Commission on the Status of Women and Girls outlines dashboard, partnerships and local programs to board

The Commission on the Status of Women and Girls (CSWG) told the Leon County School Board on Feb. 11 that it is expanding its work in Leon County, launching a data dashboard to measure the well-being of women and girls and partnering with schools and local businesses on scholarship and enrichment programs.

Stephanie Shumate, executive director of the CSWG, said the commission — a joint city‑county advisory body housed at the Oasis Center for Women and Girls — now operates six standing committees and has established about 13 deliverables since an organizational expansion beginning in 2022. She told the board the commission hired its first full‑time staff and has been documenting progress toward its goals, including a Women and Girls Summit that provided sponsored attendance for at least one student from every high school.

"We are very close to checking all those 13 deliverables off," Shumate said, describing efforts to pair community volunteers and businesses with schools through a Classroom Connection program and to establish a digital well‑being dashboard for women and girls.

Jillian Gregory, chair of the CSWG’s Education Committee, highlighted the commission’s Girl of the Month recognition and ongoing work to support early‑childhood attendance and school‑based mental‑health initiatives. She described committee meetings as open and public and encouraged board members and staff to attend. "We are committed to creating opportunities that empower, uplift, and inspire," Gregory said.

Shumate and Gregory described specific partnership work at Riley Elementary School, where classroom partners and local donors combined private gifts with matches from the Florida Prepaid College Foundation and the Leon County Schools Foundation to purchase one‑year college scholarships for six kindergarten students. Shannon (last name not provided), representing one of the Classroom Connection partners, said the group donated and the gifts were doubled by the foundation match, producing scholarships for six students.

The commission also cited policy advocacy wins: Shumate said Leon County government expanded its parental‑leave policy to eight weeks of fully paid leave for both parents, which the commission described as among the state’s most comprehensive local policies. The CSWG said it is working with the city to pursue similar changes.

Board members asked how the commission’s dashboard will translate data into policy recommendations. Shumate said the dashboard’s purpose is to surface data first and then shape policy discussions and recommendations.

The commission invited board members and district staff to participate on committees and encouraged nominations for the Girl of the Month. Shumate and Gregory said committee meetings are publicly noticed and that the commission intends to use data and partnerships to amplify existing community services rather than duplicate direct-service programs.

The presentation concluded with board members praising the commission’s community engagement and encouraging continued collaboration on data-sharing and policy questions.