Girl Scouts of Minnesota and Wisconsin River Valleys (as we fondly call “GSRV,” “River Valleys,” or “council”) is one of 111 Girl Scout councils in the United States. We operate as Girl Scouts, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
We serve 28,000 girls in southern Minnesota, western Wisconsin, and a single (yet important!) county in Iowa. Our work is supported by more than 9,000 volunteers. Girl Scouts River Valleys provides training and resources for volunteers, programming for girls, stores discounts for our members, fundraises for Girl Scouts, runs the retail shops and service
centers, and manages the product programs (Cookies and Snacks & Magazines), and much more.
The Girl Scouts ConnectZ Program and Jacob Wetterling Resource Center created a partnership about 4 years ago, when the program identified a need to bring more resources around personal safety and Human trafficking to the girls they serve.
Girl Scouts ConnectZ brings a culturally responsive leadership program to 3,000 girls throughout the Twin Cities and southern Minnesota. Girl Scouts ConnectZ meets the needs of girls today with a unique K-12 curriculum that covers topics such as STEM, healthy relationships, culture, identity, financial literacy, personal safety, college and career readiness, and more!
Troop activities are girl-led, so girls take the lead on their learning. Girls build leadership and self-esteem by taking risks in a supportive environment where they know they can be themselves and lean on their Girl Scout sisters. Through sessions led by trained youth workers, ConnectZ provides continuous mentorship and holds a space for girls to belong, be seen, and be heard.
We are honored to help celebrate the 30 years of JWRC, as the staff there supported us with creating both Human trafficking and personal safety curriculum for grade 6th to 12th grade, that we still use today in program. The awesome staff also went beyond with providing training to our department to ensure the curriculum was meeting our program as well as to ensure that staff felt good about delivering the material.
Happy 30 years JWRC and thank you for the work you have done over the years and being kind to those you partner with.
We are forever grateful.
Best,
Girl Scouts ConnectZ Program
