WISH LIST $100: fills the van with gas for 1 field trip; $500: buys a week of supplies for the Summer Outdoor Adventure Camp; $1000: 1 week of programming for up to 65 girls

Community Bridges is the only youth program in the Long Branch/Montgomery County area working with girls from diverse families (ages 8-15) in their most pivotal years. And the work is critical: girls are vulnerable to a host of problems from gang involvement to academic failure. So the idea is to build strong, resilient girls who are equipped to succeed at life. The program includes after-school mentoring (one-on-one), academic enrichment (critical thinking, academic self-esteem, goal setting and planning), leadership development (conflict resolution, peer mediation, gang prevention), and life skills training (healthy relationships, body image, and positive coping strategies). Parents get together with their daughters for workshops on safety, cultural expression, and girls' development. Community and Family Events expose girls to professional women and educational opportunities that inspire them to pursue long-term educational and career goals, providing a positive vision of what the future might bring. Your support can help this much-needed program continue to make the girls of today into the excellent students, positive leaders, and healthy young women of tomorrow.

Ana Lopez, Executive Director 620 Pershing Drive, 2nd Floor Silver Spring, MD 20910 301-585-7155 communitybridges-md.org