We center girls and gender-expansive youth of colors’ needs and solutions through data-driven systems change
Our FOCUS AREAS
We support community power-building and data-driven systems change advocacy, centering the lived experiences and policy recommendations made by girls and gender-expansive youth of color and the organizations that serve them.
Our advocacy is directly informed by our research, girls, gender-expansive youth, and community-driven recommendations, membership and emerging needs for girls.
Gender-Based Violence Prevention & Intervention
Advocating for girl-informed policies to prevent and address gender-based and sexual violence and harassment across schools, public transit, and in public spaces
Through powerful, intergenerational mobilization, AFG facilitates community and girl-driven advocacy to advance the #GirlsPolicyAgenda with leadership from our Advocacy Committee.
Data Collection and Dissemination
Ensuring that government agencies and school districts are collecting and responding to disaggregated data on the expressed needs of girls and gender-expansive youth, and using that data to inform budget, policy, and program decisions.
Funding for Girls’ Needs
Advocating for budgets that explicitly increase funding for girls and gender-expansive youth programming and girl-serving organizations to better meet the identified needs.
Through powerful, intergenerational mobilization, AFG facilitates community and girl-driven advocacy to advance the #GirlsPolicyAgenda with leadership from our Advocacy Committee.
OUR CURRENTadvocacy initiatives
Safety on Public Transportation
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Since 2019, Alliance for Girls has worked closely with member organizations and Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) to center girls and gender-expansive youth of colors’ lived experiences and recommendations through the first of its kind initiative called the Not One More Girl (NOMG) Initiative.
AFG and Phase 1 of NOMG helped inspire and inform the passage of two State Bills including SB 1161 and SB 434 to increase data collection on and prevention of street harassment across transit agencies in California.
READ THE SAFETY IN NUMBERS CASE STUDY→
In 2022, AFG was contracted with BART to continue building upon the NOMG initiative and its recommendations, to develop the first youth-informed evaluation framework for BART focusing on rider safety as it pertains to rider safety, especially sexual harassment and assault. Through a series of community learning exchanges and community events including girls and gender-expansive youth of color, parents, community members, AFG member organizations, and BART staff, AFG is leaning into the messiness of safety and creating a framework that can help drive BART’s future work and initiatives.
Safe and Inclusive Schools for Girls
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Building upon our work at Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) and San Francisco School District (SFUSD) through the Meeting Girls Needs Initiative (MGNI), we continue to:
→ Engage in research and data collection on the lived experiences of girls, especially girls of color, in the school district;
→ Educate girl champions’ and key stakeholders working within school districts on girls needs;
→ Amplify and advance girl-centered solutions to girls’ expressed needs through the establishment of girl-centered policies, practices, and programs;
→ Enable district-wide implementation of promising solutions; and
→ Implement and evaluate the impact of these girl-centered solutions on girls’ expressed needs.
In 2022, we collaborated with Equal Rights Advocates, Family Violence Law Center, California Partnership to End Domestic Violence, and The Unity Council to draft a policy memo to the California Department of Education (CDE) based on the findings and girl-led recommendations outlined in AFG’s Uniting Isolated Voices: Experiences of Girls and Gender Expansive Youth During COVID-19 report (2021). The memo outlined three main areas of improvement for the CDE:
→ Strengthen Title IX and related state law enforcement and oversight protocols using existing policy and protocols and advancing best practices.
→ Advocate for including gender and culturally responsive programs for girls and gender-expansive youth and additional staff to connect students with these programs in the 2022 and 2023 state budgets.
→ Develop more numerous, deeper, and more accessible guidance to address gender bias through school dress codes and other areas in which K-12 districts have shown a clear need for Department signaling.
LEARN MOREabout our advocacy work beyond our campaigns
AFG uplifts girl-centered recommendations and supports our member organizations’ advocacy work, where possible, through a number of tactics, including:
Mobilizing our networks to give public comment at the local, county, and state levels;
Sending support letters for bills and policies that align with what girls and gender-expansive youth and their champions need;
Creating opportunities for girls, gender-expansive youth, and our member organizations to directly engage with elected officials and policymakers through legislative briefings, town halls, and community events to share girls’ and gender-expansive youth’s research and girl-centered recommendations;
Connecting members with local and county government agencies; and
Uplifting AFG members’ advocacy work on AFG social media, where possible.
EXPLOREour past advocacy work
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