The Cool Girls

What is Cool Girls?
Cool Girls is a non-profit agency that provides after-school and out-of-school programs for girls in low-income communities. Girls in our program receive a comprehensive array of services including tutoring, life-skills development, field trips and mentoring. Cool Girls does not charge a fee to the girls who participate in our programs. Our goals include encouraging academic achievement, developing decision-making skills, increasing health and wellness, promoting leadership, increasing access to technology, and exposing girls to the opportunities available to them in the world outside their neighborhoods.

What programs are offered?
Through our comprehensive and award-winning program, we currently serve 500 girls each school year. Cool Girls participate in a yearlong, full spectrum of programs as follows:

The Cool Girls Club is a weekly life skills development program. Girls in 3rd through 8th grade meet weekly at local schools through the collaborative efforts of volunteers, staff and school personnel. The program provides a safe place for girls to learn important concepts through four to six-week modules focusing on areas including entrepreneurship, pregnancy prevention, physical, social and mental health, conflict resolution, self-esteem and cultural awareness.

Eighth grade girls participate in the Interactive Service Learning program. Launched in the Fall of 2004, Service Learning is an interactive, hands-on learning program focusing on community involvement, leadership development and self-determination. Service Learning is an experiential learning technique with 3 main components: knowledge (facts and experience), activity (applying knowledge) and reflection (analysis of the activity and personal growth). Our four-pronged Interactive Service Learning (ISL) Module gives 8th grade participants the opportunity to choose an issue that they feel needs to be addressed in their community, learn from professionals in the field and those impacted by this issue, engage in community service activities related to their area of interest, and design, implement and present a final project to peers, teachers and staff.

Cool Tech is a technology education program that bridges the "digital divide." Through Cool Tech, a collaboration with the Atlanta Women's Network, volunteers help girls learn about technology, improve communication skills, discuss career opportunities and understand money management. Each girl practices these skills by exchanging e-mails with a volunteer "e-mail buddy." Currently, the Cool Tech program is delivered weekly in the middle school after school program. Additionally, the Cool Tech program is delivered offsite at Georgia State University one Saturday a month to our elementary school participants.

Cool Scholars, the premier educational program of Cool Girls is a weekly academic support program for at-risk girls in elementary and middle school. An age and grade appropriate curriculum specifically developed for Cool Girls is utilized to provide fundamental skills in math, reading and writing and to prepare the girls for state and national standardized tests. Academic progress is measured in coordination with a variety of assessment instruments used by the schools, including teachers and counselors' observations, academic and conduct grades, standardized tests, pre- and post-tests, and grade promotion.

Cool Sisters is a one-to-one mentoring program. Volunteers are matched with girls to provide role modeling, friendship and personal support. It is the goal of Cool Girls to not only promote our mentors as a key piece in the overall success of our program but also as a way to expose our girls to women who are decision makers and change agents in their own communities.

Field trips reinforce topics learned in Cool Girls Club and show the girls that the world offers opportunities and benefits outside of their neighborhoods. Each girl is eligible to attend six field trips per year to include arts and cultural places.

GREAT SUMMER CAMPS Cool Biz is one of two summer programs that focus on entrepreneurial leadership skills, business acumen, money management and product development. Cool Biz is a weeklong day camp. Cool Girls participants learn how to run a business, from budget development to marketing and sales. Cool Girls LEAD is a weeklong, overnight camp. The Read, Write and Communicate Camp is a six week summer day camp that helps extend the girls academic support and learning program throughout the summer.

Currently Serving 12 Metro Atlanta Schools
Cool Girls Core Programs of Girls Club, Interactive Service Learning, Cool Tech and Cool Scholars are school-based programs. We serve approximately 500 girls who attend a total of 12 schools throughout Metro Atlanta. The Average enrollment at each Cool Girls School Site is 40 girls. In 2003, and during the same time the Oprah Winfrey Angel Network recognized Cool Girls for its outstanding work, Cool Girls was accepted into the prestigious Edna McConnell Clark Foundation Youth Development Program. This honor not only provided credibility to the work we began in 1989, it allowed us to study our approach and develop a growth strategy. The Foundation's commitment to Cool Girls included a $250,000 contribution and the completions of a five-year growth plan and study, which identified 35 public schools in Metro Atlanta with no or limited access to programs similar to ours.

Atlanta Public Schools

DeKalb County

Is Cool Girls a part of a national organization?
Cool Girls is a local, grassroots agency. The program started in 1989 with one volunteer, Dawn Smith, who went to the East Lake Meadows housing project to work with girls. The girls wanted a club where they could learn more about topics like pregnancy prevention, hygiene, and business skills. She recruited her friends and colleagues as volunteers, and they created programs based on the needs expressed by the girls. Today, Cool Girls has a staff of 14 and a budget of $1,160,000.

What makes Cool Girls different from other organizations for girls?
Cool Girls has a holistic, multi-pronged approach to addressing issues facing girls. Our approach is different for several reasons: 1) We serve only girls from low-income communities; 2) Our programs are comprehensive, so the same girls receive a number of services including the tutorial program, life skills development, technology program, mentoring and field trips; and 3) We are site-based, going into existing sites like schools to work within the community.

How much of your budget is devoted to program services, and how much to administrative costs?
For the 2005-2006 fiscal year, our functional expenditures allocations were as follows: 77% programs and volunteer services, 8% administration and 15% fundraising and marketing. Donors are welcomed to designate dollars exclusively for program use or for use in a specific program.

Why serve only girls?
Research has shown that many girls learn and perform better and have more confidence in a girls-only environment.

Consider these facts:

A 2001-2002 Cool Girls program evaluation suggests the Cool Girls is effecting positive change in the lives of its participants. Girls involved in the program report less substance abuse, more involvement in extra-curricular activities and more positive behavior in comparison to other girls.
Of the girls participating in our Girls Club Pregnancy Prevention Module during the 2002-2003 school year, Cool Girls demonstrated a significant increase in knowledge of sexual development.
Cool Sisters matches average 3 1/2 years and five months in length (compared to the national average of 1 1/2 years for mentors in youth development programs), despite the one year commitment volunteers make at the outset of the match. The longest match in our program has been in place for 12 years.
Of the teens active in our program, 100% have stayed in school. Many are now going to college.

How can I help?
Donations and volunteers are always needed. Even small donations of your time or money are helpful.

To volunteer, please call us at (404) 420-4362.

To donate click here, please use our online donation system or send your gift to:

Cool Girls, Inc.
100 Edgewood Avenue, Suite 580
Atlanta, GA 30303
Attn: Development Department