By Ashley Bulayo
Alliance for Girls at the Women’s March in 2017. Photograph by Sumaya Agha
Alliance for Girls (AFG) is building a world where a girl’s worth is determined by her mind and spirit, her body is safe and a source of joy, and the sky is her limit. By creating the infrastructure needed for leaders, advocates, educators, and parents/guardians to help transform communities in the Bay Area, they enable girls with the power to learn, be seen, be heard, be understood, and make a difference.
Emma Mayerson, Founding Executive Director of Alliance for Girls
As one of the largest alliances of girls' organizations in the country with over 100 nonprofit, school, and government partners, 7,500+ adult allies, and 300,000 girls served, they approach their mission through a collaborative effort. Emma Mayerson, founding Executive Director notes, "AFG is transforming the girls' service sector from one of mostly siloed entities, to a collaborative and innovative network with the necessary complexity and collective power to uplift girls and eliminate systemic barriers to their success."
Here’s how they support their vision:
Professional Development
AFG provides professional development opportunities to help support, train, and connect leaders to equip them with the resources they'll need to champion girls within their own class and communities.
Collaborative Support
Members within the alliance refer to AFG as their go-to informational source for girls' services, fostering trust and relationships between members and increasing members' visibility.
Research
They provide access to data on critical issues affecting girls and young women's lives to help create support programs, school initiatives, legislation, and funding.
Advocacy
They focus the needs of girls at the center of attention when it comes to policy conversations. AFG advocates for greater legislative support and funding for effective work to be performed.
"Together, Alliance for Girls and its membership of 120 organizations are training a generation of leaders who will champion and embody gender equity in every sector and space they inhabit - from education to politics to technology, and beyond. Together we will create more equitable communities in which every girl thrives," Mayerson shared.
Group photo at 2019 Alliance for Girls conference - A Movement for Equity, everyone with their fists in the air. Photograph by Morgan Shidler
With the rising consciousness of the role girls and women are playing in rebuilding and reimagining our world and our nation, their organization launched Call to Challenge: The Urgency of the Needs of Girls and Gender Expansive Youth. In collaboration with the Young Women's Freedom Center and the San Francisco Department on the Status of Women, these three organizations give girls and the gender-expansive youth, who are disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, a platform to advocate their needs.
Through this event, a platform is created to hear their personal experiences and challenges, learn from youth researchers the latest data on the needs of girls and gender-expansive youth in San Francisco, and shine a light on the incredible work being accomplished in San Francisco.
Learn how you can participate through their workshops, advocacy, research, mentorship, and school transformation to empower more girls and women in our communities.