January 7, 2010 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Girls in middle school confront a myriad of issues—depression, eating disorders, bullying, and cliques at school—at a time in their lives when young women often feel less confident and able to speak up for themselves.
One charity has an unusual plan to help young girls overcome those challenges: Get them outside and on a mountain bike.
Since 2000, Dirt Divas, a weeklong summer program, has combined mountain-bike instruction with lessons in working together, as well as writing and other creative arts, to help girls in Vermont develop the skills they need to weather adolescence. Now, Girls Move Mountains, the Montpelier organization that runs Dirt Divas, is expanding its offerings with a program during the school year that combines multiple activities, such as hiking, a ropes-challenge course, and skiing, as well as a climbing program scheduled to start in February.
Adventure sports force girls to dig deep for courage, perseverance, and determination, says Nadine W. Budbill, executive director of Girls Move Mountains.
“These activities offer girls this chance to really push their limits,” she says. “They talk about that a lot on our evaluations, about realizing that they were capable of doing far more than they had thought and that they had really underestimated who they were.”
Girls Move Mountains works hard to recruit girls from low-income families. The organization provides all the equipment necessary to participate and charges program fees on a sliding scale, depending on family income. Fees for the weeklong Dirt Divas program ranges from $25 to almost $500.
This past summer, almost half of the 70 girls who participated in Dirt Divas qualified for free or reduced school lunches.
Girls Move Mountains has an annual budget of $115,000, 60 percent of which comes from individuals. Foundation grants, gifts from companies, and program fees account for the rest.
Long-term sustainability is something that the growing organization thinks a lot about, says Ms. Budbill. To increase earned income, Girls Move Mountains has started mountain-biking and backcountry skiing clinics designed for women.
“Women can come and get these great program experiences themselves,” says Ms. Budbill, “and know that by participating and paying the program fees, they are supporting this work with girls.”
Here, an instructor helps a Dirt Divas participant with her mountain bike.—Nicole Wallace
