Dear Friends,

We’re giving thanks for all the girls, families, counselors, teachers and administrators that we got to know across the country this year, for our amazingly talented staff and for our countless games of Woosh! Whichever way that you have come to join the GLI family — as a participant, a workshop coordinator, a supporter or a parent volunteer — thank you!

We just finalized our five-year strateigc plan, and we’re thrilled to tell you where we are heading. By 2016, expect to see GLI impacting girls in five regions across the country, including a west coast summer camp in California, and reaching over 12,000 participants a year. We’ll be launching an original research program on girls and sharing our findings with you. Our goal is to bring more GLI to the world and make our resources accessible to all girls and families.

Will you please consider making a year-end donation to help us take the first step in this direction? We can’t do it without you. If you believe in GLI, and have a girl in your life who has experienced the “GLI magic,” join us now. Click here to invest in the future of girls’ leadership.

Happy Thanksgiving,
Simone Marean and Rachel Simmons
Executive Director and Director of Research and Program Development


Thanksgiving Love Note from GLI Dad Brian Gatens

Small GLI Logo“As the father of a pre-adolescent girl as well as the superintendent of schools for a school district in Northern, New Jersey, I am well aware of the challenges and pressures that young women face in today’s world. In response to these forces, we have been fortunate enough to have the Girls Leadership Institute and, more specifically, their summer camp experience become woven into the fabric of our family’s life.

The change in my daughter following her original two-week stay at GLI was powerful. She came home with both an understanding of how to communicate her feelings and also recognize that she can be accepted as an individual in a world that very often places unrealistic and unattainable burdens on young women.

The Girls Leadership Institute has given our family a gift that is hard to capture in words, but suffice to say that we are forever grateful for what they have done for Meg and by extension for all those who know and love her.”


Check Us Out! GLI’s 2011 Report Card

Group JumpingHere’s what we’re proud of accomplishing in 2011:

  • Reached over 2,300 participants in our Parent/Daughter programs;
  • Added a third transformational week to our overnight camp in Massachusetts;
  • Trained eight new extraordinary Educators (read about them here);
  • Gained four inspiring and accomplished Board members (reach about them here); and
  • Raised 50% more money to support our mission and ensure that GLI programs are available to all motivated girls and families

Not bad, right? Our emotions right now are: happy, proud, excited, hopeful.


Girl Find (and Awesome Holiday Gift Idea): Artist Amanda Visell

Amanda Visell Art PiecesDream big! Be you! Visual artist Amanda Visell spends lots of time thinking about what girls need to see when they wake up in the morning. Her stunning posters remind girls that it’s not only awesome to be themselves, but that when they are themselves, they shine the brightest. Amanda’s posters are a great way to be reminded of this everyday – check ‘em out here! We’re thinking of ordering one for the GLI office too! Donate now to support the mission of GLI and our five-year plan for groundbreaking original research, a new west coast camp and two new markets reaching thousands more girls, families and counselors. Thank you for being a part of the GLI family.

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