Youth and adult membership in Girl Scouts drops sharply; more volunteers needed
Youth and adult membership in Girl Scouts drops sharply; more volunteers needed
NEW YORK — For the second straight year, youth and adult membership in the Girl Scouts has dropped sharply, intensifying pressure on the 102-year-old youth organization to find ways of reversing the trend.
According to figures provided to The Associated Press, the total of youth members and adult volunteers dropped by 6 percent over the past year — from 2,994,844 to 2,813,997. Over two years, total membership is down 11.6 percent, and it has fallen 27 percent from a peak of more than 3.8 million in 2003.
While the Girl Scouts of the USA have had an array of recent internal difficulties — including rifts over programming and serious fiscal problems — CEO Anna Maria Chavez attributed the membership drop primarily to broader societal factors that have affected many youth-serving organizations.
“Parents and families are less financially stable, frequently working two jobs or more, leaving little time to volunteer or take their children to extracurricular activities,” she said.
In hopes of stemming the decline, the Girl Scouts are revamping their online platforms with new toolkits. One is aimed at streamlining the process of joining the Girl Scouts; another seeks to help volunteer troop leaders plan an entire year of meetings and activities with a single online visit.
UN envoy to Syria warns of massacre in Syria town if it falls to Islamic State militants
MURSITPINAR, Turkey — In a dramatic appeal, a U.N. official warned that hundreds of civilians who remain trapped in the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani near the border with Turkey were likely to be “massacred” by advancing extremists and called on Ankara to help prevent a catastrophe.
Staffan de Mistura, the U.N. Syria envoy, raised the specter of some of the worst genocides of the 20th century during a news conference in Geneva to underscore concerns as the Islamic State group pushed into Kobani from the south and east.
“You remember Srebrenica? We do. We never forgot. And probably we never forgave ourselves for that,” he said, referring to the 1995 slaughter of thousands of Muslims by Bosnian Serb forces.
He spoke to reporters at a press conference in Geneva where he held up a map of Kobani and said a U.N. analysis shows only a small corridor remains open for people to enter or flee the town.
His warning came as the Islamic State group seized the so-called “Kurdish security quarter” — an area where Kurdish militiamen who are struggling to defend the town maintain security buildings and where the police station, the municipality and other local government offices are located.
Women in tech, finance face biggest pay gap, less likely to win top jobs
NEW YORK — Don’t ask for a raise. Keeping quiet will give you “superpowers” that will translate into employer trust and other “good karma” that will eventually come back around to your purse.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella was widely derided Thursday for his foot-in-mouth statement at an event celebrating women in computing. During his stage interview, Microsoft director Maria Klawe asked Nadella to give advice to women who want to advance their careers but are uncomfortable asking for promotions and raises. His pearl of wisdom? Just trust that the system will reward you “as you go along.” He didn’t say if he has employed that philosophy during his decades-long career at Microsoft. He later apologized.
Men are eight times more likely than women to negotiate salary when taking a job, according to a study by Linda Babcock and Sara Laschever for their 2007 book “Women Don’t Ask: The High Cost of Avoiding Negotiation” and “Positive Strategies for Change.”
By wire sources