“Cool Girls means a lot to me. It’s a place where you can express your feelings and have fun. It’s also a place where you can talk about things that are on your mind. Cool Girls is where I can come and feel comfortable.” -Briandra, 7th Grade Cool Girl
Founded in 1989 in the ruins of East Lake Meadows, Cool Girls, Inc. is an award winning early intervention after school program dedicated to the empowerment of low-income girls. For more than 19 years we have supported low income girls with our award winning after school programs, field trips, summer camps and volunteer mentors. Dawn Smith, a young law school graduate heard the heart breaking story of a 12 year old girl prostituting herself to support her mothers drug habit on NPR. Smith felt compelled to take action. She recruited other young lawyers and the support of her church to reach out to girls who may be in a similar situation. Smith worked in the East Lake Community with neighborhood Chaplains already working in the area. Smith provided after school tutorials to provide academic support to girls and expanded the program to include field trips and a girls club. The girls named themselves “The Cool Girls of East Lake”. Cool Girls has expanded its service to 11 Atlanta Public and Dekalb County schools. Today we remain true to programs that are developed at the direction of our clients.
Cool Girls is a holistic comprehensive approach to assisting girls in low-income communities become self assured and to break cycles of poverty, teen pregnancy, racism and sexism. We offer girls grades 3rd through 8th access to each of our effective program components that directly enriches the community by decreasing the number of teen pregnancies, providing meaningful opportunities to engage diverse populations and exposing low-income girls to a broad range of academic, enrichment and cultural experiences. Cool Girls continues to serve high school students through our Girls Leadership Forum, our Cool Sisters mentoring program as well as our academic scholarship program to assist college bound girls.
Cool Girls is a supportive program to public education in Metropolitan Atlanta. Our direct service approach bridges any barriers to participation for our girls. Our public school partners provide the space we need to effectively support girls in the after school program. All Cool Girls partner schools are Title I schools. We target our programs to reach girls at the greatest socioeconomic risk. Girls may self select or be nominated to participate in Cool Girls. Every girl enrolled in our after school program has the support of each of our program components.
Cool Girls Club is a weekly after school program comprised of academic support and life skills development. Cool Scholars provides academic support to girls in all core subject areas. Cool Girls staff and volunteer tutors work with girls to provide after school homework help. Cool Tech gives girls consistent exposure to technology and increases their familiarity and comfort using computers in everyday life. This program bridges the digital divide for girls who may not have access to computers in their home. Cool Sisters is a one-to-one mentoring program. Female volunteers are matched with girls to provide role modeling, friendship and personal support. After one year of successful participation in Cool Girls programs, girls earn a mentor. Prospective mentors are required to commit one year to their cool girl, on average Cool Sisters relationships are sustained for six years.
Click here to download the Cool Girls 990 tax form (pdf)
Nathan Lewis - Board Chair - Security Capital Brokerage, Inc.
Danny Lanier - Treasurer - MaxpoCoach
Jodie Huiet - Secretary - AGL Resources, Inc.
Laura Beaty MD - Alliance Primary Care, LLC
Julz Burgess - BNY Mellon
Veronica Higgs Cope - The Cope Law Firm, P.C.
Andrea Criste – Clayton County Public Schools
Sonnet Edmonds - Mirant Corporation
Aaron Goldman - Perennial Properties
Jennifer Hilliard - CGI
Dwight James - Delta Air Lines
Michele Nanna - Parsons Corporation
John Ripoll - US Trust
Sheryl Sellaway - Verizon Wireless
Gwelda Swilley-Burke - Gray & Company
Marc Taylor - Taylor English Duma LLP
Michele Reiner - Advisory Council Chair - MNR Consulting
Latesa Bailey - Littler Mendelson
Rod Batiste - State Georgia Division of Investment Services
Denise Billups - C Robinson Associates, Inc.
John Beane - McGuire Woods
Evern Cooper Epps - Community Volunteer
Jackie Ginn - Dekalb Chamber of Commerce
September Gray - Community Volunteer
Mary Holmes - Community Volunteer
Ellen Koebler - SunTrust Robinson Humphrey
Denise McKinnie - Counsel on Call
Mary Mercer - Community Volunteer
Linda Muir - The Saylor Law Firm, LLP
Rachel Platt - The Platt Law Firm
Lisa Ripoll - Community Volunteer
Arlane Robinson - OCR Trucking, Inc.
Christina Rogers - Alston & Bird
Linda Rothermel - Renaissance Real Estate Group, LLC
Beth Shapiro - The Shapiro Group
Liz Stewart - Community Volunteer