Creating Confidence and Community

Nonprofit plans to empower middle school girls with leadership programming

By Laurel Manke | May 27, 2023

Girls enter middle school at a pivotal age, a time when self-esteem can plummet, a lot of changes are happening, and life gets more complicated at just about every level. However, middle schools often lack supportive programming that empower girls to find and use their voices.

“There is a lot of programming for youth in high school, and there are a fair deal of things in elementary school, including The Girl Scouts,” says Sabrina Morrice, founder of The Helm Foundation. “But in middle school, the bottom kind of drops out. And it is one of the most crucial times. So to not have support there feels like a big miss.”

The Helm Foundation began in 2022 with a mission “to support female-identifying people using education encouragement to advance access to business and leadership programming.” What started as an organization geared toward empowering adult women through book clubs and other programs is expanding to support a younger cohort—middle school girls—this fall.

Building Up Female Leaders

Morrice says The Helm Foundation started as an extension of her marketing firm, Anchorlight Creative, that serves creative businesses.

“This is our 10th year in business… A lot of our work includes building one-on-one relationships with business owners,” Morrice explains. “We find that a lot of the issues female business owners encounter stem from a lack of confidence and lack of clarity on their value and general leadership qualities.”

Morrice and her team saw an opportunity to offer more leadership development programming for women who did not fit into Anchorlight Creative’s core business. She and Anchorlight COO Annie Zimmerman decided to build an offering for female leadership development, and The Helm Foundation was born, operating as the nonprofit sister organization to Anchorlight Creative.

“We knew it needed to be a not-for-profit business. There is a lot more flexibility to do the type of programming we were interested in doing versus a standard business. We immediately wanted to talk with Brenda [McLellan] about our idea,” Morrice recalls. 

Brenda McLellan is the director of investor engagement for Traverse Connect and helped Morrice facilitate leadership-focused book club programming before The Helm Foundation formed. She has since stepped up to serve as president of the nonprofit and is thrilled to support the expansion to middle schools.

“When I was young, I remember not using my voice at all and being very quiet,” McLellan says. “I wish I had something like this to be a part of, because I think I may be a completely different person today.”

Supporting the Younger Generation

The new program, called Helm on Deck, will begin this fall and is open (for free) to 6th grade girls throughout the five-county region: Leelanau, Benzie, Antrim, Grand Traverse, and Kalkaska. Students will meet in person once a month starting in September.

“We plan to have a session every month throughout the school year and offer a way to stay connected over the summer,” Morrice explains.

Helm on Deck will have a custom-built program that focuses on topics such as healthy living, bullying, body image, mental health, and self-esteem. Morrice says she’s planning to model the structure off programs The Helm Foundation has done for adults while focusing on the issues the girls face.

Helm on Deck will follow a three-part framework for its inaugural year. Level one will focus on self-care and stress management, level two on relationships and conflict, and level three on leadership and finding your voice. McLellan says that copious notes will be taken in this first year, and those findings, alongside insight and recommendations from the program participants, will help shape the curriculum for future years.

She adds that another key to the short- and long-term success of the group is connecting the young women, many of whom may be from different schools and won’t know each other.

“We’re going to use a pyramid of feeling safe and supported,” McLellan says. “So what we’d like to do is show in one of our first sessions that we’re providing a safe environment, a supportive environment … so that they can understand that it’s okay to be open and honest and vulnerable. We’re going to build that relationship amongst the group.”

Looking Toward the Future

McLellan says Helm on Deck will likely start off with one group for the 2023-24 school year, though if there is significant interest, each county could have its own cohort. In future years, programming will expand to 7th graders and then 8th graders.

“We’re designing [the program] so that these young ladies can support each other,” McLellan adds. “The ones that are older will be able to shape the younger ones as they are coming through the school system.”

In addition to building the program’s curriculum, The Helm Foundation’s leaders are currently gauging program interest and the volunteers and resources needed to support it. Their hope is for each school system in the five-county region to eventually offer its own free, women-led, volunteer-managed middle school leadership program for girls.

Morrice and McLellan are excited that many of our region’s middle schools show interest in participating.

“The expectation is that this will snowball. The mindset is we’re going to begin with 6th and 7th graders. Together, they will navigate the space of being in middle school and making their way, finding their voice, and using their talents to the best of their abilities,” McLellan says. “The ideal outcome is that this is something that would grow statewide and then nationwide.”

Want to learn more or get your kiddo signed up? McLellan says to head to thehelmfoundation.org and use the contact form to indicate interest in the program and register to receive information for the 2023-24 school year.

“We want [Helm on Deck] to be something that’s memorable and something that [girls] can take away and use throughout the rest of their lives,” McLellan tells us. “The biggest goal is to create confidence and community through this programming.”

For more information, visit thehelmfoundation.org. For resources on empowering girls, Morrice and McLellan suggest checking out amightygirl.com.