Girls, Inc.

Based on a community assessment undertaken by the ACTION Council in April 2001, which identified youth development and mentoring programs as a significant county need, the Council adopted ECHO (Education, Careers, Health, Opportunities) as a major long-term project. ECHO began in one high school, serving 12 girls. Since that time, the Council has been “incubating” this project, now Girls Incorporated of the Central Coast, with the intention of expanding services, developing organizational capacity and sustainability and — when ready — spinning it off as an independent nonprofit organization. In 2003, the programs became a provisional Girls Inc. and achieved full affiliation in 2007.

Girls Inc. has grown to serve more than 700 girls in 16 schools in 6 cities and offers a constellation of programs that provides participants specific knowledge regarding health and academic pursuits, while developing leadership, goal setting and decision-making skills. Young women have opportunities to practice being leaders, role models, teachers, mentors and activists. [Learn more: http://www.girlsinccc.org]