Girls Initiatives
Girls Initiatives at the YW-NYC reflect our core belief that empowered girls become empowered women. Designed to inform, engage, and inspire young people to become self-advocates, our goal is to ensure that every girl gains the skills, knowledge, and confidence to pursue the education, career, and life options of their choice.
Girls Initiatives programs are open to all high-school-aged, self-identified, and gender non-conforming youth in New York City. There is NO academic requirement to enroll and no enrollment costs.
Girls Initiatives: 2024 Winter Semester Programs
The heart of our mission at YW-NYC lies in the profound belief that empowered girls evolve into empowered women.
Our organization provides a transformative platform for leadership, activism, and personal growth, cultivating change agents ready to challenge and dismantle racism and inequity in society. Our programs are designed to furnish young girls and gender non-conforming youths with the essential tools needed to spark the positive changes New York City yearns for.
All these empowering initiatives occur at our YW-NYC Resource Center, 500 W 56 Street, NY, NY 10019.
Our Programs:
Geek Girls:
Geek Girls is an interdisciplinary STEAM program that gives the girls real-world problems to solve. Geek Girls continues year-long.
Tuesdays (weekly)
4:30 – 6:30 PM
Resumes Jan. 2, 2024
Step In & Stop It: Bystander Intervention
Step In & Stop It is a train-the-trainer program that empowers participants to teach New Yorkers effective de-escalation strategies for bias-motivated harassment. As a two-part program, participants complete several months of training in preparation for Spring workshops and bystander intervention projects. Since 2016, Step In & Stop It has educated hundreds of individuals across the five boroughs to eliminate racism, gender oppression, and sexual violence!
Tentative: Mondays or Wednesdays (weekly)
4:30 – 6:00 PM
Starts Jan. 29, 2024
Ambassadors II
Want an opportunity to make a change? Join Ambassador, a girls-led program where you gain leadership skills and make your voice count! Here, you will design and organize community impact projects where you can flex your leadership style.
Thursdays (weekly)
4:30 – 6:00 PM
Starts Feb. 1, 2024
Girls in the City – Special Trips/Workshops/One-off Events
This program offers an opportunity to participate in trips, engage in community-building activities, become culturally diverse, and discover the richness of everything NYC offers! The program is hosted once per month and does not have a stipend component. Trips will be held in cultural, business, and art institutions. Dates will be announced as they come up!
Monthly (dates and times vary)
Starts January, 2024
No stipend component
Geek Girls: Inaugural HACKATHON
Our inaugural YW-NYC Hackathon, was hosted by Betterment on Saturday, October 28.
Girls from our Geek Girls program, along with tech professionals, showcased their coding and app-making skills. The event aimed to break down gender barriers in tech, empowering high school girls to pursue innovation. Judges, including Kate Chatzopoulos from Symphony and Andrew Birnbryer from Amazon Web Services, evaluated cutting-edge apps addressing social justice issues.
The day marked the beginning of an inspiring journey in tech and creativity, reinforcing our commitment to empowering young women in the field.