California Woman of Steel Helps Young Girls Find Strength

About 75 young girls in Southern California’s North Tamarind Elementary School received lessons in empowerment, positivity and solidarity during a Girls’ Empowerment Day organized by Local 8599 Woman of Steel Trisha Garcia and her co-workers.  

Garcia, a clerk typist with Fontana Unified School District and a USW activist with the union’s Women of Steel and NextGen programs, worked closely with school counselor Zachery LaRue to help put together the program in conjunction with International Women’s Day in March. 

“We’ve really seen a change in our girls who attended,” Garcia said as she reflected on the positive lessons of the event, held for fourth- through sixth-grade girls. “It’s helped them become more confident, and it’s helped them to learn that they can rely on each other.”  

The program, which included an appearance via Zoom by Women of Steel Director Randie Pearson, was meant to help girls build strength and emotional well-being through their relationships and interactions with other women of all ages, Garcia said.  

Garcia said she hopes to make Girls’ Empowerment Day an annual event in the district and is already planning another program for March of next year. 

“It provides our students with the opportunity to learn how women can help other women,” she said.