Our Mission
- Closing equity gaps (civic engagement gaps for girls of color).
- Creating the leaders and engaged citizens of the future.
- Addressing systemic inequities by empowering, educating, inspiring, and creating access for young girls and femmes to become eligible voters.
- Meet students where they are and uplift their voices and needs.
- Create a welcoming and supportive space for girls and femmes that have multiple touchpoints for support throughout their lives.
- As an organization, advocate for Pennsylvania to update standards for history and civics education.
To learn more about how our program has shaped career trajectories for young self-identified women and girls in the Southwestern Pennsylvania region, read the GirlGov 2020 Alumni Impact Report.
For more information on how to participate in our programs, please get in touch with Emily Resko at emily@wgfpa.org.
History
The Women and Girls Foundation began programming in 2005 with the Girls as Grant Makers program, serving 24 girls in Allegheny County. While the group was small, they were certainly mighty! That first year, the girls launched their international headline-grabbing “Girlcott” of Abercrombie and Fitch, catapulting WGF into the national news and securing the girls their first advocacy victory. The Girls as Grant Makers program then evolved into the Change Agents program in 2009, and our Change Agents girls were tasked with developing an advocacy project. After hearing that Pennsylvania ranked 42nd out of 50 states in terms of women serving in elected office, they knew they needed to find a solution. GirlGov was born!
GirlGov was created by teens for teens, giving young self-identified girls the opportunity to be more informed, engaged, and interested in pursuing politics as a future career path. Since 2009, the program has served over 1,000 young women from Southwest Pennsylvania and continues to grow and evolve to reflect the changing needs of the time and the communities we serve.
With the shift in our culture’s understanding of intersectional feminism and how structural and systemic racism impacts the financial well-being and overall health of women and femmes in this region and state, WGF has responded by intentionally focusing on outreach education in spaces that demonstrate the highest need. We have also focused on starting to serve our students at an earlier age, creating deeper, more lasting relationships that can lead to significant impacts in the lives of our participants.
In 2023, to better and more effectively serve girls of color and in areas of high need in our region, we expanded to include a middle school version of our award-winning GirlGov program.
GirlGov intentionally centers those changemakers who come from communities of color and those in the highest need. We are focused on creating early interventions to prepare the next generation of changemakers for the future. With our high school and middle school programs working in tandem, students collaborate and develop leadership skills while mentoring their younger peers. This dynamic provides tools to youth that will serve them once they leave school and enter their adult lives.