In 1989, Attorney Dawn Smith, a few committed volunteers, and a small group of girls gathered in a room to start a weekly girls club in the East Lake community. At the time, East Lake was considered one of Atlanta's most notorious housing projects and was preceded by its reputation for violence. Interested in tutoring disadvantaged youth, Ms. Smith collaborated with Epiphany Episcopal Church and the Urban Training Organization to form a girls club in the East Lake Meadows housing project. At the first meeting, the girls chose the name "The Cool Girls of East Lake" for their new club.

During the first year, the organization was run wholly by volunteers who organized activities based on the needs identified by the community and by the girls. Almost immediately, they recognized that weekly club meetings were not enough to make a real difference in the lives of girls facing poverty, drugs, violence, and little hope for the future. In order to provide one-on-one attention, the decision to add the Cool Sisters mentoring program in May 1990 coincided at approximately the same time that Cool Girls received its 501 c (3) and began operating as an independent organization.

In 1992, the first full time staff member was hired to direct the Cool Girls Club and Cool Sisters programs. In 1994, the first executive director was hired and Cool Girls gradually began transitioning from an organization operating solely on the support of its founding volunteers into one that included staff, board, and volunteers with distinct responsibilities. As needs were identified, the Cool Girls program model expanded. In the same year, Cool Scholars was initiated to reinforce the importance of academic achievement, and to help girls with homework and test preparation. The goal of Cool Scholars still holds true today! In 2000, the Cool Tech program was introduced and now provides girls with training in technology, communications and money management. That same year, the Board of Directors established a $100,000 Reserve Fund to provide a financial backbone for the organization and seeded a Scholarship Fund with an initial designation of $25,000. In the year 2002, Cool Girls' weeklong overnight camp, Girls LEAD was introduced.

What started out as a small girls club has grown into a unique and effective national model that empowers girls to succeed in academic, social and professional arenas.

Today, Cool Girls provides after and out-of-school programs at eight schools in Fulton and DeKalb Counties and serves more than 365 girls per year. We offer mentoring and technology programs, life skills development, academic support, summer camps that teach entrepreneurial leadership skills and money management, and scholarships for girls who have graduated from our program.