The Girl Ambassador Program

Throughout their life-course, girls and young women continue to carry the double burden of being both young and female that limit their opportunities, but Black girls and other girls of color often face negative cultural attitudes and practices and gender-biased social and political processes that limit their opportunities and undermine their self-esteem. For example, factors such as poverty, gender-based violence, discrimination and unequal gender norms about girls’ role in society contribute to the unacceptably high number of adolescent girls who are excluded from access to education that limits opportunities to build their foundational and transferable skills. When girls are in school, gender bias from teachers, families, and male and female peers drive girls away from pursuing STEM studies and building the digital skills necessary to be competitive in a 21st-century job market. Globally, only 18% of girls are pursuing STEM studies, and 77% of surveyed women said a top barrier to gender equity was a lack of information on how to advance in their careers. Due to the intersection of gender and race inequities, Black girls are even more likely to experience overly punitive disciplinary practices that exclude them from school, and as they develop into adulthood they encounter a lack of access to college and career-preparatory curriculum, work in lower paying jobs, experience higher levels of poverty, and remain disproportionately disadvantaged across a broad range of economic measures, including wealth.

Scholarship and programming on structural challenges Black girls face in education, social-emotional wellness, and health have overwhelmingly been deficit-based, focusing either on how to prevent specific outcomes (i.e. disciplinary actions, criminal justice interventions) or how to understand the impacts of these outcomes. These approaches, while important, largely reproduce notions of Black girls as problems or statistics that need to be addressed or mitigated. Black girls' lives become shaped by the ways they are gendered and racialized by social relationships and institutions. Asset based frameworks recalibrate the conversation, shifting to a more holistic understanding of Black girls lived experiences and their capacity to exceed societal expectations.

The Girl Ambassador Program (GAP) has been designed as a culturally competent workforce development program. It provides Black girls with access to relevant skills, experiences, and support so that we can ensure they not only see themselves in the boardroom, starting businesses, and leading the next tech revolution, but have a clear path and the resources to get there. Girl Ambassadors receive technology training with the opportunity for stackable tech certifications, mentorship and introduction to a professional network, and a supportive environment for Black girls to build their capacity to benefit their community and interface with 21st-century academic and career pursuits.

GAP builds self-esteem and self-efficacy by using a tiered, four-year approach that supports paced learning and development. We introduce tech industry skills, social-emotional wellness techniques, and cultural grounding, in a hybrid environment, via the support of certified instructors, mentors, and case managers. Girls move through the training curriculum building towards acquiring certifications (i.e. Microsoft, Adobe, NOCODE) and are introduced to hiring partners who participate in our provided inclusivity and bias training, to better equip them to meet the needs of Black girls, and offer them the opportunity to apply their skills in a paid summer internship.

Participants of GFAC’s Girl Ambassador Program (GAP) consist of socially, economically, academically, and environmentally disadvantaged Black girls in grades 9-12 across the Greater Richmond Metro Area. Our constituents are extraordinary in their capacity to overcome racial and gender inequities. They refuse to surrender to the societal barriers placed on them. They think boldly and work creatively to address power and resource imbalances not only for themselves but for their communities.

In addition to working with and for Black girls, our organization actively recruits and integrates Black girls into all levels of GFAC’s leadership. We have girls who serve as GFAC’S peer advisors. They are responsible for making sure the voice of the program is true to Black girls’ lived experiences and unique needs. GFAC also encourages participants to co-create programs and events like GAP, which ensures their voices are elevated and celebrated. 

Our approach to GAP is both holistic and asset-based. We comprehensively address the barriers Black women face in the academic and professional landscape including access to job training and certifications, a network of professional mentors, and a strong sense of self-worth and self-determination. As a result, our program participants secure gainful employment, learn marketable skills, accumulate assets, and influence institutions and public policies determining economic growth and development across the region. 

Over the past 15 years, Girls For A Change (GFAC) has served more than 30,000 girls nationally. We have worked systematically to sustain and refine our model in order to improve our outcomes and serve our girls effectively. We continue to stretch our models, gain expertise in serving our girls, build our programmatic continuum, and document effective approaches to service delivery for Black girls. 

GFAC differentiates our programming by utilizing an asset-based approach to serving Black girls, enabling us to focus on Black girls’ development of a sense of self, engagement of family and community, and growing a network of peers and mentors.

Our GFAC Branch, headquartered in North Chesterfield, VA, has been cultivated as a safe, empowering space built for Black girls to be seen, heard, and celebrated. We provide after-school and summer programs for girls in 3rd-12th grades in the Richmond Metro area. The programs focus on science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM). Trained staff members, certified teachers, volunteers and community partners work to provide social and emotional support, and help our girls achieve academic excellence, gain leadership skills, feel empowered, and attain economic training and development on their journey to womanhood. As well, through our partnerships with Richmond City Public Schools, Chesterfield County Public Schools, and Henrico Public Schools, we are able to implement in-school and after-school programs in select schools across our community. 

GFAC has successfully implemented four signature initiatives that support Black girls from elementary school to early college, including: Camp Diva Leadership Academy, Girl Action Teams, The Immersion Lab, and The Girl Ambassador Program (GAP). GFAC has successfully run iterations of the GAP every year since its inception in 2016. Since that time, over 75 girls have been on the journey to professional self-discovery and development.

GFAC is an organization founded, led, and operated by Black women. Angela Patton, our CEO, has been recognized in the local Richmond, VA press as a Top 40 under 40, in 2015 by a coalition of girl serving groups identifying Girls For A Change as one of five programs to note, in 2016 by President Obama as A White House Champion of Change for After School programming for Marginalized Girls of Color, and in March 2018 and 2023 as the Nonprofit Partner of the Year from the Metropolitan Business League.

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In addition to implementing programs in schools across Metro Richmond, Girls For A Change provides a safe space at our GFAC Branch, headquartered in North Chesterfield. As we have created spaces in a limited number of schools, girls, including our Girl Ambassador participants, rely on our building for uninterrupted access. This year, we launched our capital campaign to knock down and rebuild our building, scaling it to fit our growing organization and programming to needs. Building ownership is critical to the longevity of the organization. While we plan to raise these funds to start the renovation and be displaced by March 2024, we are strengthening our community partnerships and foundational funding to ensure that our programs remain strong. Our Girl Ambassador Program, in particular, is growing, with our established in-house program and up to two additional outreach programs at our partner schools. GFAC will use MIT Solve funding and support to train and outsource additional certified instructors who work with girls based on their individual software and hardware proficiencies, increase and upgrade software and equipment materials (i.e. MacBooks) to keep training current and aligned with industry standards, expand additional support services, and cover the costs of the tech certification classes and exams.

Post-renovation, we plan to utilize our experiences and resources gained with MIT Solve to assist us in the furnishing and outfitting of our newly built STEM lab in our renovated building.

As the leader of Girls For A Change, Angela Patton is an Ambassador for who she calls  “at-promise” (as opposed to “at-risk”) girls and a serial innovator. Angela is committed to  “Preparing Black girls for the World …and the World for Black Girls." 

In 2004, Angela founded Camp Diva  to honor Diva Mstadi Smith-Roan, a five-year-old who died  in a firearm accident earlier that year. That summer, Angela planned a two- week summer  experience that gave Diva’s mother an opportunity to share her motherly love with girls in need  of a support system. In 2013, the program expanded nationally when Camp Diva merged with  California-based Girls For A Change (GFAC), a nonprofit through which 100 girls’ groups  throughout the nation work together to envision and execute lasting change in their  neighborhoods, cities, or schools. 

In 2016, Patton led her national Board of Directors and staff to retool the focus and build a  program structure and provide space in Central Virginia for girls to more accurately reflect GFAC’s goal to work  with Black girls and to disseminate our programs using a specific, replicable approach. 

Angela’s TEDx Talk describing a father-daughter dance for incarcerated dads and their “at promise” girls has been viewed over 980,000 times to date. Following its release, Angela’s work  was featured on ABC's World News, Inside Edition, NPR's TED Radio Hour, and CNN's This Is Life  with Lisa Ling. She has been in demand from corporations, at conferences on girls, as well as  colleges and universities throughout the country.          

 Angela is a contributing author to the book Finding Her Voice: How black girls in white spaces  can speak up & live their truth, co-authored by Faye Z. Belgrave, PhD and Ivy Belgrave. The book  is available on Amazon, and you can read more about the book visiting newharbinger.com.

The Girl Ambassador Program (GAP) provides a girl-centered approach to skill building through meaningful engagement, a culturally responsive curriculum, and equitable practices to close the gap adolescent Black girls face in education and the workforce. High school students need to see the possibilities of their future in ways that are meaningful to them. We partner with like-minded organizations to facilitate a range of learning opportunities, encouraging participants and instructors alike to experiment with new approaches to teaching and learning in gender inclusive settings. We introduce participants to new concepts like the “Creator Economy” that dominates the modern business landscape, and how they will need both hard and soft skills to maximize their success. Lastly, GFAC’s personalized and group holistic approach addresses all relevant domains, such as individual, family, school, community, and peer group, to tap self-identifying girls’ personal and cultural strengths.

GAP uses a four-year cohort model designed to build upon the shared learning and experiences gained each year from the girls’ start in the program in grade 9 until completion in grade 12. For six months each year, cohorts of participants begin a hybrid of virtual and in-person courses on topics ranging from technology, time management, professional communications, design, entrepreneurship, and financial management. At the end of their training, the participants are placed in paid internships with employers who are committed to helping them build their skills and professional networks. This allows the participants to apply what they’ve learned in the program in a practical, real-world environment where they can receive feedback, encouragement and support from seasoned professionals. The internships give them a head start on building wealth, securing employment pre- and post-college, and discovering their career choice before entering college to reduce the money and energy spent on changes to majors or inessential course credits. The employers who participate in our program agree to unconscious bias training to help create a space where Black girls are not merely welcomed, but belong. The training encourages employers to take a look at their diversity, equity and inclusion practices and improve outcomes for our girls and other Black girls and women who come behind them.

These are our current impact goals for the next year:

• Develop 30 Black girls’ soft skills, leadership skills and technology skills to help them create generational wealth, boost their self-esteem and expose them to STEM and creative industries.

• Engage 30 Black girls in culturally competent training in coding, A.I., Microsoft Office, Adobe Suite and Google Suite and build comfortability using these tools in a work environment.

• Have 25 Hiring Partners that are committed to equity in the workplace, identifying ways to improve diversity and belonging, and confronting bias through mandatory unconscious bias training.

These are our long-term impact goals for the next five years and beyond:

• Create and retain a talent pipeline of skilled, well-rounded, and secure Black young women who support and strengthen our regional economy and innovation.

• Support, engage and encourage businesses across Central Virginia to advance economic equity and justice.

GAP begins every spring and goes through the summer. Girls attend various workshops and build their skills through specialized training sessions. In the summer, they take action—volunteering, job shadowing, and participating in paid or unpaid internships and working on projects for real employers. Training sessions are a chance for girls to learn and also build their own peer networks while creating a bond of sisterhood through cultivated experiences. We take field trips, meet powerful professionals from all ethnic groups and backgrounds, and learn self efficacy and confidence. All of this culminates in a six-week paid summer internship where girls will get the chance to put their skills to work in the real world with one of our vetted Hiring Partners.

To increase our reach, girls in our programs are trained and paid to serve as Peer Advisors, and work directly with our Communications Director to advise the communications committee, make sure new and prospective girls have relevant mentors, and continue to promote the program in their schools, in their community, and on our social media channels. As well, we work with Richmond Public Schools, Chesterfield County Public Schools, and Henrico County Public Schools to recruit girls. Our team regularly connects with parents through informational sessions, school open houses, community events, and individual surveys. Through these practices, GFAC maintains consistent connections with the community which helps us keep our fingers on the pulse of experiences and needs in the Greater Richmond Metropolitan Area.

Lastly, this past year, GFAC partnered with Ubuntu Research to evaluate our programmatic quality and outcomes. Ubuntu utilizes culturally sensitive software to track data and evaluates programs and initiatives as opportunities to create more equitable communities for the historically oppressed and traditionally marginalized. This guides our strategic planning, organizational practice and policy assessment against goals. GFAC can assess whether our programming fosters community engagement, supports family and community identified needs and adapts programmatic elements to include services requested or identified. Over the next three to five years, we will optimize and strengthen through the data analyzed in our partnership with Ubuntu to measure our progress towards strengthening Black girls in the greater Richmond, Virginia area.

Success is measured by the level of recruitment and retention. Measures are focused on change in knowledge, certifications acquired, changes in self-efficacy, identification of academic and career choices, and levels of participation.

Surveys of participant satisfaction with the program will be conducted. In addition to our program’s participants’ testimonials, we frequently collect feedback from our facilitators and instructors, hiring and strategic partners, sponsors, and the participants’ parents/guardians. Data and feedback will be used to make program adjustments.

To ensure that we meet our intended outcomes of developing and retaining a talent pipeline of skilled young Black women, GFAC tracks the following data:

• Number of girls recruited and sustained in the four-year program

• Number of girls who receive summer jobs or internships at reputable local businesses

• Number of girls who complete the program with transferable career skills, and increased self-confidence in their leadership, networking, financial literacy and social-emotional development

• Number of senior participants are accepted into a post-secondary program, college, or university

• Number of girls who remain connected to their mentor, work, or educational resources that lead to economic self-sufficiency within the one-year post-program

• Number of girls who report having greater self-confidence

• Number of Hiring Partners that accept program participants as interns or employees

• Number of girls who complete a tech certification to bridge the digital divide among Black girls in the tech career and provide a competitive advantage when approaching the job landscape.

As well, we are tracking the sustainability of our paid internship program. Over the past 5 years, we have retained 65% of our Hiring Partners, reflecting on the success of our program building longevity with our community partnerships and Hiring Partners seeing the benefit of building the next pipeline of candidates.

Intended Output #1: Girls For A Change recruits -- annually -- 30 Black girls from Metro Richmond to develop their soft skills, leadership skills and technology skills to help them create generational wealth, boost their self-esteem and open doors for other people of color in technology and creative industries.

Intended Outcome #1: Create and retain a talent pipeline of skilled, well-rounded, and secure Black young women who support and strengthen our regional economy and innovation.

Measures of Success #1:

-100% of all participants enrolled are provided with summer jobs or internships at reputable small and  large businesses  

-90% of program participants agree that they have advanced in technology  

-95% of program participants have greater confidence  

-95% are accepted to college  

-30% of participants earn Microsoft Office certifications 

-100% of program participants learn to use project management tools to track projects and meet deadlines   

Intended Output #2: Select 25 Hiring Partners that are committed to equity in the workplace, identifying ways to improve diversity and belonging and confronting bias through mandatory unconscious bias training.

Intended Outcome #2: Businesses across Metro Richmond gain support, engagement, and encouragement to advance economic equity and justice.

Measure of Success #2:

-70% retention of employer network that hire participants annually to advance entry and promotion into higher paying job classifications

-90% of employees respond favorably to post-program surveys

-90% of participants remain connected to their employers after completing their jobs

Full-time staff: 3

Contractor: 1

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GFAC is an organization founded, led, and operated by Black women, a population of people historically oppressed, marginalized, and under-resourced. While we have unique and personal understandings of the importance of honoring all humans and their identities, we do not claim to be experts in the lived experiences of all people. However, we incorporate our experiences of being made to feel “othered” and understandings of discrimination to inform our programs, policies, and strategies for engaging all those who interact with our organization. DEI is embedded into all aspects of our work and doesn’t get segregated into a special department or reduced to simple HR practices. We apply a DEI lens to all of our work and conduct regular assessments of our performance as reported by staff, consultants, and community members. We actively seek diversity in partnerships, contractors, and board members.

Black girls' lives are often negatively shaped by society’s gendered and racialized norms and systems. As a result, Black girls in the American South are overpoliced, underprotected, and under-resourced in schools and community spaces. Scholars, policymakers, and practitioners have worked to develop interventions and strategies to address the state of Black girls in the US, but their approach has been overwhelmingly deficit-based, focusing either on how to prevent specific outcomes (i.e. disciplinary actions, criminal justice interventions) or how to understand the impacts of these outcomes. These approaches, while important, largely reproduce notions of Black girls as problems or statistics that need to be addressed or mitigated. Asset-based frameworks recalibrate the conversation, shifting to a more holistic understanding of Black girls’ lived experiences and the social contexts in which they live. GFAC’s programming has utilized this asset-based approach, with a focus on Black girls’ development of a sense of self, engagement of family and community, and a growing network of peers and mentors, and we hope to use this approach to influence our broader community.

Through advocacy, we work as change agents to provide direct services that stand in the gaps that Black girls face, and influence policy that promotes gender equity in health, education, and economic empowerment. GFAC’s targeted programs address issues critical to Black girls’ success and vitality including leadership skills, goal-planning, financial literacy, network building, exposure, community engagement, skill-building, sisterhood building, and socio-emotional learning. We address institutional racism, sexism, the digital divide, and the concrete ceiling unique to the Black female lived experience. We look forward to celebrating Black girls as leaders and change makers across the Greater Richmond Metro Area, and actively recruit and integrate them into all levels of GFAC’s leadership. Co-designed with Black girls, our four signature programs teach participants to understand the world they live in, to advocate for their rights, and to exercise agency over their lives through creative platforms:

• Girl Action Teams (GAT), a program designed to give Black girls in grades 6-12 opportunities to lead and exercise agency by identifying challenges in their communities and designing and implementing solutions to address them.

• The Girl Ambassador Program (GAP), a four-year workforce development program. Black girls train for and earn professional tech certifications, get exposed to industries and professions through paid internships with GAP Hiring Partners, and access a private college fund. 

• The Immersion Lab, a business incubator program for young Black women interested in entrepreneurship. Participants receive culturally relevant entrepreneurial learning experiences, mentorship by successful female entrepreneurs, seed money to develop business ideas, and platforms with local retail partners to test their products. 

• Camp Diva Leadership Academy, a summer leadership program designed to culturally enrich and reinforce the strengths of Black girls by providing a joyful environment for learning, leading, and building community. 

Long-term sustainability is a high priority for Girls For A Change. Our staff and board are constantly developing and implementing  plans to diversify our funding and improve our ability to generate revenue. We are confident in our ability to increase our programmatic and organizational sustainability through a combination of strategies:

1. Building new relationships with regional foundations.

2. Expanding corporate partnerships: Our team is developing a strategy to expand our corporate outreach and secure additional partnerships and funding. 

3. Strengthening board capacity: GFAC’s board is continuing their training on public fundraising initiatives.

4. Expanding individual donor base: GFAC’s individual donations currently account for 16% of our income. Our current strategy is maintaining our strong foundational and corporate support, with a longer-term strategy to gradually increase our individual giving avenue with our newly hired Development Director Fellow. 

5. Pursuing earned-income strategies: GFAC is currently in the midst of a capital campaign to renovate our building. A key ingredient to the sustainability of our new facility and the longevity of GFAC includes a flexible design and leasable spaces to sustain both operations and our programming. By diversifying our revenue streams, GFAC can become more self-sufficient and less reliant on external funding sources. Additionally, the passive income generated through leasing can be reinvested back into the organization to further support programs and initiatives. 

We believe that through a robust fundraising plan combined with an organizational culture of philanthropy, Girls For A Change will be able to sustain, expand, and scale The Girl Ambassador Program to serve more children in the Greater Richmond area.

Some of our successes in our strategies include:

1. Building new relationships with regional foundations: In the past year, we have successfully pursued new grants from the Marguerite Casey Foundation ($10,000), the Richmond Memorial Health Foundation ($200,000), if, A Foundation For Radical Possibility ($40,000), and the Virginia Department of Education ($250,000).

2. Expanding corporate partnerships: In the past year, we have successfully pursued new funding from corporations/corporate foundations including Altria ($10,000), Meta ($25,000), and the Walt Disney Foundation ($2,500).