At Girls Incorporated of Pinellas, our girls-only space…

• provides leadership opportunities and role models. At Girls Inc. all the leadership positions are held by girls and girls can find strong role models amongst the staff, ethos and philosophy of the agency. Girls are given not just equal opportunity but every opportunity. They stop being the audience and become the players. This experience serves them well when they return to coed environments.
  
  
• celebrates learning without social distractions. Girls Inc. offers an environment in which girls can concentrate on learning without the distraction of boys. Without the presence of boys, girls tend to display their intelligence and curiosity regardless of powerful age-determined notions of popularity, attractiveness or negative peer pressure.
  
  
• creates a safe, risk-taking environment where girls can learn from their mistakes without fear of being put down or dismissed. We provide an environment where there is no shame in working hard or being successful. This enables girls to develop confidence in their own abilities as individuals, and not define themselves by gender.
  
  
• counters mass media influences by freeing girls from the pressure to conform to outmoded patterns of behavior, and provides them with a framework with which to judge the image of girls in today’s media. Girls are free to grow up at their own pace, and they learn to rely on themselves for validation.
  
  
• supports a ‘can-do’ philosophy. Girls learn about non-traditional career choices, such as in math, science and technology fields. There is no subject area or activity in which girls do not excel and which they cannot explore. This stimulates critical thinking and creative learning.
  
  
• recognizes the qualities of girls and how they learn. Girls Inc. is expert in recognizing the qualities of girls and understanding what makes them tick and how they learn. This knowledge is built up over years of experience of teaching girls. This experience has led to Girls Inc. adopting specific girl-centered learning strategies.
  
  
• provides staff members who are experts in the teaching of girls. Girls Inc. staff receive training from the Girls Inc. National Resource Center, one of the nation’s leading think tanks on girls programs.
  
  
• ensures that there is no sex stereotyping of subjects. Girls are more likely to eagerly explore subjects that are less traditionally popular with girls because these subjects don’t acquire a masculine or feminine connotation.
  
  
• celebrates the female perspective. Girls Inc. celebrates the female perspective and way of doing things, and is a place where girls are accustomed to being heard and being valued for who they are, irrespective of what they look like or what they wear. The Girls Inc. environment affirms and encourages young women in their capacities as confident individuals, leaders and agents of social change.