Girls Advisory Board wins national grant

Posted by ChaddsFordLive on January 13, 2016

The Girls Advisory Board (GAB), the youth philanthropy program of the Chester County Fund for Women and Girls, has received national recognition.

The group was awarded an Activating Leadership Grant for Women from Eileen Fisher, a designer clothing company. The theme of the 2015 grant was Achieving Personal Transformation, according to a press release from the Chester County Fund for Women and Girls.

The support and recognition from Eileen Fisher in the amount of $10,000 reinforces the innovation and goal behind the fund’s GAB program: that the young women who participate in GAB emerge with leadership skills, inner strength and confidence, who continue into their adult lives as socially conscious, civic leaders, the release said.

The grant will provide the financial capital needed to implement the 2015 GAB program and ensure that the ever-evolving GAB curriculum aligns with the fund’s three-year strategic plan and core focus areas: core needs, economic opportunity, health and wellness, and challenging inequality.

“We strongly feel that (GAB) is very important and needed in greater Philadelphia,” Reisa Brafman, social consciousness leader of Community Partnerships and Women’s Initiatives for Eileen Fisher, said in the release. “The young women of GAB are true leaders … how they are examining the issues in their communities and taking them seriously.”

According to its website, Eileen Fisher awards $100,000 in grants annually for up to 10 grant recipients.

GAB's distinct curriculum includes mentorship, guest speakers, site-visits, community service, inter and intra-personal growth and exposure to the wide array of local social service organizations, the diverse cultures and communities who make up Chester County. Together the 2015 GAB class, comprised of 20 Chester County high school girls, was responsible for granting $22,500 to local area nonprofits, developing the guidelines, application process and areas of support they wished to fund, the release said.

The purpose of GAB is to educate and engage a new generation of young women leaders through philanthropy, teamwork and collaboration, community service, and the positive difference each girl can make in the lives of others.

For more information about the Girls Advisory Board: http://ccfwg.org/girls-advisory-board/. For more information about Eileen Fisher’s Achieving Personal Transformation Grant, go to http://www.eileenfisher.com/EileenFisher/company/grants/Grants.jsp.