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MPR News with Angela Davis
Angela Davis and Maja Beckstrom

Girl Scouts are about a lot more than the cookies

woman in green jacket looks at camera
Marisa Williams started as CEO of Girl Scouts River Valleys a year ago after leading nonprofit organizations in Pittsburgh, Pa. She oversees the organization that serves more than 17,000 girls in southern Minnesota, western Wisconsin and one county in Iowa.
Courtesy Girls Scouts River Valleys

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About 50 million women were once part of Girl Scouts. That’s a lot of women with shared childhood memories of selling cookies, earning badges and singing “Make new friends ...” around a campfire.

But, do you know what today’s Girl Scouts are doing? The organization has been around for more than 100 years and it’s still changing to meet girls where they are.

Girl Scouts troops across the country are paying more attention to supporting girls’ mental health and swapping out crafts for new badges in activities like electrical wiring and voter registration awareness. Locally, the organization is adding more culturally specific troops for Somali, Hmong, Latina and Black girls.

MPR News host Angela Davis talks about the future of the Girl Scouts with Marisa Williams, who started as CEO of the local Girl Scouts River Valleys just over a year ago.  

Guest:  

  • Marisa Williams became the CEO of Girl Scouts River Valleys in Dec. 2022, after moving to Minnesota from Pittsburgh, Pa. She was previously the CEO of an affordable housing organization called HEARTH and before that was a regional executive director for the YMCA of Greater Pittsburgh.

two women in broadcast studio
MPR News host Angela Davis (left) talks with Girl Scouts River Valleys CEO Marisa Williams in an MPR News studio in the Kling Public Media Center in St. Paul on Wednesday.
Maja Beckstrom | MPR News

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