After nearly a year of researching, planning and organizing, Global Girls Inc. was incorporated in Illinois January 18, 2000 and was granted 501c3 status the following July. Since then, Global Girls has established itself as a results-based organization on the south side of Chicago providing annual services, programs, special events and activities for hundreds of girls ages 8-18. Not only are we becoming a household name in Chicago, but we are becoming a recognized resource for girls of color with our partner organizations throughout Illinois and even in Nairobi and Bware, Kenya and Accra, Ghana. Our internal program evaluation highlighted the performing arts as our most successful tool for reaching girls and keeping them in our program. Now, we use the performing arts to engage young women in activities that build strong communication, leadership and life skills: essential social/emotional skills that can transform lives, influence families and empower communities. Global Girls began working with only eight youth (mostly friends and family members of the founder and board members) months before we were incorporated. Volunteer facilitators met in donated space at Olive Harvey College until we were forced out only to find refuge in the founders home. Now, nearly ten years later, we have a paid staff of six working with over 500 youth annually in our community and school based programs. Additionally, our offices and meeting facilities are housed in Grand Crossing Park where we have been Arts Partners in Residence for four years. Our strongest partnership is with several neighborhood elementary schools, Coles, Parkside, Park Manor, Horace Mann and OKeeffe, where we have facilitated programs for the last five years. In fact, many of the youth in our community based program starting in the school programs. We have forged strong working relationships with key state and local organizations including Chicago Youth Centers, Black United Fund of Illinois, Chicago Public Schools, After School Matters, Chicago Girls Coalition, Chicago Park District, and Southside Arts and Humanities Network out of the University of Chicago. Global Girls fulfills our commitment to social change by involving our girls in youth-led research projects, quarterly volunteer initiatives and creating performances that give voice to girls issues and concerns. Also, our girls travel abroad to develop a global perspective, participate in cultural exchange and volunteer. To date 11 girls have traveled to Africa, six to Ghana on two separate trips and five to Kenya. Global Girls, the organization, has been featured on Channel 7 news, Chicago Public Radio and the Chicago Tribune. Our Company, the youth performance group, has performed numerous times in the Chicago area, across Illinois and in Indianapolis Indiana. Some of their appearances a Webinar for Women and Girls and HIV with the US Department of Health, National Public Radio, Illinois Women of African Descent Coalition Health Conference, The Chicago AIDS Foundation, Illinois tour of 12 cities from Kankakee to Cahokia with our HIV information play and workshops and many others. Our programs are proven to make a significant impact in the community; 90% of the girls who enter our program and complete at least three years go on to complete high school and enter college. 80% of our participants have visited at least one college campus as part of our career exploration. Young women who enter our program in 5th and 7th grade and complete at least one full program compete their first year of high school with fewer academic failures, few discipline reports and fewer absences from school. Our pregnancy rate for girls who complete at least one year of the program is 3%. School staff and family members report that Global Girl participants have better social and communication skills than their counterparts. Global Girls has partnered with other youth organizations and networks in order to provide our girls with additional opportunities and to expose them to other cultures, environments and experiences. Other Chicago neighborhood parks have asked us to replicate our program with their youth. We know that we are filling a niche that is not being offered by any other youth group in our community.

Global Girls prepares todays girls for tomorrows challenges and opportunities by promoting individual growth and development through exposure, education, enlightenment and engagement. Exposure: field trips, camp outings, travel abroad, workshops and conferences; - Education session: work on health, nutrition, violence prevention, social/emotional skill development, careers, technology; - Enlightenment: awareness of the world at large and our connection to it, awareness of their individual talents and skills and how to grow and develop those skills; - Engagement: activism on girl issues, socially conscious youth driven theatre that investigates and stages performance pieces based on girls issues and concerns.

Our programs not only equip girls with communication, leadership and life skills, but also educate the girls on violence, nutrition and community involvement and then train them as spokespersons for other girls and their issues. We create performance pieces based on the girls' issues and concerns and then present them for audiences of all ages. We work with girls in community based and school settings and in partnership with other organizations. Our most popular programs are described here. Project 21-20, Not Before 24 is a ten year initiative aimed at cutting in half the rate of teen pregnancy for girls of color, ages 15-19 in South Shore and Greater Grand Crossing by advocating for comprehensive sex education in schools throughout the state, challenging the culture of low expectations for girls, promoting facilitated conversations about sex between adults and youth and encouraging girls of color to participate in sports, hobbies and with youth organizations. One of the outgrowths of our community and school programs is our main performance group, The Company. Any girl who participates in our community or school based programs can audition for The Company. As the public face of Global Girls, the group creates performance pieces and presents them in the community and at special events showcasing youth issues and encouraging other girls to both come join us or to become their own advocates. Global Girls performances include o Interview on Chicago Public Radio on African American teen female voices in the 08 election o Illinois tour of 12 cities from Kankakee to Cahokia with our HIV information play and workshops o ABC Channel 7 news with Tracy Butler o The Chicago AIDS Foundation o Opening for Cheryl Lee Ralph in Indianapolis, Indiana o Chicago Public Schools o The Mayors Office of Special Events o Sigma Gramma Rho's annual Youth Symposium, o The Illinois Department of Health HIV conference in Springfield o Prairie Center for the Performing Arts in Schaumburg, Illinois o African American Social Workers Association convention, and o Cable television. The Company created and performs in our most recent production I Choose which is a major component of our pregnancy prevention campaign. We have toured an HIV edutainment production called "From Gross to Hope" exploring the way girls talk about sex and what they need to do to remain safe and healthy. Using dance, poetry and improvisation, the piece highlights the urgent need for straight talk and opportunities for girls and parents to talk in a safe space about feelings, biology and personal power. Another program is Girls In Motion which is based in elementary schools and teaches 5th and 6th grade girls about the importance of physical activity, nutrition and healthy relationships. Young Women on the Move is our community and school-based program in which young women meet weekly to discuss curriculum, which focuses on making healthy choices in lifestyle and relationship choices, promoting healthy families and communities. Girls are trained in leadership skills and performance skills which promote self-esteem. As the girls mature in the program, they are referred for employment/volunteerism, community service and public speaking opportunities. We also sponsor the Global Girls Ambassador program, which partners with the Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health and meets annually with women of the Illinois Legistative Black Caucus in Springfield. The Take the Stage theatre program is a collaboration with After School Matters and is based in Hirsch High School. As part of our arts partner relationship with the Chicago Park District, we have initiated a very successful adult theatre group, G Squared Theatre Company, which to date has had four performance of an original piece, DoDont Talk About It which looks at woman talking and not talking about sex. Global Girls is Arts Partners in Residence at four elementary schools which are feeder schools to South Shore and Hirsch High Schools. In our Arts Partner program, we work with selected classes at each school one day a week for the entire school year. Using the Chicago Guide to Teaching and Learning in the Arts as one of our primary resources, we engage students from kindergarten to fifth grade in dance and drama training. The principals are ecstatic about the program as we are providing experiences for their youth which have not been offered in the past and that they do not have funds to provide. Another popular program in the elementary schools was first suggested to us by principals who saw a need for girls to learn about their changing bodies. We call this program On Becoming a Woman. It is a fee for service gender specific program focusing on puberty, menses, feelings and emotions, communication with peers and parents, healthy friendships and changing roles from girlhood to womanhood. In the past we conducted programs at South Shore High School, but have not returned due to funding constraints