Inspiring all girls to be strong, smart, and bold sm

Girls Inc.: Inspiring all girls to be strong, smart and bold.

It's good to be a girl in this world today. I like being a girl because I can speak for myself. I can stand up for myself. Being a girl makes me strong.  

Mytha, 6 

GIRLStart

"GIRLStart is when we talk about words and letters. I am proud of myself when I know the letters we talk about in GIRLStart."
– Amarah, age 5


Call to Action

Research shows students who are not reading at grade level by third grade have difficulty catching up and are less likely to graduate from high school. Low-income students will suffer the most from this shortfall. Of the fourth-graders who took the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading test in 2009, 83% of low-income students failed to reach the “proficient” level. Forty-nine percent of all low-income test takers in the fourth grade did not even reach NAEP’s basic level for reading. Nearly 80% of the girls we serve at Girls Inc. come from families with incomes of $30,000 or less. It is urgent that we reach these girls at a young age so they can have a chance for academic success, post-secondary education, and economic independence.


Girls Inc. GIRLStart

Girls Inc. GIRLStart, a daily afterschool literacy program for girls in kindergarten through third grade who read below grade level or require additional literacy support, helps girls develop the foundational reading skills critical to academic success and economic independence. GIRLStart is designed to improve girls’ literacy skills by focusing on key areas such as phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension to bring their reading ability to grade level by the third grade. The program also provides homework assistance and other educational and recreational activities.


Girls Inc. GIRLStart Results

Simply put, GIRLStart works. Girls are evaluated by state standardized test scores before and after participation. At Girls Inc. of Alameda County, CA, the proportion of girls reading at grade level has increased from 20% to over 65% in one year, with 100% of girls demonstrating improvement.

Goldman Sachs Impact

Only 10% of Girls Inc. affiliates currently offer GIRLStart. Your investment will support the expansion of this crucial literacy program. In addition to helping hundreds of girls learn to read so that they increase their chances of staying in school, going to college, and gaining employment, helping Girls Inc. offer GIRLStart as a core national program would be a lasting legacy for Goldman Sachs.

Here are some ways your support will make a difference in the lives of our girls:

  • For $8,000, you can help a girl start learning her ABC’s in kindergarten and support her growth to reading chapter books by the third grade.

  • For $50,000, you will give an entire class of 25 first-grade girls the chance to catch up and read at grade level.

  • For $150,000, you will sponsor the start of the program at a new location for an entire school year, helping to bridge the literacy gap for at least 75 girls.

Collectively, a total of $1.5 million would expand Girls Inc. GIRLStart to 10 additional centers, and in the process, help more than 750 girls learn how to read and increase their chances of not only staying, but thriving in school.