Dear Friends,

I want you to meet Amani. When she signed up for our spring break day camp three years ago, we were immediately taken with her quiet wisdom and passion for self-improvement.The feeling was clearly mutual: Amani fell in love with the freedom to be yourself that the Girls Leadership Institute community creates. By eighth grade, Amani set her sights on our three-week residential camp at Mount Holyoke College. She pestered her mom all year until her mom agreed to let her apply.
At GLI, Amani discovered kindred spirits in her fellow campers from around the countrygirls who, like her, wanted to try new things and who longed for a community of non judgmental, “kinda crazy” friends. She threw herself into the theater games, workshops, and poetry Arts Intensive. 
“I came back a different person, more confident, and more comfortable interacting with people.”
This year, Amani chose to study poetry at her school. She was nervous with so many upperclassmen in the workshop, but she refused to remain quiet in class, something she’d always done before GLI.  Amani now had the confidence and skills to speak up, and so she did, even in front of twelfth graders. “They respected me!” she proudly exclaimed.
Amani can’t wait for her second summer at GLI, where she’ll take her skills to the next level in our specialized workshops, reconnect with friends, and continue blooming in the supportive GLI community. We want to give her this opportunity, but we need your help. Amani comes to GLI on full scholarship. Our funding partner will cover half of her tuition, but we need your help to raise the other half.
Please donate now to help girls like Amani experience a GLI summer that will last a lifetime.
All my best,
Simone Marean
Executive Director and Co-Founder

2014 Scholarship Campaign 

A gift in any amount is appreciated!

$20 – Helps buy materials for a camper, including workbooks, markers, and supplies for fun evening activities
$55 – Covers one camper’s participation in the ropes course
$100 – Provides transportation for one camper for all the activities for three weeks
$250 — Helps cover the cost of our weeklong staff training
$500 – Support the Arts Fest Intensive weekend when girls take bold creative risks
$1100 – Provides room and board for a scholarship recipient to experience life on a college campus
$2165 – Will be matched to provide a full scholarship for girls who apply from our partner schools
$4330 – Pays full tuition for a girl from a low-income family at any school to attend

Summer Camp Impact: How do we know it works?
In a rigorous evaluation performed in 2011, Dr. Frances Ullman, a Fellow at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, found that GLI Summer Camp delivers on its promise to be a cutting-edge program for girls’ leadership development. Not only does camp help girls develop their “internal assets,” but returning campers experience the benefits of camp a full year after they leave.
Our campers saw an increase in:
• Positive Identity, or a sense of worth and personal agency (e.g., self-esteem, personal power, and a positive view of the future).
• Positive Values, or an internal moral compass (e.g.,integrity, honesty, and restraint).
• Social Competencies such as empathy, friendship skills, and comfort with other cultures.
Girls Leadership Institute is changing lives.


The New Face of Leadership at GLI Summer Camp: Nikya
 Nikya first came to GLI as a shy, sweet middle schooler. She grew right before our eyes, evolving from one of our more withdrawn campers into a true role model. She was comfortable in her own skin, taking risks in front of the younger campers in order to give them permission to do the same.

 

So we did what any smart organization would do: We hired her!

Now, six summers into GLI, Nikya brings her veteran skills to every morning of games. She devotes 110% of her energy to showing girls how to take up space physically and vocally. She helps them discover the exhilaration that comes with letting go of self-consciousness and being yourself.

Nikya represents the best of GLI’s mission and spirit: it’s in her journey from a shy middle schooler into a college rugby player, and it’s in the girl who went from searching for herself to accepting herself. Nikya is an example of what we can achieve when we work in partnership with organizations like the Young Women’s Leadership Network of schools, who support our girls year-round. We are so proud of Nikya and everything that she’s accomplished and grateful that our participants get to learn from her.


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