Herstory
While studying the transition from childhood to adolescence among girls at the Harvard School of Education, our founders observed that girls faced multiple emotional, physical and social challenges. Underserved girls from marginalized communities, in particular, needed extra support and mentorship to foster the self-confidence, perseverance, and sense of community necessary for academic, social and career success. Our founders discovered that outdoor education, and more specifically single-gender outdoor education, fosters the qualities that girls need to face the challenges posed by the transition to adulthood. And that’s how GirlVentures came to be.
1997
GirlVentures was founded as Bay Area Girls Center, an organization focused on empowering adolescent girls to develop and express their strengths through developing courage in the form of physical courage, emotional courage, creative-expressive courage. In our first year, we launched our first summer courses–Project Courage for girls entering 7th-8th grade and Transitions for girls entering the 9th grade. To this day, our inaugural outdoor adventure courses continue to be an integral part of our programming.
1999
We received independent non-profit status and became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
2002
Began the Leadership Development Program, and provided opportunities for high school alumni of our outdoor programs to become assistant instructors and mentor younger youth.
2004
Changed our name to GirlVentures and continued developing our outdoor adventure programs.
2006
Launched the Girls Climb On after-school program.
2010
Expanded our courses to high school youth in 10th-12th grade with our On the Rise course.
2012
Expanded our courses to 6th-7th grade girls with our Redwood Adventure course.
2017
Updated our mission statement to emphasize the broader social change that is possible by supporting and developing women's leadership and developed our Theory of Change. We also expanded our definition of “girl” to promote radical inclusivity and include gender expansive youth–cis girls, trans girls, non-binary youth, gender non-conforming youth, gender queer youth and any girl-identified youth.
2018
Rebranded our logo and expanded our courses to include affinity-based programs with the launch of Rising Together, a course for youth of color.
2020
Expanded our affinity-based programs to include a course for LGBTQ+ identified youth with our Fierce & Fabulous course.
2021
Expanded our school year programming with Explore Outside, a weekly outdoor exploration program.