GirlForward is a Chicago-based community organization dedicated to supporting refugee, asylum seeker, and immigrant girls as they build confidence, develop skills, and create strong social connections while navigating life in a new country. Through its three core programs in Education, Mentoring, and Safe Spaces, the organization provides a continuum of support that promotes academic success, leadership development, and a sense of belonging.
Girls arriving in Chicago as refugees, asylum seekers, and immigrants are navigating a new language, a new culture, and often the trauma of displacement and migration, all while trying to succeed in school—and with fewer safety nets around them, they are more likely to fall through the cracks. This risk is highest for English language learners during the transition from 8th grade to high school, a period marked by academic disruption and social isolation. Right now, that gap sits before GirlForward’s programming even begins: girls don’t connect with Camp GirlForward, the organization’s established summer program, until after they’ve already made that difficult jump. Despite these challenges, girls bring real resilience and ambition, and they deserve consistent, culturally responsive support to help them thrive.
The Girls Opportunity Alliance Fund will support GirlForward in expanding Camp GirlForward while piloting a new school-based intervention, Pathways to Possibility, that meets girls earlier, in 8th grade, before they transition to high school. Together, these programs will serve 50 girls: Pathways to Possibility will bring after-school groups into middle schools in Rogers Park, West Ridge, and Uptown starting in January 2027, building English language skills, confidence, and peer relationships, while participants then move into the four-week Camp GirlForward the following summer for deeper language development, leadership training, and a culminating service project. With this funding, girls like Amina, a newly arrived asylum seeker from Pakistan, will walk into their first day of high school not alone, but anchored by connection, capability, and a strong sense of belonging.
For more information about GirlForward, please visit the organization’s website.
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