[Imc-girls] Draft of Press Release

[Anne Odom]

I just wrote up this possible press release for R.A.G.G.  Please read and
send comments.  I will revise and send out a revision.  When we've got one
we like, we can start distributing it to local papers.

Shawn, Danielle and Zoe - I made up some quotes and attributed them to you,
please read and make sure you don't hate them.
As I quoted each of you, I tried to show your other ties to the community,
so people will start to identify us as real people that they know.

Shawn - I realized that I don't know what you do, and I tried to look you up
on the web at the U of I, but I'm not sure all of the information was
current and correct.  Please let me know how you'd like me to identify you
in the press release, if you don't like what I dug up (or if it's flat-out
wrong).

-A.

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PRESS RELEASE FOR RAGG
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A group of local girlz and womyn have started to create a space for
themselves and others through the local Independent Media Center.
 R.A.G.G. - the Resource and Action Group for Girlz-n-Womyn - is a local
grassroots partnership OF girlz and womyn FOR girlz and womyn whose aim is
to provide safe spaces, resources, and activities to foster creativity,
self-expression, and empowerment.  Inspired by the long-time efforts of the
now-defunct local organization, GirlZone, R.A.G.G. plans to provide social
activities and workshops to girlz and womyn in Champaign County.  In
addition, R.A.G.G. aims to become a central resource for disseminating
information about other resources for females in the community.  "There are
programs and resources for girlz and womyn in this community that not
everyone knows about.  We hope to get the word out to other females about
where the safe and fun places are for us here," says Shawn Williams, one of
R.A.G.G.'s core organizers and employee of the Urban Exchange Center at the
University of Illinois. "Not only do we want to provide safe spaces for
girlz & womyn, we want other organizations and even businesses to do the
same.  If we can be *the* place to go to find out about any female-centric
events and offerings in the community, we make it easy for people to get the
word out when they want to offer something along those lines".

In addition, R.A.G.G. will be listening to it's female organizers and
participants to find out what they'd like to see in the community that's
lacking.  "Girlz are often looking to learn things that aren't available
from their regular resources - like  non-main-stream foreign languages,
skateboarding, and how to be politically active in their community," says
Zoe Swords, another core organizer and student at University High School.
"If we have somewhere to go where we can say 'Hey - can you find us a
resource for this', then we have a safe place to open doors for ourselves."
R.A.G.G. aims to fill this need by taking requests from girlz and womyn in
the community and trying to offer, or inspire others to offer, workshops,
classes, or other activities on requested topics.

R.A.G.G. is a partnership of both girlz and womyn, because females of all
ages have a lot to teach each other.  According to Danielle Chynoweth, a
third core organizer and Urbana City Councilwoman, "while the womyn in the
organization have a lot of resources to offer to the girlz, the girlz are
instrumental in reminding us who we are, what are programs are about, and
inspiring us to learn things we have begun to think we are 'too old' to
learn."

R.A.G.G. has done some limited initial fund-raising but plans to kick-off
with a bang on Saturday, May 29th.  R.A.G.G. will host a day full of
workshops at the Independent Media Center and other downtown Urbana
locations, followed by a benefit show and kick-off party in the evening.
Workshops will be limited to girlz and womyn only, but the evening
entertainment is open to all.  Registration for workshops will be at the
IMC - check the R.A.G.G. website for details in early May -
http://ragg.ucimc.org.

Any girl or woman interested in joining the R.A.G.G. working group that
organizes R.A.G.G. activities should send an email to imc-girls at ucimc.org.
We're calling for girlz and womyn of all types to join in a community effort
to create a safe and empowering space for all of us. Through skill sharing,
community organizing, education, activism, and just plain old support,
R.A.G.G. hopes to provide girlz and womyn with a network and outlet for
unleashing their creativity, strength, and power!



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Anne Odom * Product Manager * WebEasel, Inc.
WebEasel - It's that easy!
anne at webeasel.net * www.webeasel.net * 217.344.0444