YES is a pilot program that started in the summer of 2011, with 7 participants. We are currently taking application for the second cohort of the program. YES is a leadership program that gives young people between the ages of 15-18 opportunities to gain employment skills and service learning hours. The program requires a high level of commitment. If selected for the program participants will be trained in 1st Aid CPR, Conflict De-escalation, Skateboarding Instruction, Peer Mentoring, Event Production, Engaging the Public, and will receive hands on opportunities to use what they have learned. Participants will be expected to represent the YES program throughout their participation, if participants take part in questionable activities, they will be subject to being suspended or removed from participating in the program. YES is administered by Skate Like a Girl, in partnership with the community – through donations of time, products and services, and funded by Department of Neighborhoods grant.

ES offers teens an opportunity to transform their passion for skateboarding into experiential learning. The program gives young people real life experience that they can use to build a resume to apply for college, jobs, and other leadership programs. In addition to receiving mentorship from members of the local skateboarding community, there will be opportunities to go on fun team building trips, as well as meet new people, and be recognized by their community for giving back. Past participants have also expressed that they have had fun teaching new skateboarders, being involved in the community by volunteering, and putting together community events.

YES is a program for young women and men who are interested in skateboarding. You do not need to know how to skateboard to apply. The program is seeking participants that are hardworking, open to feedback, team players, and people with positive attitudes. If you do not live or go to school in Seattle – you are able to apply, but the priority is to serve Seattle residents.

Apply before May 4th 2012.

Winter (Feb, Mar): Every Sun except last Sun.
Feb: 5, 12 & 19
Mar: 4, 11 & 18

Spring (Apr, May, Jun): 1st and 3rd Sun
Apr: 1 & 15
May: 6 & 20
Jun: 3 & 17

Summer (Jul, Aug, Sept): 1st Sundays
Jul 8, Aug 5, Sept: 2

Fall (Oct, Nov, Dec): Every Sun except holidays
Oct: 7, 14, 21 & 28
Nov: 4, 11 & 18
Dec: 2, 9, & 16

Thanks for those who came out last week for the first Girls in Space and Wheels of Fortune.
Here is a video from last week’s event.

Thanks for all of your support.
Keep safe and warm.

We will see you next Sunday Jan 22.

Thank you thank you thank you for everyone who came out – EVEN though it snowed. It was so cool seeing all the girls come out for the whole weekend! We met a ton of new faces and caught up with familiar ones. Read more!

Weekend Recap! – by Nancy
Friday Skate Date @ Chelsea Piers
I was at the first Where the Ladies At weekend, and then skipped out last year, so I was looking forward to see who came out.  The night before Courtney from GRO welcomed me into town – as it rained,  so I was a little nervous about what the weather was going to be like.  It was so nice to see so many ladies come out to kick off the weekend!  17 year-old Claudia was welcoming ladies even before I got there. We had the furthest traveled like Angelina from Long Island, we had tons of locals that shred Chelsea Piers like Choko, Pigevil, Jen, Kelsey, and new faces like Nina B!  GRO had a huge turnout of both ladies who skate transition and street.  We also saw ladies who have been out for the last three years!  Like Niki, Lorena, and Jennifer from Uptown who has a lil bun in the oven.  It was cool to see the ladies all gel, skate with each other and teach each other how to skate.  Afterwards a few of us went out to get some Mexican food.

Saturday Where the Ladies At? >>> Homage
Saturday was a crazy day in October – it snowed!  Lanna and I rolled up as it starts to snow – and Jose from Homage is there.  Jose = awesome host – he welcomed us and pulled out a tent, BBQ, product and the indoor park!  Courtney comes a little later and we are like – uh- Where the Ladies at?  As we said that the steady stream starts with Angelina and her mom, Dan Tsui and Izzy who have been coming for 3 years in a row.  Alisaah shows up with her board wrapped up in plastic, and others show up.  We had a great turn out.  Lorena led a fun lesson / game of skate pushing everyone’s abilities, we had BBQ thanks to Amy’s Bread, Field Roast, and Vitamin Water.  Tons of prizes for all those that participated!  Jana from Berrics wrote an article and Dennis from Homage filmed the event.

Check them out:

Here is Jana’s article in Berrics! and Dennis’ video!

Sunday Girls Skate Conference @ GRO HQ

The Sunday conference was the cherry on top!  We had an intimate group of ladies from teens to 30′s talk about their experiences with skateboarding, and what they would like to see happen in NYC.  We had special guests Shannon Sexton and AJ Kohn from Philly’s Franklin’s Paine come talk about their programs.  The ladies are about to have another round of planning – which looks like it will be starting regular skate sessions in each borough!  If you are interested in being involved hit up Courtney from GRO: courtney.gro@gmail.com.

Thanks NYC for a fun weekend! Hope to see you next year!

Special thanks to NYC Skate Like a Girl volunteer Lanna Apisukh; Courtney @ GRO; Jose, Michelle, and Dennis @ Homage for hosting / product / video; Lorena for repping Rockstar Girls and teaching, Jana for the article in Berrics!

The third annual “Where the Ladies at? NYC” is organized by Uptown Skate School, Girls Riders Organization, and Skate Like a Girl.

It is a weekend that aims to bring girls together to skate and have fun. IF you have ever asked: where the ladies at? when you go to a skatepark, wanted to learn how to skateboard, or skate with other girls this is for you!  These events are open to all (yes boys are welcome)!  Costumes encouraged!

Come celebrate Halloween with girl skateboarders.

• Friday October 28th 4-7pm: Kick off your weekend with a Skate Date – meet girls who skate, and play a game of SKATE at Chelsea Piers Park. We will have prizes and other fun!
• Saturday October 29th 12pm-4pm: Homage answers the question “Where the Ladies at?” by hosting us in their indoor park.  There will be FREE clinics by GRO at 12pm – equipment provided by Uptown Skate School. Families are encouraged to come. FREE BBQ at 1pm, GAME of SKATE, Best Trick and prizes and $$.  We will be skating and making friends! Must have waiver to skate at Homage: http://homagebrooklyn.com/forms/TF_WAIVER.pdf
• Sunday October 30th 12pm – 4pm: Girls Skateboarding Conference at GRO’s Brooklyn Headquarters.  This is a free event to envision with other girl skaters of all ages and abilities about what the Girls’ Skate Scene should look like in 2012.  Food and drinks provided.  Be prepared to share ideas, and get pumped to build a stronger girls skateboarding community! FREE, but you must RSVP to conference by email: NYC@skatelikeagirl.com

This weekend is made special thanks to our supporters:

• Homage
• 5boro
• Rockstar Bearings
• Silly Girl Design
• Tom Tom Magazine
• Up 2 Us
• Brokelyn
• Classic
• Vitamin Water
• Amy’s Breads
• Field Roast

For more information please call: 206.973.8005 or NYC@skatelikeagirl.com

Get on your costumes and come skate at Innerspace!
The YES Crew will be there helping out.  Prizes and fun from local companies!

Teaming up w/ Uptown Skate School + GRO for Halloween!

Where the Ladies At NYC! Is an annual trek out to NYC to skate with girls and ghouls.  In the past two years we have rallied girls to skate, put on free community events: clinic and skate activities, attended other Halloween events like Hellraiser, and just went to meet people and make friends.
 
 
 
 

Tentative Schedule:

We are working to lock down details.  So locations and times are currently TBA.

• Friday 28: Skate Date
• Saturday 29: Skate Event
• Sunday 30: Girls Skate Conference

If you would like to help out or attend the event, please fill this out.

Footage from our first year!

Footage from our 2nd year!

RSVP on Facebook!

On August 7th starting at 6:30pm, we will be at the Piranha Shop in Sodo with an art exhibit and other fun things like making buttons and silkscreening shirts.  Bring your friends!

Skate Like a Girl spearheaded a Seattle Department of Neighborhood Grant, and was notified on July 18, 2011 that the City of Seattle approved our plan for a youth employment program! 4 paid internships and 4 Coaches in Training (unpaid) positions are up for grabs!

Youth Employment Skateboarding (YES) is a program administered by Skate Like a Girl, through a City of Seattle Department of Neighborhood Grant.
This was made possible with the community support from residents in Fremont, Greenlake, and Wallingford, along with businesses and the skateboarding community.

YES is a leadership and employment training program for young skateboarders between the ages of 12 and 23.
The program will take place between August 1 – November 12, 2011. We are looking for 4 Interns, and 4 CITs. YES is open to Seattle residents only.

INTERNS paid for 16 – 23 year-olds

• Service Learning Hours
• Earn up to $800
• Experience in a variety of areas (instructing, event organizing, civic engagement)

Coach in Training unpaid for 12 – 17 year-olds

• Service Learning Hours (50 hours minimum)
• Experience in a variety of areas (instructing, event organizing, civic engagement)

Young skateboarders can apply for this pilot project between Jul 24- Aug 1, 2011.

The application can be found here for the YES Intern App and YES CIT App

Hope everyone is as stoked for summer as we are!

This summer, a diverse array of camps will be offered in Bellevue, Redmond, Burien, and Seattle, catering to ages ranging 8 to 17.

Burien Girls Only Summer Camp
Age: 11-17 Fee: $160
August 1-5 12-3pm
Register email: Amanda amandam@burienwa.gov
Instructor: Katie Killeen

Bellevue Girls Only Summer Camp
Age: 8+ Fee: $130R/$160N
August 8-12 1pm-4pm (#59497)
Instructor: Katie Killeen

More information / register here:
Questions Contact: Steve Gonzalez sgonzales@bellevuewa.gov

LADIES!!! Have you ever had an interest in skateboarding but didn’t know where to start? Now is the chance to put some shred into your life! Skatepark of Baltimore and Skate Like a Girl are teaming up to host a 2-hour workshop for ladies of all ages on the basics of skateboarding!

We will be covering safety, board design and basic form. Helmet, elbow pads, knee pads and complete skateboard needed, however should you not have any of these items we have a limited supply of loaners. Please RSVP to casejacks@gmail.com to receive the waiver and specify if you need to reserve a loaner item. Note that the waiver must be completed in advance and children under 18 must be accompanied by an adult at the beginning of the workshop.

This workshop is FREE for ladies young and old and is located at one of the oldest skateparks in the USA!! Don’t be shy! Come join our wonderful female skate community!!!

Please RSVP here!

Summer is right around the corner.

Summer Camp Schedule:

August

Girls in Space 2nd Sundays of the Month 10am-12pm @ Innerspace Skatepark

The money pledged to the zine via Kickstarter will go toward paying for the printing services and postage for distributing the zines worldwide. All leftover money (if any) will go toward future issues of the zine. Since this is a volunteer run zine, we are using Kickstarter to pay for the zine and make the zine more accessible to people regardless of their financial situation by not having to charge $ for Escape Route. This project will only be funded if the pledge amount is reached by the May 21, 2011 deadline.

If you’d like to be a part of the #2 issue of Escape Route please send in your submissions to skatelikeagirlsf@gmail.com by May 21, 2011. We’d like to have the zine ready to print by May 31, 2011 and ready to distribute by June 2011.

Check out Issue # 1 : Escape Route Issue #1