Burgess COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

Gap Partners With Girls Inc. for an Empowering Lesson

The collaboration puts the spotlight on readying girls for their future.

Girls Inc., an organization that inspires all girls to be strong, smart, and bold, may have roots dating back to the Industrial Revolution, but their vision is just as relevant today as it was back then: “A world where every girl values her whole self and her inherent strengths, has opportunities to develop her potential, breaks past serious obstacles, and leads a healthy, educated, and successful life.”

Reaching over 140,000 girls with life-changing experiences, Girls Inc. provides a safe, girls-only space for students while offering enrichment that can propel them towards success long after they received these lifelong lessons.

“Partnerships like the one we've developed with GapKids are hugely important in helping us to reach more girls and serve them better,” said Judy Vredenburgh, Girls Inc. President & CEO. “GapKids has made girl empowerment a defining value that has energized the line they've developed with Ellen Degeneres’ lifestyle brand ED and that alignment has helped us bring awareness and resources to our programming.”

Case in point: The two groups worked together to offer an economic literacy program for girls ages 9 through 11. The girls learned basic economic concepts to help them make decisions about earning, saving, spending, and sharing money.

“It is critical that girls have the support and skills to enhance their financial competence and confidence and to help them exercise control over their financial future,” Vrendenburgh said.

While Gap has previously supported some of the organization’s local affiliates, this marks the first national partnership between the company and Girls Inc. Gap volunteers directly engaged with the girls to provide mentorship and real life examples of what they can achieve through education.

“We’re thrilled to have a national partnership with Gap,” Vrendenburgh said, “and [we] look forward to continuing to work together to empower girls to set high goals and achieve them.“