Jen Lacy is a resident of the Northeast and a High School science teacher at Crossroads Prepatory Academy.Lacy and her husband have lived in their Pendleton Heights home for almost three months and says they were drawn to the sense of community.

“We actually know our neighbors; we have lived in places where we have never had that. We really feel like it’s a place where our son can grow up. There’s lot of kids on our street and we are looking forward to him growing up with kids on the same block and going to school with him.”

She is also the Co-Founder of American Daughters, a non-profit organization that aims to support, connect with, and expose young women to greater opportunities and resources in the community. The organization offers a 4-week summer program that allows high school-age  women to explore an area of interest through mentorship; visit Kansas City neighborhoods and landmarks, including institutes of art, food, culture, and education; learn from and with women entrepreneurs and leaders; and work together to explore social and community issues.

Lacy says she co-created American Daughters with her sister in 2017 in an effort to be a part of an organization that worked to create opportunities for women to learn with each other and about each other and create spaces where women could share their stories.

“Having been around teenage girls in my career, there is so much about being a teenage girl in the media that doesn’t truly represent who they are. We have this stereotype about teenage girls. The young girls I work with care deeply about social issues and they care about their friends.”

Lacy says the young women will gain connections, references, and mentors through this program, exploring who they are in the process.

“We just want to create an opportunity for them to explore their passions and connect with other women in the community around their project. I want to create bigger space for them in the community, not just in the classrooms and school.”

To learn more about American Daughters, visit americandaughters.org.