Program areas at GL
Girls Leadership teaches Girls to exercise the power of their voice through programs grounded in social emotional learning (sel). We provide programs for Girls, workshops for families, and professional development training for teachers, guidance counselors, and non-profit staff. Girls Leadership centers gender and racial equity in our work to address the internal and external barriers to Leadership development.
We then use this research to help inform our program development, which occurs in partnerships called power labs. This is where we co-design programs and curriculum with Girls and the adults who serve them, like teachers and school leaders, using a design thinking process during weekly meetings. What we learn from the Girls is turned into lesson plans, curriculum, and training for all the teachers addressing social and emotional learning in the school. Finally, we scale what is effective, building the capacity of adult influencers in schools, community based organizations, and sports teams by providing training and freely distributing our sel curriculum.
To more effectively serve Girls at scale, we organize our program model into two parts: innovation and impact. In the first part of our model, we conduct qualitative and quantitative research and development on personal, societal, and structural factors that impact Girls Leadership identity, aspiration, and skill development. We begin with broad national research to understand how demographic factors race and ethnicity, income, and education level impact Girls Leadership identity, skill development, and future ambition. Based on our research findings, weve developed an approach based on targeted universalism: by designing for the most marginalized girl, we will better serve all Girls.