STARS CITYWIDE GIRLS INITIATIVE
NEW YORK CITY COALITION FOR GIRLS & GENDER-EXPANSIVE YOUTH
CELEBRATING 10 YEARS OF PROGRAMMING AND ADVOCACY
YOUTH TOWN HALL
Youth Advocacy for Nonprofit Organizations
STARS CGI’s fifth annual Youth Town Hall, a youth-led Town Hall to discuss and propose solutions to pressing issues important to girls and gender-expansive youth in New York City, focused on the proposed budget cuts to the nonprofit sector, including CBO’s and after school programming. This year, we had a cohort of 13 Youth Fellows from the STARS CGI organizations who led and facilitated group discussions at the Town Hall. Since January, they attended meetings every other week to develop their leadership and public speaking skills, come up with discussion questions, and conduct relevant research to prepare for the event. A majority of participants were youth between the ages of 13-20, but there was a range of ages represented in the audience.
TEN LEADING NONPROFITS JOINING FORCES FOR 10 YEARS STRONG
STARS CONSTELLATION
SPORTS
TRAINING
AND
ROLE MODELS FOR
SUCCESS
STARS Citywide Girls Initiative is a coalition of 10 leading nonprofits spanning disciplines—sports, literature, art, activism, and beyond. Over the past decade, we’ve joined forces to advocate for girls, young women, and gender-expansive youth from systemically underserved communities—supporting their growth emotionally, academically, and physically to be strong, skilled, and successful leaders. The STARS Coalition has raised over $12 million from the New York City Council and served more than 500,000 across New York City.
10 NONPROFITS
LEADING
PROGRAMS FOR GIRLS & GENDER-EXPANSIVE YOUTH
10 YEARS UNITED
TO ADVOCATE
FOR GIRLS & GENDER-EXPANSIVE YOUTH
$12+ MILLION
RAISED FOR GIRLS
& GENDER-EXPANSIVE
YOUTH
500,000+ SERVED
GIRLS & GENDER-EXPANSIVE YOUTH IN ALL 51 NYC
COUNCIL DISTRICTS
STARS COMMUNITY ORGANIZING ECOSYSTEM
SUPPORTING THE NOW GENERATION ACROSS
ATHLETICS
LITERACY
ARTS
LEADERSHIP
ACTIVISM
EVERY DAY IN EVERY WAY
STARS SELF-CARE CELEBRATION WEEK
STARS Self-Care Celebration: Activate was all about intention-setting. We nourished our bodies with delicious smoothies from Brooklyn Blend, then creatively expressed ourselves through various art forms. To close out the event, we engaged in a beautiful meditation practice led by Arielle Simone.
For STARS Self-Care Celebration: Create we gathered at Girls Club with almost 100 young people to CREATE a beautiful family meal! Community meals are a VERB. We created over 10 jumbo charcuterie boards & wrote poetry connected to food as a weapon and the ingredients that make us who we are. We also designed a full dining experience!
At STARS Self-Care Celebration: Motivate we unlocked our inner athlete at the Armory. Being active is a great way to practice self-care. Niki Avery guided our young people through a variety of skills challenges to get their blood pumping while pushing them to the limit.
On our final day of self-care celebration week, Celebrate, we journeyed to Nike Headquarters for the ultimate turn up. We played, we launched, we danced, and we had fun with friends! We were joined by the Ladies of Hip Hop, who led the festivities.
STARS PROGRAMS
BECOMING MORE FELLOWSHIP
In collaboration with the National Women's Hall of Fame, STARS launched the Becoming More Fellowship in which fellows delivered their own TEDx-style talk detailing their journey to Becoming More. Becoming More is loosely based on Michelle Obama’s book Becoming.
LEADERSHIP BREAKFASTS
Leadership Breakfasts are a gathering of city council champions and influential corporate leaders to discuss best practices for supporting girls and gender-expansive youth in NYC, and how to foster an equitable NYC in which girls and gender-expansive youth are civically engaged.
STARS IS A VERB: PLAY
STARS youth met at Coexist Gaming for an evening of community, culture, and connection! The day was filled with games, trivia, awesome food, and special prizes.
OBAMA FOUNDATION
Our STARS leadership team and our young people were invited to participate in Michelle Obama’s event where they engaged with other women and girls from around the world.
JOIN US AT A YOUTH TOWN HALL
STARS CGI’s fifth annual Youth Town Hall focused on the proposed budget cuts to the nonprofit sector, including CBO’s and after school programming. We had a cohort of 13 Youth Fellows from the STARS CGI organizations who led and facilitated group discussions at the Town Hall. Since January, they attended meetings every other week to develop their leadership and public speaking skills, come up with discussion questions, and conduct relevant research to prepare for the event.
STARS CGI hosted its third youth Town Hall entitled ‘Pass the Mic’ with Council member Farah Louis as our guest of honor. Pass the Mic was a call to action to urge policymakers to include youth in the decision-making process. Our young people discussed topics such as the impact of the pandemic, as well as the youth perspective on the COVID-19 vaccine.
The first STARS Youth Town Hall focused on themes of education equity, and featured Council Member Adrienne Adams. STARS youth leaders discussed the collective anxiety brought on by social unrest, racial injustice, and the aftermath of a troubling election and a global pandemic. Youth also discussed the possibilities for inspiration during this time.
At our fourth annual STARS Town Hall, the STARS Youth Fellows discussed school safety with subtopics ranging from gun violence to mental health to public transportation to and from school. Our young people were joined by District Leaders Kenésha Traynham-Cooper, Shaquana Boykins and Sarana Purcell at the Weeksville Heritage Center in Brooklyn.
Our second STARS CGI Fellow cohort hosted a Town Hall on Mental Health with Council member Carlina Rivera as guest of honor. With so much attention focused on getting "back to normal," our young people chose to speak out on the mental trauma they previously endured and how those may have been exacerbated during the pandemic.
VISIT OUR WORKSHOPS
Let Your Light Shine: In this workshop, a gentle movement practice made space for participants to slow down, find serenity, and connect to their true selves. Participants celebrated the joy, wisdom, and power of moving and breathing together.
A Letter to Your Future Self: In this Self-Care Saturday Workshop, participants wrote letters to both their past and future selves, taking inspiration from the youngest inaugural poet in history, Amanda Gorman.
YOUTH FEATURES AND TESTIMONIALS
STARS COALITION PARTNERS
The Armory Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to serving youth by promoting fitness and education through a broad range of athletic, educational, and community programs.
The Bella Abzug Leadership Institute (BALI) has proudly worked with underrepresented youth throughout NYC and the tri-state area since 2005, inspiring, training and mentoring them to become leaders in creating positive social and economic change.
Figure Skating in Harlem helps girls transform their lives and grow in confidence, leadership and academic achievement. We are the only organization in the world for girls of color that combines the power of education with access to the artistic discipline of figure skating to build champions in life.
Girls for Gender Equity (GGE) works intergenerationally, through a Black feminist lens, to center the leadership of Black girls and gender-expansive young people of color in reshaping culture and policy through advocacy, youth-centered programming, and narrative shift to achieve gender and racial justice.
Groundswell is a NYC-based organization that brings together youth, artists, and community organizations to use art as a tool for social change, for a more just and equitable world. Groundswell engages youth in creative processes at the intersection of arts education, youth development, and social justice to inspire community engagement and social change.
Girls Write Now breaks down barriers of gender, race, age and poverty to mentor and train the next generation of writers and leaders for life. Together, our community channels the power of our voices and stories to shape culture, impact industries and inspire change. We are a powerhouse of voices that have been ignored or silenced for too long.
The Lower Eastside Girls Club amplifies the inner power of young women and gender-expansive youth in New York City through our free, year-round innovative programs in STEM, Arts, Digital Media and Sound, Wellness, Civic Engagement, and Leadership.
PowerPlay’s programs for girls and young women seek to stem the decline in confidence that occurs three times more often in girls than boys from elementary school to high school. If girls don’t see it, they won’t do it. Girls miss out on opportunities to learn from positive female role models who look like them.
Row New York was founded in 2002 based on the premise that the discipline of competitive rowing combined with rigorous academic support yields powerful returns. Rowing instills in athletes a strong work ethic, persistence, and grit. This is particularly evident in the classroom, where focus and determination produce higher grades and college acceptance rates.
Sadie Nash Leadership Project’s mission is to strengthen, empower, and equip young women and gender-expansive youth of color as agents for change in their lives and in the world. Operating at the intersection of love and rigor, we use popular education to build community, critical consciousness, and college and career readiness among participants, who we call Nashers.
CONTACT STARS
