Similar to the Boys Club, Girls Inc. inspires all girls "to be strong, smart, and bold through school-based empowerment programs, assertiveness education, and community advocacy for girl-affirming policies and practices." I have been working with the Associates Mentorship Program, where four women at REI have been teamed up with four young girls. We meet with the girls twice a month to work on a challenge project and have one-on-one mentorship opportunities. We've been introducing the girls to the REI culture-- at one meeting we set up tents and tried out packs and next time, we'll rock climb the Pinnacle at our downtown Portland store.
At our most recent meeting, we took the girls for a hike in Forest Park:
Dacia, the girls and I explore the old stone house on the Lower Macleay Trail in Forest Park. 
Kelly (another mentor), SaKari, me, Tyler & Alycia.
It has been a great experience so far-- I think the best part is realizing how different it is for a teenage girl to grow up in 2008 compared to my teenage years in the mid-nineties. The girls still don't believe I didn't have a cell phone.
Dacia, the girls and I explore the old stone house on the Lower Macleay Trail in Forest Park. 
Kelly (another mentor), SaKari, me, Tyler & Alycia.The other great experience has been volunteering for activities with the girls. Over the weekend, I chaperoned seven other young girls from the Girls Inc. program on a hike to the Tillamook forest:
The girls gather close while Charlotte, the forest ranger, shows them a nurse log. Right around the corner from the log was a gigantic ant hill. OMG. They freaked right out.
Overheard in the van on the way home:
Overheard in the van on the way home: "I didn't know hiking would be so much exercise."
"I wish we would have seen wild horses in the woods."
"So do they cut all these trees down for paper? That's like a ton of books."
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