Girl
Scout National CEO, Anna Maria Chávez participated in the Congressional
Hispanic Caucus Institute’s (CHCI) Public Policy Conference. Specifically, Chávez was a panelist on a panel that focused on early childhood education
titled, Preparing Latino Students for Educational Success from Day One. The session primarily focused on current
early education policy while highlighting strategies that promote Latino
achievement and how students, parents, the community, and corporations can work
together to support a better early childhood education system. Representative
Pedro Pierluisi of Puerto Rico and Representative Albio Sires of New Jersey
chaired the panel while Sr. Associate for the National Center for Montessori in
the Public Sector, Jacqueline Cossentino, and Vice President of the American
Federation of Teachers Maria Neira, joined Anna Maria Chávez on the panel.
During
her opening remarks, Chávez highlighted the challenges faced by girls,
especially Latinas. Specifically, she highlighted many of the findings that
effect Latina girls in the forthcoming Girl Scout Research Institute report, The State of Girls: Unfinished Business (Dec,
2013). Some of the key statistics that she touched on include Hispanic/Latina
girl preschool enrollment, reading and math proficiency amongst Hispanic/Latina
girls, and high school dropout rates. Unfortunately, Hispanic/Latina girls fair
lower than girls overall in all of these areas. Chávez highlighted the role of
Girl Scouts, and the leadership experiences it offers from an early age to
engage girls as well as mothers and other family members. It is important to
look at and strategize solutions that will allow Hispanic/Latina girls to be a
key investment rather than just a risk factor.
Furthermore,
Anna Maria Chávez expressed the importance of government combining its efforts
with the nonprofit community to ensure that girls will not fall through the
cracks and continue to be at risk. Also, it is important for the Latino
community to discover what the issues around the community, and strives to not
only connect with those in leadership positions but also to take action by
being in a leadership position. This will help ensure that issues that face the
community and early education issues remain in the forefront. In addition, she
was able to highlight the work Girl Scouts and the Girl Scout Research
Institute have done in addressing girls’ early interest in STEM and the need to
keep them engaged so they will pursue STEM careers in response to a question
from an audience member. Chávez engaged an audience that was full of former
Girl Scouts and Girl Scout supporters while highlighting the organization’s
efforts to provide girls from a young age with the tools that will enable them
to succeed throughout their education career.