Powerful Voices helps girls reach their potential by instilling confidence and offering guidance to high risk teenagers and girls in juvenile detention.
Powerful Voices |  Because Strong Girls Become Strong Women

Girls Rights! Action! Power!

Girls RAP is a year-long after-school program offered to girls at four Seattle public middle schools.

Girls meet after school: In each school, diverse groups of girls meet weekly and work with an instructor to discuss topics that touch their lives. Time in the program supports girls to build critical thinking skills, gain respect, practice self-expression and engage with their school communities.

Girls work with adult mentors: During the program, girls meet one-on-one with an adult mentor, or Fairy RAP Mother.  Through structured reflection on group activities and the opportunity for a more personal connection, girls work with their adult mentors to develop a deeper understanding of what they have learned in the after school program. Girls and their mentors discuss, strategize, and evaluate ways girls can transfer what they learn to the bigger canvas of their lives.

Girls attend our summer program: Girls RAP also offers two weeks of intensive learning for girls from all four schools.  

Girls RAP in Seattle Schools

Today we work with girls who attend Denny, Hamilton, and Washington middle schools. Counselors and teachers nominate girls to join, and participants can also sign up through the Out of School Time (OST) Program. Group make-up is diverse, reflecting the myriad experiences, backgrounds, and ages of the girls at these schools and usually consists of 12-14 girls.

Each group creates a wall-size photo-mural-designed by the girls-depicting what matters most in their lives and what it's like to be a girl today from their perspectives. Other projects developed by the girls include:

  • An investigation into race relations in their school environment.
  • A cookbook to honor the cultural backgrounds of girls in the group, including recipes for food and "respect" in the culture.
  • A critical look at teen fashions as they relate to body size.
  • A survey developed by the girls exploring the issue of why kids pick on each other.

Karly's Story
Karly, 13, joined Girls RAP when her school counselor told her about the chance to create a mural showing what it's like to be a girl today. The idea of taking pictures to tell about her life was inspirational, a new experience. She was also eager to meet new girls. It was rare to spend time outside of the group she belonged to. Most kids stuck "with their own kind" at her school.

Her first day at Girls RAP made Karly feel special. Something felt different. Joanna, Sandra, and Rebecca-the adult leaders, who even used their first names with the girls– asked girls to think about what respect means among girls. They talked about how each girl in the group would get a Fairy Rap Mother– one of them– to connect with outside the group.

Through her involvement with Girls RAP, Karly experienced many firsts. Now she actively works to make the girl culture at her school healthy and inclusive. She's more comfortable raising her hand in class to share her ideas. She blossoms with the personalized attention she gets from her Fairy Rap Mother. Her inner potential– the stuff she's made of– gets revealed in ways that are extraordinary for an adolescent girl.