GIRLS INCORPORATED OF GREATER LOWELL
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Mission Statement
Girls Incorporated of Greater Lowell inspires all girls to be strong, smart and bold. Through creative programs in a safe and nurturing environment, we strive to teach the independence and personal responsibility girls need to succeed.
About This Cause
We have been in continuous existence since 1917 and operating at our present site since 1945, the same year we became a founding member of Girls Clubs of America, Inc. In 1990, the national organization changed its name to Girls Incorporated to better reflect the seriousness and educational value of its mission. Our mission is to inspire all girls to be strong~healthy, smart~educated, and bold~independent; and, our strategic plan is aimed at growth in the number of girls served each year so we can deliver our mission to more and have a larger, lasting, positive impact on our community. We’d like to accomplish this goal with your support. Our society is sending a clear message that affects girls’ education, aspirations, and leadership. But it doesn’t have to be this way. At Girls Inc. of Greater Lowell we have a vision of a world where every girl values her whole self and her inherent strengths, has opportunities to develop her potential, breaks past serious obstacles, and leads a healthy, educated, and successful life. The girls then grow up to become accomplished women, role models, and leaders: creating positive change and breaking the cycle of limitations for their families, communities, institutions, and all of us. We believe deeply in the fundamental rights and abilities of girls and enact these values in our direct service work and in public policy efforts. At Girls Inc. our out of school time, hands-on programs and horizon-expanding experiences, delivered by professionals in a supportive, all-girl setting, equip girls to set goals, take on new challenges, and achieve their goals. Girls discover interests and abilities they never knew possible make the changes needed to complete each grade on time and well, and model healthy decision making with peers. The lasting difference we make for and with girls set us apart. There is no other organization in Greater Lowell that does what we do for girls with the same level of intensity, consistency, and accountability. Last year we served almost 500 girls, ages 5 to 18, with 84% of our budget going directly to programming. Many of the girls have been attending the Girls Inc. program since the age of five or six. We give them their own space which provides them with a safe and nurturing "girl friendly" environment where they can gain access to programming that will most importantly encourage them to stay in school and explore career building opportunities. Through our mission, our ultimate goal is to provide essential knowledge, skills and healthy habits that will last a lifetime for the girls and young women. Our center is located in the heart of downtown Lowell, on the edge of the Acre triangle, a neighborhood where almost every immigrant group coming to the city has first settled. It is in close proximity to public housing projects and the High School. Girls Inc. serves girls ages 5-18; many of whom come from what would be considered disadvantaged and “at risk” families. Although we serve the City of Lowell and the surrounding suburbs/ towns, most of your members reside in the City. Currently 59% of our membership comes from minority backgrounds, 64% come from families earning under $30,000 annually, and 75% live with a single parent/ guardian. Together, we can increase the number of girls who have the opportunities to develop their special strengths, to break past barriers and achieve their full potential and help others, as they were helped, along the way. Imagine a world in which many more girls grow up Strong, Smart, and Bold. These young women are the influencers, role models, for their sisters, brothers, parents, other family and friends, and the next generation. They become leaders, positive contributors to their communities, institutions, and the larger society. It is the intention of Girls Inc. programming to compensate for the positive exposures that our members do not get at home and to give the girls the skills and know how to deal with the negative exposures they encounter in their lives on a daily basis. We also work towards enhancing what students are learning in school. School hours are short and knowledge is often lost over the summer months and there is frequently little opportunity and often not the supplies available for them to engage in fun, hands-on activities. School learning tends to be textbook learning, and what Girls Inc. can do with them in our programs builds on and adds another dimension to more formal learning. Our programs are designed to compensate for a lack of educational experiences and exposures that the youth frequently do not have either at school or in their home; they are evident in improving reading, writing, speaking and listening skills for children and help develop problem-solving and decision-making abilities, build self-esteem, encourage self-discipline and stimulate imagination. We are a youth-serving organization that delivers innovative, research-based programs designed specifically to address the strengths and needs of girls ages 5-18. Girls Inc. provides a powerful combination of programs, research, and advocacy that inspires hundreds of girls and young women each year to be strong, smart, and bold and to prepare for economic independence and confident adulthood. Girls Inc. focuses its attention on the needs of girls and young women, particularly those at high risk, and work to lift their self-esteem, increase their interest in math, science, and technology, promote literacy, encourage them to participate in sports, introduce them to money management and career development, reduce the instance of adolescent pregnancies and drug usage, and provide them with a variety of skills and activities that will help them positively in the future. In addition to our onsite program, which features an After-School Enrichment Program as well as full day activities and classes during vacation weeks and for nine weeks in the summer, Girls Inc. has been able to expand its Outreach Programming so that we weave a presence in several local elementary and middle schools, two family shelters, and three elderly residence communities. An investment in Girls Inc. of Greater Lowell will enable our organization to provide training and ongoing program specific support for direct care staff, purchase program materials, provide off-site field trips to educational sites, establish more community resource links and provide free educational classes with more local schools and youth-serving agencies, and above all recruit and educate more girl participants.