Commission on the Status of Women and Girls presents well-being dashboard plan, urges school partnerships

The Commission on the Status of Women and Girls (CSWG) told the Leon County School Board on Feb. 11 that it has expanded staff and committees and is launching a local well-being dashboard to track the health and opportunity of women and girls in the county.

At the meeting Stephanie Shumate, executive director of the commission, said the CSWG moved from a volunteer-led advisory body to a structure with six standing committees and full‑time staff to build consistent, year-to-year work. “Our role is not to do direct service. Our role is to amplify partners that are doing the direct service,” Shumate said during her presentation.

The commission described completed and ongoing projects: a Girls and Women Summit that included students from every high school with childcare provided on-site; expansion of a classroom-sponsor program that purchased one-year college scholarships for six kindergartners using donor matches and Florida Prepaid/Leon County Schools Foundation matches; and advocacy that helped Leon County government adopt an eight-week, 100 percent paid parental‑leave policy for adoption and birth, which Shumate called the most comprehensive in the state for county government.

Jillian Gregory, chair of the CSWG Education Committee, described committee work that highlights and supports student leaders and early‑childhood attendance efforts. She noted the commission’s “Girl of the Month” recognition and said the committee meets monthly and welcomes community members to take part in focused work on education, attendance and resource referrals.

Shumate said the commission is finalizing a public-facing digital dashboard to measure and publish community indicators for women and girls; she described it as among the first locally focused dashboards of its kind and said the tool is intended to drive data‑based policy recommendations. Board members asked how the dashboard’s findings will translate into formal policy proposals and Shumate said the commission intends for the dashboard to inform recommendations for both the school district and local government.

Board members and district staff were invited to participate on CSWG committees and to use the commission’s resources and forthcoming website overhaul. Shumate and Gregory asked staff to help connect the commission’s research and recommendations with district data and program staff so policy options can be considered when the dashboard produces findings.

The presentation closed with contact information and an open invitation for district representatives to attend committee meetings and nominate students for the commission’s recognitions.