NORRISTOWN — Girls First, a nonprofit organization serving elementary school-aged girls in and around Norristown, has just been awarded a $5,000 grant from the TeeRico Grant Program in recognition of its commitment to students and families. The grant will help Girls First continue to enrich the lives of young girls through exposure to music, drama, dance, visual arts, and more.
TeeRico is an online merchandise organization that promotes the work of artists and designers in close relation to Lin-Manuel Miranda, award-winning composer, lyricist, actor, and creator of Broadway’s Hamilton and In the Heights. The goal of TeeRico is to communicate the need for tolerance, inclusion, respect, peace, and love. A portion of all sales is donated towards worthy causes such as TeeRico artists, charity events, and other programs.
“We are thrilled to be recognized by this prestigious organization. At Girls First we use a unique, arts-based curriculum to instill a positive sense of self and teach life skills that will make a lasting difference in the lives of our students and their families,” said Board Chair, Alexandra Thompson. “As we seek to expand our program curriculum to other communities, this grant helps to reinforce the importance of our mission and vision.”
In the spring of 2021, the TeeRico organization began offering grants to small community-based organizations serving underrepresented kids and young adults through programming in the arts and other support services. Girls First applied for the grant and received notification in September 2021 that they would be the third such recipient of the award.
“It is both humbling and thrilling to have our work at Girls First supported by LMM and the Miranda family,” said Director of Education, Amy Grebe. “To gain this recognition not only underscores the critical role art plays in positive youth development, but honors the determination and persistence of our students to creatively shape and build pathways to their future goals and dreams.”
Now in its 13th year of service, Girls First is a nonprofit, tuition-free program for elementary school-aged girls, which incorporates elements of art exploration, daily nourishment, movement and breathing, STEAM activities, and academic support alongside positive mentorship to help make a lasting difference in the lives of their students and their families.
At Girls First, the arts are a vehicle by which they teach their students life skills and coping techniques that will better equip them to handle adversity in their lives today, tomorrow, and as they grow. The mission of Girls First is to build character, instill a positive sense of self, and provide tangible life skills through a creative curriculum of art exploration, academic reinforcement, and emotional learning. Their program offers free, multidisciplinary, accessible arts education in a safe and stable environment, but it also uses the unique qualities found in art-making to help students learn new social, emotional, academic, and creative skills to help set them up for long-term success.
Recognizing both the high percentage of children who have experienced adversity in our region and the negative effects adversity can have on brain development, Girls First works through an ACEs aware lens and has developed a unique, trauma-informed, arts-based curriculum that focuses on building resilience and grit while cultivating empathy, agency, and efficacy.
