LEARNGirlsBuild
For more than a decade, GirlsBuild has helped empower young women to address issues in their communities through problem-solving, project management, website portfolios, social media campaigns, and more. Programming culminates in the annual GirlsBuild Summit, one of the nation's largest convening of young women, connecting them with powerful leaders, entrepreneurs, innovators, and change-makers to tackle the critical issues that shape the lives of our girls and our communities.
What is the primary issue area that your application will impact?
K-12 STEAM education
In which areas of Los Angeles will you be directly working?
County of Los Angeles (select only if your project has a countywide benefit)
In what stage of innovation is this project, program, or initiative?
Expand existing project, program, or initiative (expanding and continuing ongoing, successful work)
What is your understanding of the issue that you are seeking to address?
GirlsBuild strives to provide teachers, principals, and school counselors with an opportunity to empower girls to make a difference in their community. School staff coordinators are meant to activate students to be the change in their community.
Public schools within LA County are severely underfunded and lack the resources to support students and staff. As a result, GirlsBuild’s goal is to provide an economic opportunity for schools to address social issues head on and with student-driven solutions. GirlBuild is a program that believes in compensating school staff and students for their expertise, advocacy, and organizing. GirlsBuild students in turn are taking on the responsibility to help their community and school.
Describe the project, program, or initiative this grant will support to address the issue.
Started in 2014, the GirlsBuild initiative quickly established itself as one of the most powerful and impactful youth events of our time. GirlsBuild is the largest initiative supporting female and female-identifying students in LA County.
GirlsBuild challenges teams of girls from public middle schools, high schools, and youth nonprofits to create a project around an issue they want to address in their community. Team projects are focused on (1) Civic Engagement, (2) Health and Wellness, and/or (3) STEM and Digital Skills. GirlsBuild provides students with a platform to discuss and uplift critical issues.
GirlsBuild is creating the future leaders of the United States with a project based learning (PBL) model. The GirlsBuild model is designed to encourage teams to:
identify a social problem in their community,
create a plan of action to address the social problem,
implement student driven solutions.
Teams that are selected by the GirlsBuild program receive a $1,000 project grant and a $1,200 grant for coordinators. The project grant funds their team’s project implementation and student driven solutions. Coordinator grants are for staff that support the team during the academic school year. Coordinators provide teams with mentorship, guidance, and support.
Describe how Los Angeles County will be different if your work is successful.
GirlsBuild’s purpose is to empower girls and their peers to take action to address social issues. Students are encouraged to address social issues that impact girls, women, and disenfranchised groups. Students complete social impact projects that are based on the needs in their community. With GirlsBuild, LA County has an increase in student civic engagement. GirlsBuild students build relationships with local organizations and leaders to implement their project. Students partner with key stakeholders in LA County, such as: school districts, nonprofit leaders, and policy makers. GirlsBuild provides students an outlet to be changemakers and LA County benefits from increased community involvement and engagement.
Example Projects
Art Activism Gallery
Voting Registration & Literacy Workshops
Mental Health & Wellness Resource Fair
Yoga & Meditation Workshops
Community Garden & Food Distribution
Computer Coding Workshops
STEM Science Fair
Medical Career Panels
Health & Wellness App Creation
Approximately how many people will be impacted by this project, program, or initiative?
Direct Impact: 16,000
Indirect Impact: 75,000