Matt Marcinkowski
When Cheryl Jones, the president and CEO of Girls Inc. of St. Louis, started working with the nonprofit, she fell in love with its mission—“inspiring all girls to be strong, smart, and bold.” It resonated with her because she’s always had a passion for helping young women succeed. Her work with Girls Inc., which provides programming to help with academic enrichment, life skills development, and health education, was also personal. Jones lived just 15 minutes away. “Many of the girls and families were my community,” she says. Now that community is growing. Girls Inc. was recently awarded $10 million from Melinda French Gates’ Pivotal Ventures as part of its Equality Can’t Wait Challenge. Girls Inc. is a national organization with 78 affiliates, and the St. Louis location will receive a portion of the money. The organization will use the funds for its Project Accelerate program, addressing the lack of women in business. It will do that by partnering with workplaces to change company culture and prioritize equity, as well as helping young women with professional development.
You’ve been with Girls Inc. for nine years. What happens when a young woman walks through those doors? They’re ingrained with what we call the Girls Inc. Bill of Rights—that they have the right to be themselves and resist stereotypes. Girls have the right to prepare for interesting work and economic independence. What we want is a leader who knows what it means to have integrity and how to give back. It is our assumption that once you leave, you’re going to come back and give. That’s kind of how we view this—“to whom much is given, much will be required.”
There’s research that says that companies with diverse executive teams are 33 percent more likely to see higher profits. If that’s the case, why aren’t more executives working to diversify their ranks? I think the absence of women in leadership roles and in some corporations presents the opportunity to ask the question “Why aren’t there more?” or “Why aren’t we seeking to get more?” But honestly, it’s because some corporations have told us that they don’t even know where to look. Partnering with Girls Inc. can help create the next generation of women leaders.
What are the challenges you’ll face with Project Accelerate? People heard $10 million, and that’s a lot of money, but it’s going to be spread among 78 affiliates. The local community may say, “Oh, gosh, Girls Inc. of St. Louis should have enough.” But that simply isn’t the case because we will continue to need to match the funding in order to sustain the work. The local lift is going to be heavy...The second challenge we have to address in St. Louis is retention, because we are taking young women to their first jobs, and after that first year, they’re going to still need networking and coaching. It’s not just a matter of following that woman through the first job but for as long as we can. We need to set up networking and mentoring opportunities.
