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Girls Going Green at the YWCA of Lowell

Project Details

Year: 2015 and 2016
Location: Lowell
Project Manager: Andy Chandonnet, YWCA of Lowell
Partners: Lowell Community Health Center, Girls Incorporated of Greater Lowell, Clean Water Fund, Umass Lowell- Center for Community Research and Engagement, Lowell Boys and Girls Club

Overview

The Girls Going Green program at the YWCA of Lowell developed a series of interactive workshops for young people about safer beauty and personal care products. The project team created informational brochures that explains the toxins that can be found in commercially marketed make-up and personal care products, and the benefits of using natural products. They provided the tools the attendees need should they choose to create their own natural make-up and personal care products at home.  They increased their participation in community-based forums and events to spread the word.

Results

The youth leaders directly engaged with over three hundred individual people, verbally providing them with information about toxics in cosmetics and personal care products, while also distributing informational pamphlets, alternative recipe cards, and sample lip balms that they created.  Some events included the Gulf of Maine Institute Conference, Winterfest, Lowell Earth Day Festival, and Peace in the Park.  One of the resources that their audiences most responded to was the "Skin Deep" app which could help consumers make more informed decisions about their personal care product purchases. They also appreciated receiving lip balm samples that contained simple and safe ingredients, and trying the do-it-yourself scrub and face mask recipes.

They had the participants in their workshops take a quiz to evaluate their knowledge about toxins in cosmetics at the beginning of the workshop, and then after the workshop they filled out an evaluation. After the workshops most people said that they would think about changing their habits and would share the information they learned with other people.  



This page updated Sunday April 03 2022