About the Nonprofit
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Girls on the Run inspires girls to be joyful, healthy and confident using a fun, experience-based curriculum that creatively integrates running.
Girls on the Run is the only national physical activity-based, positive youth development (PA-PYD) program for girls with an evidence-based curriculum, trained coaches, and a commitment to serving all girls. As the only out-of-school time program of its kind, Girls on the Run underscores the important connection between physical and emotional health and empowers adolescent girls to build healthy physical and mental habits that last a lifetime. Trained, caring coaches deliver the life skills curriculum by guiding small teams of girls through twice-a-week lessons that promote social-emotional learning concurrently with physical activity. The program culminates with girls positively impacting their communities through a service project and completing a celebratory, non-competitive 5K event.
Established in 2015, Girls on the Run WMA is an independent council of Girls on the Run International, which has a network of over 170 locations across North America. Our Western MA non-profit serves over 2,000 youth annually in grades 3-8 at 80+ sites (mostly schools) within the four Western MA counties. GOTR WMA provides a fall and spring season and this summer offered Camp GOTR in Chicopee. We host two 5K events each year. Our spring event had 4,000 people in attendance.
Our participants include 65% of girls from lower socioeconomic and income-constrained backgrounds who require financial assistance to participate in the Girls on the Run program. In spring, $81,500 in financial aid was provided to participants through scholarships.
