Dear Friends, In the movies when a character, especially a woman, goes through a transformational experience, their appearance changes dramatically to reflect the changes within. Maybe that’s why, several times during my sabbatical, my kids asked me if I was going to shave my head. While I am returning to Girls Leadership feeling different than …
When she was playing, Coach Yaliz Campos didn’t have women leading her teams. Now, she’s being the change: she serves as Community Soccer Programs Manager and Coach for South Bronx United: Soccer for Social Change. She’s working with Girls Leadership to support female and gender-expansive players. Whether they live and breathe soccer or are completely …
Women’s sports have come a long way in just a few years, with incredible female athletes getting more shoe deals, more magazine covers, and more media coverage. However, it’s still not equal: only 6% of media coverage goes to women’s sports. Who do our young female and gender-expansive athletes turn to when they can’t always …
Photo Credit: Coach Gary Marks Connection is one of the most crucial parts of youth sports. Whether it’s connections between players, with coaches, or with the sport itself, the way we build community can have a huge impact on young players’ enjoyment of and commitment to the game. In our expanding work with sports …
In the past few years, the Department of Education, the Surgeon General, and the CDC all agreed: belonging isn’t a buzzword. It’s an essential factor in well-being, especially for young people, who need it more than ever in the midst of the current mental health crisis. But how can teachers make such a broad concept …
Creating belonging for young people is not a one-and-done project. It’s a cycle of effort, learning, and improvement. Does that sound like an opportunity—or does it already sound exhausting? For any educator who feels tired just thinking about working toward another goal, you’re not alone. K-12 education is still seeing the highest rates of burnout …
Welcome to Belonging in Action, a series about how Girls Leadership creates sustainable support for students and teachers. Today’s post asks, How did you learn SEL? Our facilitators ask this question of all the participating adults before most of our trainings, and in most cases, the answers are the same: they didn’t. Social and emotional …
Dear Friends, Next month I will begin my first sabbatical. After 16 years of working for the voice, power and leadership of every girl, I will be pausing my work as Co-CEO to rest, reflect and rejuvenate for the work ahead. In February, I will begin a four month extended leave, living with my family …
This year marked our 15th anniversary as an organization, including a major change. While we started as a direct-service girl-serving organization, we’ve arrived at a new approach. When you listen to girls for 15 years you learn a ton, and what we learned is that the girls are powerful; it is the adults in their …
Sports are a powerful source of leadership development and well-being for youth. Studies show that girls who participated in sports had higher rates of academic achievement and hope for the future. Yet by age 14, girls start dropping out of sports at twice the rate of their male peers. That rate is even higher for girls with …
