National Programs
Girls Inc. delivers life-changing programs that inspire girls to be strong, smart, and bold. Research-based curricula, delivered by trained professionals, equip girls to achieve academically; lead healthy and physically active lives; manage money; navigate media messages; and discover an interest in science, technology, engineering, and math. The network of local Girls Inc. nonprofit organizations serves 140,000 girls ages 6-18 annually at over 1,200 sites in 350 cities across the United States and Canada.
Girls learn about money and the economy, including how to manage, invest, and save money and how to help others through philanthropy. As girls explore how the economy affects everyone locally and globally, they develop skills critical to being financially savvy and to becoming economically independent adults.
Girls Inc. Friendly PEERsuasion
Girls develop skills to resist pressure to use harmful substances, such as drugs, alcohol, tobacco, and household chemicals. After learning healthy ways to manage stress and to deflect peer, media, and other pressures that contribute to substance use, girls become peer educators (PEERsuaders) for younger girls.
Girls Inc. Leadership and Community Action
Girls build leadership skills and create lasting social change through community action projects. With support from women in their community, girls celebrate the heritage of girls and women as leaders and social change agents and realize their own power as community resources and trustees of the common good.
Girls increase their awareness of the scope and power of the media and the effects of media messages on girls and women. They learn to analyze what they see and hear in the media and advocate for change in entertainment, news, and advertising. As girls create media that are more realistic and reflective of their lives, they learn about careers and the positive use of media.
Girls develop enthusiasm for and skills in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Through hands-on activities, girls explore, ask questions, persist, and solve problems. By interacting with women and men pursuing STEM careers, girls come to view these careers as exciting and realistic options for themselves.
Girls Inc. Preventing Adolescent Pregnancy
Girls acquire the knowledge and skills for taking charge of and making informed decisions about their sexual health. Exploring values, practicing responses in different situations, and thinking about their futures help girls identify ways and reasons to avoid early pregnancy and prevent sexually transmitted infections, including HIV.
Girls learn skills and strategies to lead safer lives in their homes, in relationships, in their communities, and online. Girls learn specific self-defense techniques and how to seek out and talk to caring adults about personal violence. Older girls also take on a community action project to advocate for a safer world for all women and girls.
Girls build a foundation for enjoying physical activity, sports, and adventure throughout their lives. As girls develop movement and athletic skills, cooperative and competitive spirit, and healthy habits, they experience the benefits and excitement of taking positive risks that bolster their self-confidence and personal growth.
Girls learn to develop and maintain a healthy lifestyle, becoming involved in decisions about their health. Girls are equipped with the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and support for maintaining a positive sense of self and for being healthy today and throughout their lives. Focus is on physical activity, nutrition, body image, and stress management.
Girls Inc. Literacy addresses the literacy-based needs of girls in grades K-3 by using a model that involves working closely with schools to align programming with school-day learning. This approach allows for Girls Inc. to create quality, outcomes-based literacy programming that is grounded in the Girls Inc. approach to programming, which includes interactive, hands-on activities.