Tuesday, September 6 marks the first day of school for the Chicago Public Schools. There’s excitement, scrambling for last minute supplies, and nerves. Of course the child is nervous for school; new classroom, new teacher, harder lessons and books. But, the parent(s) is also nervous. Of course they also worry about the class, friends, and teacher. But, there is a greater worry for the quality of their child’s education–are they learning what they need to succeed in life? Continue reading →

An important part of non-profit management is acknowledging all the people that help to get you there. Although you may feel like a one woman powerhouse, there was a lot of support that pushed you along and walked with you. And you don’t want to get so big that you forget that! Continue reading →

We all know that reading is beneficial. We are told to start our children young and encourage a love of reading to last them through adulthood. A task easier said than done in a society that pushes video games, social media, and television as superior forms of entertainment. So, how important is getting your kids to read… Continue reading →

With August here parents and children are turning there thoughts towards school. Education is right around the corner! For a lot of children, summer has been a vacation away not only from school. but also from learning. Educators have been talking about what they call “summer slide”. Continue reading →

The past few weeks we have shared with you the Pillars for the Polished Pebbles Girl’s Mentoring Program: Communication, Career Exploration, and Community. We are so proud of our girls and the success they have had. The success of our girls have inspired and caused us to grow. Their success is ours and we want to share with you how far we have come thanks to our girls. For we are nothing without our pebbles. Continue reading →

Just as Marian Wright Edelman says in the quote, we want our girls in Polished Pebbles to strive to make “small daily differences”. We want them to learn the importance of community and helping to build community. Even further, we hope to create a community with Polished Pebbles. Continue reading →

So, we know the importance of preparing our young women involved in Polished Pebbles for their future careers. Thanks to our many corporate partners, we are able to provide our girls with exciting career exploration opportunities. Continue reading →

We encourage our girls to build positive relationships and develop professional skills. Polished Pebbles does this through three pillars: Communication, Career Development, and Community. Each week we are going to highlight how Polished Pebbles uses these pillars to prepare our young women for their future careers. Continue reading →

In the traditional mentor and mentee model, the mentor is the older and wise contributor to the relationship. The mentee is usually younger, naive and open to learning as much as possible from the mentor. While there is nothing wrong with this traditional model of mentorship, it is limiting our learning opportunities! Continue reading →