Give Girls A Voice With The Girls Count Zine
Girls Count is a non-profit working to empower girls and gender-expansive youth ages 11-14 in Portland, OR. We focus on hands-on activities, applied academics, and positive female role models through self-directed programming where participants can explore their own passions and interests.
Participants work very hard to put out The Girls Count Zine, a self-published compilation available both in print and online. Like all Girls Count programming, the zine is executed through a lens of diversity and inclusion and encourages multiple points of view from a range of socioeconomic backgrounds. Creators design the zine from start to finish with guidance of Girls Count staff. By giving girls a voice, a chance to collaborate and share ideas, and tangible outcomes produced by the work they put into the zine, they are able to see the value in themselves and their opinions. Zine creators are given the opportunity to work without limits or objectives given to them by adults.
Each issue is as different as the young people we work with! Past issues have included a variety of personal interests from recipes created in our kitchen, things to do around Portland, a quiz to find out which women who changed the world they are most like, book recommendations and so much more. There is absolute freedom to express themselves while putting their work out into the world for others to enjoy.
The print issues of our zine are offered completely free to the public. Neighbors and community members have enjoyed our past issues and with print distribution the girls are able to reach a wider audience. We recently received this feedback from people in our community:
“Good morning! I picked up your zine this morning and just wanted to let you know how happy it made me and how awesome I think it is. What a great organization! So glad you’re in my neighborhood. Great job.”
“I picked up a copy of your zine on a walk recently, and loved it. I'll be passing it on to my 10 year old niece who loves to cook, I'm sure she'll enjoy trying some recipes.”
We're fully committed to providing the zine free of cost, but we need your help to keep it going. Every copy of the zine costs roughly $2.50 to print and we aim to print at least 100 copies of each issue moving forward. That means for every $250 you help us raise another issue goes out to the public and the work of our girls gets the recognition it deserves.
Please check out the incredible work of our participants and the issues they have created this year. If you're even half as inspired by them as we are, please consider making a donation, however big or small.
Check out past zines here .
Thank you for taking the time to consider our fundraiser!
Visit our website for more information and if you're in the neighborhood, stop by for a FREE copy of past issues.
Mary Hlastala is the Founder and Executive Director of Girls Count.
