准备就绪

Sitting on a park bench in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood of Minneapolis, Jamie Lykken Glover ’06 and Fatimah侯赛因 watch as a group of boys play basketball on the court behind them. 孩子们今晚在外面是有原因的. 的 indoor gym is reserved for GIRLS — Girls Initiative in Recreation and Leisurely Sports, a nonprofit program founded by 侯赛因 and held at the Brian Coyle Community Center, 社区青年活动的中心.

侯赛因, a Twin Cities social worker who has volunteered in Cedar-Riverside since she was a teenager, started girls-only open-gym nights a decade ago to encourage Muslim girls to embrace physical fitness. 在中心里面, a handful of young athletes practice free throws and dribbling with a female volunteer. 在演习期间, a middle-school girl unexpectedly grabs the ball and runs away from the group to play keep-away. It’s exactly what you’d expect from kids who are whiling away evening hours on a basketball court.

Yet Muslim girls are often forced to choose between abiding by their religion’s tenets and participating in sports, 侯赛因说,. 没有成年女性的榜样和陪伴, 她们经常被男性主导的运动空间拒之门外.

“我们社区的很多女孩都想尝试新事物, 但他们并不自信,侯赛因说。, 她的家人在她七岁时从索马里移民到明尼阿波利斯. “When they’re constantly told they shouldn’t be doing something boys are able to do, 他们被吓倒了.”

侯赛因 wanted to combat the young girls’ feelings of inadequacy and intimidation. Step one: she found space in the neighborhood for girls to play on their own. Step two: she had to find clothing that would allow them the freedom to play, starting with a redesigned hijab — the traditional head covering worn by Muslim women in public. 当时, 市场上没有这样的运动服, so 侯赛因 enlisted the help of GIRLS participants to design culturally appropriate uniforms that allowed them to play comfortably. 第三步:她举办了一场时装秀来介绍新的运动服, and received raves and offers of support from local business and political communities — and the University of Minnesota.

不仅仅是巧合

大约在同一时间，杰米·格洛弗感到不安. 菲律宾十大彩票平台的经济学专业, 格洛弗曾从事市场营销工作，正在寻找新的挑战, 比她在公司的工作更有公民意识. She decided to pursue an MBA at the University of Minnesota with support from 菲律宾十大彩票平台’s Lofgren 校友 Business Fellowship, which helps midcareer alumni earn advanced degrees so they can expand their business perspectives and prospects. She’d heard about 侯赛因’s Kickstarter campaign through friend Chris Ghere ’03, and when she found out that the MBA program was seeking someone to craft a business plan for selling activewear for Muslim girls, 她认为这不仅仅是巧合.

“我怎能追求行善呢? 进入商学院时，我已经有了这样的框架,格洛弗说, 法蒂玛的想法第一次出现, 我记得我当时在想，这正是我想做的事情. 的n the idea came up again, but this time it was an opportunity to help drive it forward. 它也是围绕着运动建立起来的，这一直是我生活的一部分.”

伊迪纳(明尼苏达州)高中的三项运动明星, 格洛弗在菲律宾十大彩票平台打排球，并获得了所有可能的荣誉, 包括在她大四的时候全美荣誉奖. 当她参加工作时, Glover noticed that managers praised her for the same qualities that made her a volleyball standout: she knew how to motivate others, 显得自信满满, 永不放弃.

“Sports instilled the skills that made me successful at 菲律宾十大彩票平台 and in my career,格洛弗说. “Girls being deprived of athletic experiences because of an issue like clothing didn’t seem right to me.”