By Lookout Staff

December 23, 2011 -- Rosie's Girls Santa Monica (RGSM) has been awarded the League of California Cities' 2011 Helen Putnam Award for Excellence for engaging its youth in city government.

The three week summer day camp for girls entering 6th to 8th grades was recognized for using a model initially created for private non-profits to add civic engagement to the national curriculum.

"Our program takes the original Rosie's Girls model one step further by transforming participants' very hometown into a classroom," said Julie Rusk, Santa Monica Human Services Division Manager and co-founder of RGSM.

"Learning about a city from the inside out creates an extraordinary opportunity to connect girls with their community... all while having lots of fun," Rusk said.

Program participants, as well as alumni, get the opportunity to grow as leaders by participating in mock City Council meetings and working as Youth Liaisons for the City's Commission on the Status of Women.

The opportunities helped "create a stronger community through increased community service and advocacy," Rusk said.

Each year, approximately eighty 11 to 13-year old middle school girls don hardhats and jumpsuits and head into the trade shops at the City Yards to learn how to operate saws, drills, welding torches and other tools of the trades.

"This isn't your typical day camp," program officials said. The program is designed to "build self-esteem, physical confidence and leadership through an exploration of the trades and other non-traditional activities, including carpentry and welding."

The program was named for Rosie the Riveter, who represented the American women who worked in factories during World War II.

RGSM will be offered in the spring, April 9-13, and summer, June 25-July 13 and July 23-August 10, 2012. Generous financial assistance is available to qualifying families and payment plans are offered upon request.

For moredetails, visit www.rosiesgirls.smgov.net