Girls Inc. of Metro Denver is committed to advancing the rights and opportunities of all girls and young women, to eliminating the barriers girls face, and reforming the systems that impede their success. We approach this work through an equity lens focused on girls’ inherent strengths and centers on girls facing multiple, intersectional challenges. Girls Inc. works in partnership with girls and families to advance advocacy that is informed by the lived experiences of girls and centers the voices of girls. This work will ensure that all girls have the resources and opportunity they need to reach their full potential as Strong, Smart, and Bold girls.
ADVOCATING ON BEHALF OF ALL GIRLS
We translate our work with girls into powerful advocacy to improve opportunities for girls to succeed and lead healthy, independent, and educated lives.
Advance Reproductive Rights
Girls have the right to access services and accurate information in order to make informed choices about their reproductive health.
- Advocate for schools to provide comprehensive, medically accurate, non-shaming, and LGBTQ inclusive sexuality education.
- Expand and protect access to affordable and quality reproductive healthcare; including birth control and abortion.
End Violence Against Girls and Women
Girls have the right to be safe in the world and live free from fear, violence, and intimidation.
- Prevent sexual violence, teen dating violence, harassment, and child sex exploitation by supporting prevention programs including education on healthy relationships and the signs and cycles of abuse.
- Strengthen laws, policies and programs that promote trauma-informed practices and improve resources and access to support for survivors of gender-based violence.
- Prevent bullying and harassment, especially schools, by building safe environments, implementing community-wide bully prevention strategies, and ensuring survivors get access to the supports they need.
Promote Girls’ Mental Health
Girls have the right to be mentally healthy and resilient, to have confidence in themselves, and thrive.
- Eliminate prevalent stigmas surrounding mental health conditions, traumas, and treatments.
- Strengthen suicide awareness and prevention programs and eliminate risk factors that contribute to suicide ideation.
- Challenge limiting depictions of girls and women that contribute to mental health conditions and impact self-esteem. Promote diverse and inspiring images of girls and women of all races, ethnicities, cultures, skin colors, gender expressions, sizes, body types, and abilities.
- Strengthen community networks and increase access to quality and affordable mental health services, including school-based health centers, counselors and social workers with an emphasis on supporting communities who are under resourced, the juvenile justice system, and foster care.
Ensure Equitable Educational Access
Girls have the right to quality education and higher learning opportunities in order to participate meaningfully in society and reach their potential.
- Eliminate barriers to quality, affordable, and safe education from early childhood through post-secondary opportunities to ensure educational access and opportunities for all girls and young women regardless of real or perceived immigration status or family income.
- Ensure that all families have equitable access to resources, accurate information, and meaningful opportunities to be included in their girls’ educational journey.
- Reform unfair school discipline policies and practices that disproportionately push girls of color, girls with disabilities, and LGBTQ youth out of school.
- Encourage development and implementation of girl-centered curricula including diverse and authentic experiences of girls and women.
Achieve Economic Independence and Pay Equity
Girls have the right to prepare for interesting work and economic independence and to be equally valued, compensated, and supported for their work.
- Promote girls’ access to meaningful educational opportunities for career paths that are nontraditional for women, including science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).
- Eliminate barriers to economic independence, comparable worth, equitable access to career advancement and increased wages regardless of immigration status, including:
- Livable wages, pay equity, resources and access to paid family leave, earned paid sick time and paid time off.
- High quality and affordable childcare and educational opportunities including early childhood education and out-of school time programs.
- Preparing and promoting girls and women to be in leadership positions and decision makers in the workforce
Equity and Justice for All Girls
Girls and their communities have the right to thrive and live free from systemic inequities and institutionalized oppressions.
- Dismantle systemic oppressive structures and promote laws, policies, systems change, and environmental justice that advance the rights and opportunities for all girls.
- Prioritize advocacy in partnership with historically marginalized and under-served girls including, girls of color, refugee and immigrant girls and their families, girls who attend under resourced schools and live in under resourced neighborhoods, LGBTQ young people, girls in foster care or juvenile justice and girls with disabilities.
- Advocate for social and political change to eliminate the barriers that prevent girls from thriving or from being heard or feeling safe to use their voice. Advance opportunities for girls to represent their communities in leadership positions including government, business, and community.
- Participate in and support intersectional social movements that ensure that all girls’ rights are human rights; movements that acknowledge the inherent strength of all girls regardless of immigration status or identity, an d movements that treat girls with dignity and respect.
- Dismantle unjust immigration laws that separate girls from their families, and restrict their access to education, work, and resources and promote accessible pathways to citizenship.