Help GRCB Kick It Into OVERDRIVE!

Help GRCB Kick It Into OVERDRIVE in 2016!

Girls Rock Campaign Boston, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization with a mission to empower girls and women to believe in themselves by providing a supportive community that fosters self-expression, confidence and collaboration through music education and performance, celebrated its five year anniversary this year.

Looking back over the past five years, GRCB, by demand, has expanded consistently since its founding in 2010. We’ve served over 600 girls in our summer programming, launched an after school program, hosted 9 Ladies Rock Camps, debuted 220 all female bands, provided over $50,000 in financial aid to families in need and had volunteers donate over 40,000 hours of their time during sessions. Most importantly, we have built a powerful community of female youth and mentors who build each other up and never tear each other down. As we head into our sixth year, we have so much more we want to accomplish and GRCB will embark upon their next phase of expansion.

GRCB is ready to kick our programming into overdrive in 2016! We need your help to continue to create spaces in Boston where girls and women are encouraged to sing out, speak up, and make a lot of noise to ensure that girls and women recognize the power of their voices and their potential in our society.

We need to raise $25,000 to achieve our goals for 2016. Your support this year will help us to continue the success of current programs while enabling us to expand and diversify GRCB's year-round programming through exploration of new ways to reach out and engage the community. 

GRCB is looking to expand the scope of our programs in three ways:

• Find a permanent home for GRCB. We believe securing a year-round, permanent space for our programming would allow us to run more sessions, serve more girls during summer sessions and in after school programs during the year. This space will serve as a home base for girls and women seeking community and empowerment while also accommodating expanded program offerings including year-round music lessons, various workshops and resource share opportunities open to community members, and practice studios for bands to continue to build on their peer and mentor relationships.

• Deepen and Expand Current Curriculum and Programming. Beyond strengthening the music curriculum offered during GRCB summer sessions to support returning and new participants at all skill levels, we are working to increase social justice and intersectional feminist programming. Driven by a Youth Advisory Board that will be formed in early 2016, we will work with local organizations, artists and activists to expand our program offerings.

• Connect, Collaborate and Engage. We are working to connect and collaborate with more local organizations and community members to bring youth together to participate in a series of workshops, self-esteem building activities, and performance opportunities throughout Boston and the surrounding areas.

By providing more frequent and consistent opportunities for girls and women to take courageous creative risks, find and trust their voices, forge positive relationships with peers and mentors and be supported by their peers and mentors, we are working to more effectively inspire girls to change the way they think about their own potential and give more girls and women a voice in our society, a key element in combating gender inequality and bringing about social change.

If you are able to support financially, your tax deductible donation will go towards ensuring GRCB can reach it's goals and continue on as a sustainable, year-round organization!

Get Loud for GRCB & Spread the Word!

Unable to contribute financially this year but still want to help out? Already donated and want to know what you can continue to do to help GRCB reach our goals?

Here are FIVE ways you can still help us Kick It Into Overdrive and reach our goals:

1. Start a Fundraising Team through Fundly!

• Teamwork makes the dream work! Engage your friends and family to reach a fundraising goal together!
• Click the “Become a Fundraiser” button on this page to get your team started! Fundly will walk you through setting up the page and sharing it with friends.

2. The more people that know about our campaign, the faster we will reach our goal!

• Help by spreading the word about our campaign with your friends, family, neighbors and colleagues and ask them to do the same. Let the people in your life know how GRCB’s mission and programs have impacted your life and why you are helping spread the word about this campaign.
• You can do this via Facebook, Twitter, e-mail, blogs, phone calls, in-person, or any other form of communication. Whatever your preferred method, helping us get the word out helps more than you could ever know!

3. Access our Fundraising Toolkit for Email and Social Media Templates

• Email [email protected] to get a toolkit to help you spread the word about GRCB and this fundraising campaign!

4. Offer to do a trade donation with a friend.

• Talk to your friends about what organizations they care about and offer to donate to their favorite if they donate to yours. It’s a great way to learn about and support other amazing nonprofits.

5. Help us reach our goals with your connections:

• Are you involved with an organization that may be interested in collaborating with GRCB in 2016?
• Do you know of any spaces needing tenants, or have any connections to landlords/developers who might help us locate our year-round home?
• Do you have a connection to a company that would be interested in becoming involved in our corporate sponsorship program?

If you answered YES to any of the questions above, please contact our Executive Director, Nora Allen-Wiles, at [email protected] !

About Us 

Girls Rock Campaign Boston (GRCB) empowers girls to believe in themselves by providing a supportive community that fosters self-expression, confidence, and collaboration through musical education and performance.

In week-long sessions run by adult female community volunteers, girls gain meaningful life skills of collaboration, problem solving, and positive self-expression in a creative, supportive environment. During each session, girls meet and form bands, learn how to play an instrument (guitar, bass, keyboards, drums, or vocals), compose original songs and perform live to hundreds of family, friends and community members at a prominent local rock venue - all in one week’s time.

GRCB provides daily workshops geared towards self-esteem building, self-reflection and expression every morning. In the process of collaborating with their bands, girls are encouraged to share their ideas as well as listen to each other, think critically, negotiate, and participate in conflict resolution--all essential life skills that help them succeed in their future goals and activities as they mature.

Providing a safe space for girls and women, GRCB hopes to become a key element in fostering leadership and confidence as girls transition into adult lives. Though we at GRCB are excited when girls continue to play their instruments and express themselves through music, our programming is far more based in self-esteem building. The main objective is for a change in behavior in girls who had previously felt held back from pursuing their own goals or interests, whether starting a band, creating a winning science fair project, excelling in a sport, or running for student government.

Learn more at www.girlsrockboston.org

YOU ROCK!

Photos by Kelly Davidson Photography & Michelle Porche