Description
What do donations typically fund?
Our dream is to make learning nontraditional skills like tools and such a part of early childhood and community education. Our hope is that training more youth, with an emphasis on girls and young women, will close the labor gap, as well as the 90% gap between men and women filling jobs in those fields. Based on data collected since our inception in 2020, close to 70% of our population are underserved or traditionally disadvantaged and need postsecondary training that is easily accessible. Our goal is to introduce those introductory skills that might lead to a career pathway.
Donations are fully tax-deductible as allowed by law. All donations go towards programming expenses which keeps our community workshops and courses free or low-cost.
MISSION:
Girl with Grit is a 501c3 nonprofit organization with the mission to close gaps in workforce skills amongst various populations of youth, with an emphasis on girls and young women.
NEED:
Our introductions to tools are meant to prep girls and young women for pre-apprenticeship construction curriculum through introductions to tools, construction, and high-wage skilled construction jobs. Our organization is currently the only known one that has developed a curriculum to help inform the younger populations of these opportunities through project-based learning. Per the United States Labor Bureau, Women’s Bureau Policy Analyst Elyse Shaw, “no one is thinking about the girls and how building alongside them can help open doors for them.”
Any funds from a community are spent directly on residents of that community, meaning the community is responsible for funding itself. This helps local workforce development meaning that these local youth learning to build could directly alleviate the housing crisis. This will address residents considering their future employment. Our exit surveys have shown repeatedly, these skills and ideas translate to “understanding safety, tools, and workforce opportunities” for girls and young women.
Closing the Gender Gap: With only 4% of women making up the skilled trades, we seek to instruct girls and young women about the tools and the various job opportunities in skilled trades that are out there for them they might not know about. “For example, while women are roughly half the workforce, they represent only 4% of the construction trades” (Daniel, USDOL). We encourage this workforce introductions for a variety of reasons including: the poverty rate of single women without college educations – “just 13% of single mothers who hold a bachelor’s degree live in poverty compared with 41% with only a high school diploma” (Institute of Women’s Policy Research). Through our research, we believe that opening doors to these high wage-earning jobs with training could help close this gap.
Labor Shortage: “A new survey released from DEWALT, a Stanley Black & Decker brand, found more than half of U.S. contractors (55 percent) feel a lack of skilled workers is a barrier to growing their current business” (RetroFit Magazine Editor). Girl with Grit hopes to help close this workforce gap by breaking down barriers in the construction industry for girls and young women by getting them comfortable with tools, safety, and building.
Housing Crisis: Part of what is so expensive in housing is the cost of skilled labor because there is an increasing need for workers. As a labor shortage in our infrastructure continues and as data shows the workforce gap grows, the cost of skilled labor will increase, and construction jobs will stall unless we have workers interested in filling this gap. The Home Builders Institute reports “The lack of skilled construction labor is a key limiting factor to expanding home construction and improving housing inventory and affordability” (Home Builders Institue).
Climate Resilience: While we believe in teaching construction, we believe in responsible climate resilience construction that is environmentally friendly. We need to plan for our children’s climate resilient future by including construction information on reclaiming wood, solar panels, means of water conservation, and rethinking construction for the future.
TARGET POPULATION
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AGE: |
RESIDENCY: |
DEMOGRAPHICS: |
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| 3rd Grade to 9th Grade
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We allow the donor to select location or utilize their funds in their community. | Preferably girls and young women with little tool, safety, or construction training – however, our inclusive model allows for anyone needing training. |
ASSESSMENTS AND DATA
Our assessments and data collection are done through a variety of means. As we are working with primarily minors, we are careful in our assessment process in terms of legality and protecting confidential information in our assessments and data collection.
Currently, we perform both entry and exit surveys to gauge their knowledge. We also have support from various behavioral health specialists, educators, police and civil servants, USDOL federal employees, and tradespeople advocating our project-based curriculum and our workshops. We all see how girls and young women knowing these skills can shift the paradigm in communities and in our workforce.
QUANTITATIVE DATA:
We serve almost 12,000 youth annually through workshops, markets, schools, community centers, and events and have trained more than 4,000 adults in acquiring these important skills. Through this funding, we will be able to come to your community and teach basic knowledge of construction, such as tools, safety, and the joy of building with your hands, work with various construction and design materials.
- 100% of students feel better educated about tools, safety, and construction.
- 80% of our students consider the skill trades differently post-workshop survey.
- Over 70% rely on the grant funding of their community to make this programming accessible.
QUALITATIVE DATA:
Through our behavioral health partnerships, this programming has been shown to develop bonding, community, confidence, independence, and self-reliance. Youth are trained in areas that promote well-being, independence, and overall safety. Youth in this program have displayed a boost in confidence immediately upon acquiring skills. Without home support, these skills often go missing as they are not skills taught in school. This program is also considered by the State of Texas as proving post-covid behaviors.
Girl with Grit will provide all 501c3 determination, cited research, finical history and budgets, MOUs, and any pertinent data on request.
