Girl Up Edinburgh X Girl Vow

1pm EST/6pm BST

Economic, judicial, health and educational disparities have long been pervasive in marginalized communities in the US. Now with COVID-19, these systemic inequalities are exacerbated, and affecting young women and girls impacted by poverty, fostercare, and the juvenile justice system. With Professor Dawn Rowe, Founder and Executive Director of Girl Vow, Inc this session will unpack the roots, challenges, consequences, and possible solutions of COVID-19’s impact on young Women and Girls in New York City.

Addressing the structural racism and sexism Women and Girls of Color face, this conversation will discuss how Dawn protects and prepares girls to overcome a system that at best isn’t fighting for them, and at worst is actively working against them. This session will discuss #sayhername and the school to confinement pipeline - a concept introduced by Monique W. Morris - and the impact of COVID-19 on the adultification and criminalization of Black and Brown girls.

Professor Dawn Rowe Founder/ Executive Director of Girl Vow

Black Women & Girls Trauma Expert, Named by Madam Noire and Hello Beautiful as #SPEAKHER50 one of the dynamic black women & femmes in politics, advocacy, and journalism.

Prior to becoming the Founder of Girl Vow, Inc. Dawn was once slated for an alternative to incarceration education program and placed in drop-out prevention during her high school years while suffering from family turmoil. The fear of being placed in an institutional setting coupled with parental abandonment would cause Dawn to drop out of high school. However, the love for academics and the push from mentors would cause Dawn to attend an alternative high school; where she received her high school diploma. The earlier academic conflicts still haunt Dawn because the system that indicted her never stopped to inquire about her. When we look at the cost of NYC youth detention ($620 a day), failing educational systems, endemic poverty, and an overburdened foster care system the tone of indictment loudly resonates in our strained communities. When we preliminarily indict our youth, society turns the light on into a criminalistics/homeless pathway that can’t be escaped.

Girl Vow, Inc. was born as Dawn’s passion to intervene in each one of the aforementioned social dilemmas. Dawn wants to save as many girls as she can the way others have saved her. In her professional career Dawn is a faculty member at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, MCNY, a certified Institutional Review Board (IRB) researcher, youth motivational speaker, and the former Vice President of a large not for profit in New York. Dawn worked for the District Attorney’s Office, in youth development, interned at the Department of Juvenile Justice, and worked within the foster care system. Dawn holds a dual Bachelor's Degree in Deviant Behavior and Criminology from John Jay College, a Master of Arts in Sociology from Brooklyn College, and a Master's of Science in Higher Education Administration from Baruch College City University of New York. Dawn has received recognition for her work in domestic violence, from senators, and the department of juvenile justice. In 2019, she was one of MadamNoire/Hello Beautiful Award Recipients for 50 dynamic black women in advocacyhttps://madamenoire.com/category/speakher-50/​. She is the co-author of the forthcoming book African Americans and Criminal Justice. Dawn can be reached at ​dawnrowe@girlvow.org​ for speaking inquiries and follow up.