This past Wednesday, September 14th 2016, a group of our BALI alumnae got to be a part of the first ever Girls Govern Town Hall, a wonderful event held at George Washington University, Washington DC, and a collaboration between BALI and Girls Global Media (GGM). At this event, the first ever Girls Bill of Rights was introduced.

BALI staff Ebony and Oriela, along with our Board Member Cynthia McKnight, accompanied the 14 proud BALI alumnae to DC, some of whom had the opportunity to to participate in the event as panelists and moderators.

The event started with a wonderful performance from Girl Be Heard and followed with a BALI girl, Jasmine Amladi and a GGM girl reading the Girls Bill of Rights, as it was voted on from thousands of girls around the country.

The Girls Govern Town Hall included three panels on very important issues to girls and young women today and multiple keynote speakers from all three sectors: public, private and nonprofit.

The first panel, where our own Maia Regman served as a panelist, was called Girls Rights Are Human Rights, and the main topic discussed was the issue of rape culture being so accepting in the United States. The second panel was called Navigating Social Media and Free Speech and our own Bharvi M.Chavre was a panelist, and the discussion revolved around the importance of having free speech while also making sure you are safe. The third panel was called Should She Run and it discussed the lack of girls and women in politics and what there could be done. Panelists, including BALI's Natasha Dodge, spoke about the importance of having more girls and women in politics from the lowest level to the highest, as well as the impact the current presidential election is having on them, considering the leading candidate for the first time in US history is a woman.