Commission on the Status of Women and Girls outlines data dashboard, partnerships to boost girls' supports

Stephanie Shumate, executive director of the Commission on the Status of Women and Girls, told the Leon County School Board on Feb. 11 that the commission has restructured and expanded since 2022 and is launching new, data‑driven work to guide local policy and partnership efforts. “We’re actually an advisory council developed to provide policy recommendations directly to the city and the county, based on improving the lives of women and girls,” Shumate said.

Shumate described a reorganization that created six standing committees — Education; Economic Security; Employment and Earnings; Health and Development; Political Equity; and Violence and Safety — and hired full‑time staff to ensure continuity. She said the commission is close to completing 13 deliverables set during the reorganization, and that the commission operates on an Oct. 1–Sept. 30 term and budgeting cycle.

Jillian Gregory, chair of the commission’s Education Committee, highlighted several committee projects that intersect with the school district, including a “Girl of the Month” recognition, an online resource repository, and a campaign to support early‑childhood attendance (birth to age 3). “Our most recent Girl of the Month was Hassani Ulegati… She is excelling academically in the IB program, and she is deeply committed to serving her school and her local community,” Gregory said.

Shumate and Gregory also described partnerships that provide direct supports in schools: a classroom‑adoption program run by the Tallahassee Chamber; scholarship matching with the Florida Prepaid College Foundation and the Leon County Schools Foundation; a permanent food pantry supported by Sparkle Tallahassee and Second Harvest; a pet‑therapy reading program; and onsite childcare at the commission’s summit in partnership with Kids Inc. Shumate said classroom sponsors pooled modest donations that were doubled by foundation matches to create one‑year college scholarships for six Riley Elementary kindergarten students.

The commission is building a public “well‑being dashboard” to track metrics for women and girls locally, Shumate said, and described it as a first‑of‑its‑kind local dashboard intended to inform policy recommendations and program priorities. She asked for continued district collaboration on data sharing and said committee meetings are publicly noticed and open to the public.

Board members thanked the commission for its work and asked for follow‑up on how the dashboard’s data would translate into specific policy recommendations. Stephanie Shumate and Gregory encouraged board members and staff to participate in committee meetings and to share nominations for Girl of the Month. The presentation included several examples of the commission’s community events and outreach from the prior year.

The board did not take formal action on the presentation; the commission requested continuing partnership and data collaboration.