Petition for the removal of the CEO and COO from their positions at Girls inc of Worcester and the board of directors (BOD) and for Girls Inc. to begin the anti racist and restore justice necessary to ensure the safety of all staff and participants.

To Girls Inc. National, the Board of Directors, the Worcester community, and the greater public:

Despite numerous internal efforts to shift the culture of the GIW and dedicate resources to address harmful policies and attitudes detrimental to the safety and well being of its community, the leadership continues to foster a toxic work environment including but not limited to continuous Racism and Discrimination, Ableism, Labor Rights Violation, Coercion, toward not only the staff of colors but also participants and families.

There's an ongoing pattern of high turnover rates of staff of color, especially termination or driving black employees to quit at a higher incomparable rate than their white counterparts. They are subjected to disparate treatment and rules, different standards and higher degree of scrutiny than others.

Please note

On May 2nd 2023  the following letter was first sent out to the BOD. 

On May 5th 2023 their response was to place the CEO and COO on administrative leave and GIW shut down citing “low staff” as the primary reason. The latter is regrettable as families and children relied on these essential resources despite the toxic environment and leadership but placing these individuals on leave doesn’t meet our demands and is nearly not enough accountability for the victims of their abuse.

Below are a few testimonies from a collective of program staffs, program participants, and parents of participants 

You can find the full written testimonies here

“Black women and girls in this organization have been undervalued and used as props. Our images used to portray an image of Faux inclusivity. Quotes and statistics about black girls posted on the organization's social media and websites are all superficial, never really intended to be inclusive. If it wasn’t related to some sort of press The CEO couldn’t be bothered. The COO cruelty is calculated and intentional.I have never in my life met anybody so hellbent on being awful. She felt more like a Prison Warden than a COO. Most people’s reactions to kids isn’t to automatically assume the worst in them But here it is a culture. This is most especially true for the black kids. Girls Inc. Worcester is a place where bully culture and racism thrive. In no way will anyone working there or attending a program be empowered, emboldened or feel strong.”

“I have been in leadership roles in non-profit organizations for 30 years and I have never experienced such disregard for people in general. My background is to mentor and uplift people who serve the population that organizations serve. There was zero respect for this. The "leadership" wanted punitive responses to every action. The CEO spent ridiculous efforts making statements about black women's braids, a complete disconnect.”

“I had made several reports up until that time without incident. I continued to try to call with no success. Before this time I had made a "complaint" to the Board of Directors, specifically the HR liaison about the lack of leadership and concerns regarding racial inequities. I was quoted with Ghandi "be the change you want to see.”

“They ( CEO & COO) were given all the opportunities of receiving information through trainings. They would send all of the full time staff but they were not attending them. No accountability for how they have been complicit in many of these acts of racism. A seemingly strong belief that they themselves don’t have to grow and change and be better. If fact they were resentful of the implication that they even need to change”

“My Black child was targeted by The COO and when I addressed the issue I was accused of trying to “get a lawsuit”...I witnessed Black girls as young as 5 being targeted by The COO. When frustrated she will yell at full time staff, and often makes micro aggressive comments about children (of color), often wanting to take disciplinary action and or dismiss them from the program quicker than she would a child who isn’t Black… The CEO often makes micro aggressive comments towards Black children as well, and has also been caught lying about her whereabouts to incriminate a Black child.”

“The COO expressed disappointment and discontent with girls who "disrespected" space. Girls who smudged glass in spaces that were paid for by funders and made her angry, dirty spaces that girls disrespected, no respect for bathrooms. Her complete lack of understanding of trauma perspective was very apparent. She expressed zero understanding of the WHY some of these beautiful girls behave in the way they do.”

“I saw the clear disparate treatment toward the black girls in my programs and when I refused to take punitive actions towards the girls like they wanted me to I got sideline and shunned out. The more advocating for the young black girls in the program whether it was for more resources, clear guidelines and expectations or simply recreational excursion, the more I got undermined and my work sabotaged. A white staff even said the n-word during summer camp near the kids and they did nothing about it when it was reported to them.”

“Within the first week of employment, I was told that I should "get rid of" some staff. One was a young man who was an afterschool staff. The COO stated that "he gave her the creeps" and stated that, "I know you can't fire someone due to that, but you can find a way..." also, another staff member who was of different ethnicity suggested that I terminate her for various insufficient reasons.”

“In regards to teachers putting their hands on kids, unfortunately this is an issue at 2 neighborhood schools. Me and other staff had reported this and The COO specifically told us not to file 51As because it’ll ruin our partnerships in the communities.”

“I started at girls inc when i was 5 years old all the way until i was 15 years old. The way the staff and children are treated is absolutely disgusting. As a girl inc girl  I literally would shake whenever a past employee would come into the room. we would be screamed at, discriminated against & constantly disrespected. When the parents were around, administrators were sweet and kind and as soon as the parents left they would constantly degrade us girls.”

 Full written testimonies here

Summing up, the following encompass the general trends of violations from the leadership towards both BIPOC staffs and participants:

• Unequal compensation and work benefits, denial of overtime pay, failure to provide reasonable accommodations
• Overall created, enforced, or allowed policies and practices that have disproportionately affected the terms, conditions, and benefits of employment.
• Yelling, berating, undermining, ostracizing, penalizing, isolating, belittling and scapegoat staff of color by targeted micromanagement treating  as inferior, second class, unqualified incompetent  and offering.
• Little to no support for staff of color while expecting more work responsibilities, work duties outside of the agreed terms.
• Refuse to implement culturally responsive programs for our predominantly Black and brown Girls or take credit for implementing said programs while subjecting discriminatory and retaliatory treatment  to staff whenever they brought issues related to race or abilities.
• And most of all, subjecting the kids enrolled at Girls Inc to the same harmful and discriminatory practices, namely attempting to remove them from programs, refusing ti report or investigate child abuse/ endangerment incidents or deny benefits on trumped up accusations that do not require punitive actions.

Many have tried to come forward to the internal HR/ Director of people and culture, the HR liaison even Girls Inc National but ended up being retaliated against with various  tactics from increased scrutiny to termination. There has been no attempts of investigation or actions for accountability and justice for those who have been harmed prior to our petition.

Thus we've created this petition as a form of collective action. Please consider signing this petition to hold the leadership accountable for their actions. Your support is essential to ensuring a safe space. We hope that the public opinion can lead to the removal of this toxic leadership.

You can also help by writing to Girls inc National at communications@girlsinc.org or calling them at  212-509-2000 to inform them about our petition and demands.

 Our demands are as follows:

To the Board of Directors, we demand the immediate removal of The CEO and The COO from their positions and any other affiliations with organization so that they can no longer inflict harm on the children and staff, a public formal letter apology as well as an investigation into this matter. And Lastly ensuring quality replacement for the new administration, that they are well versed in social justice practices, REAL equity, non ableist and anti racist.

In solidarity with Girls Inc of Lowell June. 2020 letter we reiterate their demand that Girls Inc. to begin the work necessary to address deep-rooted white supremacy and harmful patriarchy in areas such as board representation, policy development, recruiting, hiring, on boarding, mentoring, trauma informed and culturally responsive leadership and practices, and meaningful collaborations with culturally specific organizations. 

Thank you!