BELLA ABZUG LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE

“We are thrilled to receive this grant from Amplify Her Foundation as it will help us expand our leadership after school training in public high schools throughout New York City. This support will help us to continue empowering even more youth to “grab the mantle of leadership.”
— Liz Abzug, Founder & President, Bella Abzug Leadership Institute

MISSION 

The Bella Abzug Leadership Institute’s (“BALI”) mission is to inspire young women to become effective, dynamic and visionary 21st century leaders as well as active and creative participants in civic, political, corporate and community life. BALI works with high-achieving, low-income and under-served female identifying gender expansive youth, 13-21 years old, who reside and or go to schools throughout New York City and the Tri-State area. BALI provides skills-based leadership and policy and public forum debate training, which would be otherwise unavailable to students.

 
 

GRANT PURPOSE & IMPACT

Funds are requested to support the Bella Abzug Leadership Institute’s Journey To Leadership program, an intensive, year-round, in-school and after-school leadership development program for girls, ages 13-18 years old, in the New York City public school system. 

The Journey to Leadership program provides young women with the skills set and the social-emotional learning needed to instill knowledge, confidence, and self-empowerment; all qualities which would enable them to excel in school, internships, jobs, and their communities. 

Girls enrolled in the program meet once a week, after-school for 1.5 hours, for a total of ten months. The program is delivered through a combination workshops on leadership development, critical thinking, professional writing, and public speaking and seminars on critical contemporary issues, conflict resolution, social entrepreneurship, social-emotional learning, peer mentoring and wellness and self-care. Topics of the workshops include: leadership skills, professional writing, public speaking, public advocacy, collaborative project engagement, conflict resolution, youth and gender empowerment, social entrepreneurship, teen mental health and wellness and self-care.

Students learn to write and speak in a professional manner and articulate arguments supported by meticulous evidentiary research - skills directly transferable to academia, advocacy and professional work. 

With support from the Amplify Her Foundation, the Bella Abzug Leadership Institute will train 120 girls from low-income, under-served, minority and immigrant communities, ages 13-18 years old, in leadership and debate skills.