ABOUT US
Who We Are
GIRLPowR, Inc. is a Lincoln-based non-profit organization founded by Nebraska native and former Peace Corps Volunteer (Nicaragua), Julie Reager on September 26, 2013. GIRLPowR is a rising network of girls and women, advocates, volunteers, educators and leaders in the communities where GIRLPowR delivers direct services and programs, and the larger municipalities, e.g. states, departments, that encompass those communities.
What We Do
GIRLPowR is dedicated to empowering girls by reducing barriers to their equal participation in formal education, and fostering girls’ self-worth, socioeconomic independence, leadership potential and vocational opportunities.
GIRLPowR’s domestic education and empowerment programs for pre-adolescent and adolescent girls are delivered locally in collaboration with Lincoln Public Schools, Community Learning Centers, Lincoln Parks and Recreation, Asian Community and Cultural Center, Air Park Rec Center and El Centro de Las Americas, Lincoln Housing Authority, Family Services and other local non-profit organizations. In Kumaica, Nicaragua, GIRLPowR programs are delivered by dedicated community volunteers, teachers and the Program Coordinator in cooperation with the primary and secondary schools and supported by the mayor and local community leaders.
In Kumaica, GIRLPowR also provides its cohorts of pre-adolescent and adolescent girls school uniforms and supplies which are required for school participation, but are often out of the financial reach of their economically distressed families.
In 2019, GIRLPowR launched its first ever Jamaica GIRLPowR program with 16 participants, most of whom are considered high-risk youth, at Albert Town High School. GIRLPowR is partnering with non-profit Southern Trelawney Environmental Agency (STEA) and local schools in the Cockpit Country area. GIRLPowR Programs are coordinated by a local school teacher and facilitated by the school counselors and community volunteers.
GIRLPowR is currently developing a program in partnership with non-profit, Eve for Life, a UNICEF funded Jamaican organization with a focus on serving survivors of sexual assault and rape, pregnant teens, and young people living with HIV and AIDS. GIRLPowR and Eve for Life will target girls aged 8-12 years focusing on prevention, awareness and education in Montego Bay area and additional surrounding communities with high rates of rape, sexual abuse and incest.
GIRLPowR focused resources and efforts in its founding year and pilot phase on a cohort of 30 girls in Kumaica, a small, impoverished rural community nestled deep in the coffee mountains of central Nicaragua, where GIRLPowR founder Julie Reager served as a Peace Corps Community Health Promotion Volunteer from 2001-2003. GIRLPowR programming has grown to include four communities, Kumaica Sur, Kumaica Norte, La Aurora and Infierno in Nicaragua. and at six locations in Lincoln, Nebraska. In Jamaica, GIRLPowR aims to serve girls in two primary schools and one secondary school in Cockpit Country in the parish of Trelawny by December of 2019.
Last year we are served 354 girls between the three countries. GIRLPowR Inc. Global Headquarters is in Lincoln, Nebraska. GIRLPowR is everywhere you invest in our communities and our shared future by educating and empowering girls.
Where We Are
