High school girls stop through Sacto on their way up.

It’s a long way from 1939’s Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. This Wednesday, 100 Monterey County Ms.’s will travel to the state capital to meet their lawmakers and, hopefully, get inspired to someday become one of them.

“The girls will be meeting local members of the legislature, like Anna Caballero,” says Patty Fernandez-Torres, executive director of Girls Incorporated of the Central Coast. “They will be learning about current issues that affect women and the cities here.”

The Salinas affiliate of Girls Inc. sponsors the trip every year through its Education Careers Health Opportunities (ECHO) leadership program for high-risk teen women; this year’s trip will include a tour of the UC Davis campus.

Girls Inc. has been dedicated to inspiring “all girls to be strong, smart, and bold” since the mid-19th century. The local group, which began in 1999 and operates out of Oldtown Salinas, works with about 500 girls, ranging from elementary to high school levels, in six cities—Salinas, Seaside, Monterey, Gonzales, Soledad and Greenfield. Mentors travel to about a dozen school sites around the county twice a month to teach after-school workshops to participants in a yearlong program. Their focus is pregnancy prevention and post-secondary education.

“We teach how to set goals, present career opportunities, college opportunities and all the different choices that they have,” says Fernandez-Torres. “It’s a national research-based curriculum, so everything we do has been working for over 50 years with girls.”

Last month about 90 girls attended a yearly leadership retreat at the Monterey Conference Center, where they participated in workshops ranging from women’s history to eating disorders to budgeting tips and media portrayals of women and youth.

GIRLS IC. OF THE CENTRAL COAST is currently seeking adult women mentors to work with high school girls for next school year. For more visit Girlsinc.org.