistance with building the sustainability of their organization.
Nikkole Bostnar & Sunny Red Bear Leading Advocates for the rights of Lakota of women and girls in South Dakota, for Murdered Missing Indigenous Women in Rapid City.
Just Like My Child Foundation is the creator of the Girl Power Project®. It is a scientifically proven, evidence based curriculum which has been implemented in Central Uganda for the past 10 years, reaching girls, boys and communities through a two-year program. The program is designed to remove the obstacles that keep girls from continuing their education: gender-based violence, forced child marriage, early pregnancy, disease, and lack of menstrual hygiene. Through the program, a girl learns to value her body, her future, and her power within her community. She learns to use her voice to stand up for herself and others and to protect her potential. Boys and community members are engaged in understanding the value of elevating girls within the community.
Two separate research studies were performed to quantify the results of the program, proving the efficacy of the program. In first quarter 2020, Sam Houston University will publish the first of several academic papers on the Girl Power Project’s impact. The Population Council will publish a case study on the effective methodology utilized by Just Like My Child in implementing the program.
JLMC created the Girl Power Project to be transportable and applicable in many cultural settings. With the data now in hand showing the program is effective, JLMC is pivoting its efforts and is intent on finding other organizations, already working with vulnerable girls and training and certifying community leaders and representatives on how to modify and implement the curriculum to receive similar results.
We are excited to announce that Sinew is our first partnership of its kind and Sunny Red Bear and Nikkole Bostnar are being trained by JLMC facilitators on how to implement the program.
