Rose is eleven years old and has already run an election campaign and won a seat as mayor, led a fundraiser to build a clean water well in Africa that raised $5,000, mediated disputes over taxes, and established a system for collecting fees from tickets handed out by a police force. For most, this is a lifetime worth of achievements, but this is the life of a girl that attends Girls Incorporated of Sarasota County.
Girls Inc. is a local affiliate of a national nonprofit youth organization dedicated to “inspiring all girls to be strong, smart and bold.” Within the walls of the building off of Tuttle Avenue reside the citizens of “Dream Harbor” — a city where girls from 5-15 years of age run businesses, earn wages, pay taxes and learn leadership lessons from the moment they walk in the door. Girls are given the opportunity to apply for jobs, write resumes, and become managers of their businesses, such as a bank, a café and even a post office. During their time at work, the girls also learn about motivating co-workers, marketing and budgeting. Rose, for example, had to announce the onset of all of the girls having to pay taxes for the first time in Dream Harbor’s existence. Understandably, the girls were unhappy about sharing their hard-earned wages to support the government employees. But Rose led the charge of the governing body and as a group they decided to host a fundraiser to offset the total money the government needed to collect.
The girls of Girls Inc. not only learn how to shake someone’s hand and look that person in the eye when being introduced, they also learn about the business concept of emotional intelligence. The ideas instilled in each girl are centered on self-esteem, motivation and empathy. The girls understand that it is not enough just to show up to your job, but rather know that being a good worker means being a team player and motivating others around you to have a collective favorable outcome.
To prepare for market day, the girls meet every Monday to discuss as a team what product they will sell. There is also discussion as to how much they believe other girls will pay for the item and how many products they can afford to produce. Then marketing plans are made and the production begins. The teams’ efforts pay off, the business sells out, and the team regroups and sees what revenue was produced and how much profit was made. If there is enough at the end, they are able to celebrate, hire the catering business and have a party.
Dream Harbor is a place for all girls to learn how to be a leader and a responsible citizen. They are encouraged to dream big, and know that there are no boundaries as to what they can achieve.