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Indiana Girl Scouts can earn new Civil Rights Patch

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Girl Scouts across Indiana can earn a brand new Civil Rights Patch.

Part of the organization’s mission includes building courage, confidence and character. They said the curriculum to earn this patch will do that.

The Indiana Civil Rights Commission developed the curriculum that’ll be used for girls to earn the patch. A lot of people think of cookies first when they hear Girl Scouts, but organizers said the work they do is about more than that. It’s about shaping young girls.

“When you think about what it means to be a leader that’s where we really want to spend our time,” said Danielle Shockey, CEO of The Girl Scouts of Central Indiana.

“So this kind of content helps them think bigger than themselves,” Shockey said.

On May 1, the Civil Rights Commission unveiled the new patch. So far more than 200 girls have started the curriculum and more are quickly joining.

“We are actually wanting more girls to take advantage of the patch,” John Hawkins, public outreach manager of the Indiana Civil Rights Commission.

The commission created the curriculum as a way to eradicate discrimination while educating girls about civil rights, and it’s broken down so girls in different age ranges can relate.

“We wanted to impact our youth to keep this going with the coming generations, so we felt if we worked on this curriculum we would be able to impact a lot of girls,” Hawkins said.

This badge is different and so is the process to earn it. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the curriculum is online along with video to help guide girls through it.

“So, our goal with this was not only to educate these Girl Scouts on civil rights and discrimination, but we also wanted to teach them how to educate others,” said Mackenzie Holden, communications manager with The Indiana Civil Rights Commission.