Research at both the national and state level shows that Utah’s women and girls are struggling in several critical areas. The movement, A Bolder Way Forward (BWF) is meant to help girls, women and families to thrive.

A new program for teens called BWF Young Leaders Club helps girls see their potential to become a leader at school, at work and in her community. 

“Basically we are trying to increase the leadership skills and knowledge around the different areas of Bolder Way Forward in the younger population,” said Steph Smith, co-lead for Young Leaders. “A lot of the (BWF) movement has been directed toward adults and a lot of who you see at the meetings and the summit are adults, but this very much affects the younger generation as well, so we wanted to get them involved.”

“We knew that our task originally was to reach out to organizations who are helping girls and young women learn about leadership,” said Jen Werner, co-lead. “What we realized is, yes, it’s great to learn about all of these organizations but what Steph and I saw is that there maybe is a gap between whether or not even some of these organizations are specifically helping girls.”

Do they even realize that what they’re teaching is confidence? she said. “That what they’re teaching is like being out there, being vocal, using who you are as a girl, being yourself and then understanding what that power means. It’s not that you should shy away from being who you are when you're in mixed company.”

Statistics show that one out of five girls worldwide see themselves as a leader and even consider themselves where they might be a leader, said Werner. “They just don’t know what that means. Those words aren’t used often enough for them to start to see and understand that in themselves and we see that even in women. Steph and I were thinking ‘well if we can get to that younger generation and we can teach them what we wish we knew at their age, then maybe by the time they’re older you know, they’re standing on their own.’”

“I’d like to add that with the clubs we also recognize that male allyship is important,” said Smith. “We think it’s important to reach boys as they become young men and help them to recognize leadership in women as well.”

So anyone can be involved in the club, she said. “It’s student-led. When creating the framework we left it open for them to make changes if they want to later. Especially if the framework is used by different schools or groups, they can make whatever changes to their club that they want.”

It’s not just coming and sitting in meetings, said Smith. “It’s rather we’re coming to a meeting so we can plan an event, whether that’s an event to educate people or learning interviewing skills or networking.”

Adults will be there as support, she said. “You know administrative type of things particularly at schools but we really see it less as top down adults telling kids what to do and more kids taking that leadership role and initiative to create what they want.” 

It’s a grassroots movement, Werner said. “We all started from our own small places and then we’re making this big web with all these different people and places so that we can bring them all together.”

“We’re always here for support and any resources that we have we’re absolutely happy to share,” Smith said. “But we’re not here to kind of dictate and tell people this is how it has to be.”

“We’re passionate about leadership,” said Werner. “We need people to join us, then just help spread the word and get more things out there.”

For more information about how to start a Young Leaders Club in your area or to learn more about the program visit abolderwayforward.org or A Bolder Way Forward Young Leaders.