A newly released report centers the ideas of local girls and gender-expansive youth by outlining steps BART can take to advance gender equity, create a welcoming environment, and measure the effectiveness of strategies.

Our relationship to power is complicated.

As women of color, throughout our childhoods, careers and in most environments, power has been used to oppress us, control us, and dictate how we can be in different spaces. Again and again, we were told and shown: power is not for you — a belief that was showcased again in this most recent U.S. election.

…And yet, true leadership is not about power and control. It is a balance between vision and journey, rooted in expansiveness, evolution, and always in service to uniting, uplifting and caring for the collective.

Today, we come together to feel deeply and honor what is real within each of us. We feel the sadness, unease, and profound frustration, alongside the weight of knowing that our girls and gender-expansive youth, especially those of color, may face futures that don’t yet reflect the justice and hope they deserve. Though today’s news is sad, it is no surprise. Our deepest humanity—at its best and its worst—has been laid bare.

There will be much to say and much to do, but right now is the time to grieve, rest, and reflect. We ask nothing more of our communities than this, for within this pause lies the path to healing and strength.

We're excited to announce AFG’s State of the Girl Initiative, created in collaboration with girls and gender-expansive youth of color and the organizations that support them.

We invite our members and champions to our in-person and virtual SGI Pláticas to engage in powerful conversations about the first-of-its-kind State of the Bay Area Girl* County Profiles.

Registration opening soon. Save the Date and be part of this groundbreaking effort!

Join us on Wednesday, May 29th, 11am-1pm for our Virtual Members Meeting to connect, celebrate, strategize, and learn from one another. This meeting is open to all girls and gender-expansive youth, as well as current AFG members, former members, and any organization serving girls and gender-expansive youth.

We are excited to share the results of Alliance for Girls’* new strategic plan, which charts the course of our collective future to facilitate generative change with and for girls and gender-expansive youth and the organizations that serve them.

Calling all girls and gender-expansive youth across the Bay Area, organizations that serve them, as well as advocates of transit equity to this event.

Meet our new Co-Executive Director, Linda Lu!

Her work is on the cutting edge of feminist and decolonized research focusing on intergenerational communities and youth of color. We couldn’t be more excited to have her join the AFG team! 

Meet our new Co-Executive Director, Chantal Hildebrand. Advancing gender equity and justice internationally and here in California has been her life’s work. Chantal joined AFG nearly three years ago as Director of Programs. The following year, she was promoted as AFG’s Deputy Director.

AFG has seen a lot of big changes in the last year. Tune in to our latest blog post for a recap of what 2023 brought AFG.

A few weeks ago, we shared that after much consideration and staff and board discussions, AFG was moving into a Co-Executive Director model. Today, we are excited to announce that Chantal Hildebrand and Linda Lu will serve as our inaugural Co-Executive Directors!

Over the last month, Alliance for Girls (AFG) has celebrated some exciting legislation wins, and below are some updates from our data-driven state policy advocacy efforts. In each of these pieces of legislation, our girl-centered research was uplifted to highlight the need for both of these bills.

Today, AFG is proud to release Hear Their Voices: The Experiences of Girls* & Gender-Expansive Youth in South and Southeast Los Angeles. This brief summarizes the findings of our research to date in LA County. It highlights our most recent community asset mapping report and accompanying heat map of the programs, services, and resources available to girls and gender-expansive youth in South and Southeast Los Angeles, specifically Service Planning Areas (SPAs) 6 and 7.

Earlier this year, Senator Dave Min and the Stop AAPI Hate coalition introduced SB 434, Public Transit for All: Improving Safety & Increasing Ridership. The bill would require California’s top ten public transit systems to collect qualitative and quantitative data about rider experiences with harassment and is awaiting Governor Newsom’s signature.

After much consideration and staff and board discussions, AFG will move into a Co-Executive Director model. In the coming weeks, we will announce our new Co-Executive Directors – two people who will lead AFG together.

Learn more.

Read our Founding Executive Director, Emma Mayerson’s Thank You Note to the AFG Community.

Today, we are proud to release Safety in Numbers: How the Not One More Girl Initiative Addresses Sexual Harassment and Gender-Based Violence, a case study that captures our journey, impact and learning of this first phase.

Learn more.

Read our latest AFG Membership Newsletter to learn what we’ve been up to!

We’re thrilled to announce the new and improved AFG Girls* Resource Hub! Formerly the Girls Service Directory, the AFG Girls Resource Hub is an interactive, online directory of organizations that provide programming and/or services for girls and gender-expansive youth across California, with particular focus on the Bay Area and Los Angeles County.