Earlier this week, Michelle Obama, the former First Lady and founder of the Obama Foundation’s Girls Opportunity Alliance, unveiled a renewed commitment to empowering and uplifting girls in Chicago.
The Girls Opportunity Alliance will allocate $500,000 to 14 Chicago-based organizations dedicated to serving girls, with additional funding planned for later this year.
Beyond financial support, the Alliance will extend organizational assistance to over 60 girl-serving entities throughout the City of Chicago via the Girls Opportunity Alliance Network. This comprehensive approach aims to benefit thousands of adolescent girls residing, like Michelle Obama, in the South and West Sides of Chicago.
In a video released on Tuesday, Michelle Obama expressed her excitement for the growth of the Alliance’s initiatives in Chicago.
“I couldn’t be more thrilled to share that the Girls Opportunity Alliance is expanding our work right here in my favorite city,” said Michelle Obama. “We’re going to be funding 14 grassroots programs that are making a real difference in the lives of girls here in my hometown. From providing mentorship and leadership training, to empowering girls through sports and dance, to preparing them for a future career through work-study programs, these organizations are there for our girls each and every day.”
Guided by the vision articulated by Mrs. Obama, the Girls Opportunity Alliance is poised to furnish 14 carefully chosen girl-serving organizations based in Chicago with tailored funding and support, specifically designed to meet their unique needs.
This assistance will empower them to augment existing programs or pioneer new initiatives that directly tackle the distinctive challenges confronted by girls in Chicago. The leaders of these organizations, alongside their counterparts in various girl-serving entities across Chicago, will become integral members of the Girls Opportunity Alliance Network.
This global community, boasting over 4,000 leaders, serves as a platform for the exchange of ideas, information, and resources, contributing to the augmentation of organizational capacity and sustainability. As esteemed Network members, these leaders from Chicago will gain access to capacity-building workshops, Obama Foundation programming, and invaluable advice shared by the Obamas.
“Our goal is to provide a network of support, as well as funding to these organizations, to help them strengthen and scale their work to empower girls across Chicago,” said Tiffany Drake, Vice President at the Obama Foundation and Executive Director of the Girls Opportunity Alliance.
The 14 Chicago-based girl-serving organizations are: Black Girls Dance, Black Girls Jump, GirlFoward, Girls Inc. of Chicago, Girls in the Game, Girls on the Run Chicago, Gyrls in the H.O.O.D Foundation, Ladies of Virtue, M.E.A.N. Girls Empowerment, Polished Pebbles, Praize Productions Inc., Restored Hope, SHE Chicago, and Sista Afya Community Care.
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