Jacksonville, Fla. Jan. 24 – Girls Inc. of Jacksonville (GIJ) has been awarded two funding and support grants from the national parent organization Girls Inc. These grants will help support GIJ two-fold, by honing leadership talents to lead the organization and to support mental health programming for programming participants. GIJ will receive a total of $17,000 to support these efforts.
GIJ has been approved by Girls Inc. National to participate in the Leadership Development, Talent Development Pilot Cohort. A two-person team will participate in the pilot cohort; Director of Operations, Juanita Forman-Lee and High School Program Manager, Brenda Phillips. Both individuals have been with Girls Inc. of Jacksonville for a combined 33 years of service.
Ms. Forman-Lee and Ms. Phillips’ participation in the cohort will significantly impact the organization in a positive way, ensuring that there are not any gaps in program delivery or services.
Additionally, Girls Inc. National has also awarded GIJ with grant funding to support mental health programming. Prior to the pandemic, organizations would regularly provide instructional yoga programming at GIJ sites, however, the rising costs of staffing and limited budget decreased this frequency at some sites and eliminated them entirely for others.
With Girls Inc. National’s new mental health funding for GIJ, mental health-based physical education will return to GIJ to provide programming to GIJ participants. The coupling of SEL programming with physical activity lessons such as yoga or Zumba-style instruction will allow girls to not only focus on their mental health from within, but also keep them physically healthy as well.
About Girls Inc. of Jacksonville
Girls Inc. of Jacksonville is dedicated to assuring high-impact services for a growing number of girls and expanding advocacy efforts by setting bold goals and a clear strategic direction. It focuses on the development of the whole girl. Staff members help the young ladies value themselves, take risks and discover inherent strengths.