Garden City, N.Y., (February 1, 2022) – FCA’s Girls Empowerment & Leadership (GEL) Summit, a four month program designed to create a supportive environment for young women attending middle school and high school, recently kicked off its inaugural session, which will run through April 2022. Seventy young women signed up for the monthly program, which offers a stipend to those who complete all four sessions.
Administered by FCA’s Hempstead Prevention Coalition (HPC) and made possible by funding from the Nassau County Youth Board, the three main goals of the summit are to include girls in an environment that fosters strong relationship building, inform the girls on how to effectively identify and navigate opportunities and barriers, and to invest in these girls by creating the platforms for them to mentor, influence, and advocate for themselves and their peers.
The virtual summit features four tiers, with one presented each month of the program. The tiers are: Public Speaking & Leadership; Violence & Substance Prevention; Self-Advocacy; and Valuing Education. Each tier will present new and engaging subject matter and feature community experts. The experts for Tier 1, which was held in January, were the Honorable Brianna A. Vaughan (Village Justice for the Village of Hempstead) and Jessica Toussaint (Motivational Speaker and Life & Success Coach).
The summit was originally designed to include 60 participants divided into a middle school and a high school cohort. Due to an overwhelming response that led to the creation of a waiting list, the summit wase expanded to accommodate 70 participants.
“The summit has gotten off to an incredible start as it has created an inclusive safe space for girls from various areas of Nassau County to learn, grow, and be empowered,” said Thurston O’Neal, Director, FCA Hempstead Prevention Coalition. The progress of the girls will be featured on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/hempsteadpreventioncoalition/
While registration for the summit is now full, you can learn more by contacting Thurston O’Neal at 516.486.7200 x 4318 or toneal@fcali.org
About FCA
FCA is a not-for-profit agency helping more than 30,000 Long Islanders each year. For more than 135 years, the organization has worked to protect and strengthen vulnerable children, seniors, families, and communities on Long Island.
FCA believes in the potential of Long Island – a place where no child, senior, family or community is left to struggle alone with barriers to health care, education, employment, or economic prosperity. Long Island continues to be one of the greatest places in the world to live and raise a family for many; FCA exists to ensure that be the case for all.
For more information about FCA, visit FCALI.org.
