Providing Resources to Inspire all Girls

With the launch of our updated website, I am excited that Girls Inc. of Alameda County will now be able to reach and support more girls, more effectively, with the critical information, resources, and services they need to be inspired to be strong, smart, and bold and expand their sense of what is possible.

We constantly adapt our programming to meet the ever-changing needs of our girls. In the 1950’s our agency offered sewing and phone etiquette lessons to 20 girls. Today, girls in our programs learn HTML coding; have paid professional internships to explore areas of professional interest, and make a difference in their community through advocacy projects.

My deep belief in the importance of serving girls through an all girls’ environment stems from over 20 years of experience in leading organizations focused on serving the needs of girls and youth development. This environment cultivates the best in girls: they are free to express themselves, take risks, and explore their full potential.

Girls’ programs are more important than ever when we consider:

• While over half of high school boys indicate they have high self-confidence, only 39% of girls feel they have high self-confidence.
• 69% of girls report being concerned about their appearance and 21% report they’re worried about being pressured into having sex.
• In 2005, about one in every 13 girls between the ages of 15 and 19 in the United States became pregnant.
• Women are 50% of the workforce, yet only 10 of the top 500 companies are led by women.
• 60% of girls say they experience stereotypes that limit their right to be themselves.

I came to Girls Inc. in 2007, to help sustain the growth of the agency, implementing an infrastructure that could support such a rich community resource, and to delve into the Girls Inc. advocacy work promoting girls’ rights at the local, regional, and national level.

We provide comprehensive programs and mental health services to more than 7,000 girls and their families each year. We provide research-based programs that intentionally support girls in ways that society does not as a whole—compensating for the inequality that still exists today and helping girls break down gender barriers. All programs are facilitated by professionally trained staff. Our services are primarily offered to the underserved of our community, 30% of our participants are from families earning less than $35,000 annually and many are from single parent families.

Please use our website as a resource to find out:

• about the latest needs girls have and how to meet them
• about new trends in mental health services from Girls Inc. Pathways Counseling department, a leading community mental health collaborator since the 1970’s (Pathways Blog)
• The perspective of girls who write candidly about their experiences (Girl Blog)

Please explore our new website and blogs and learn more about how you can get involved and support our services and new, ground breaking programs that are deeply impacting our girls’ lives.

If you have any questions that our site does not answer, please email us at: blog@girlsinc-alameda.org, and our staff will be happy to get back in touch with support!