LOWER EASTSIDE GIRLS CLUB

LESGC supports our members along the journey toward a life of Joy, Power and Possibility. We integrate research-based positive youth development practices that demonstrate social-emotional learning outcomes that correlate with long-term gains and increased life-long thriving. For CWBH are focus is addressing the social determinants of health. We use Hello Insight, an online learning and evaluation platform, to deploy validated tools and analytics. Beyond Hello Insight we are continuously developing a rigorous and innovative Monitoring and Evaluation system that is quantitative and qualitative, program-based and longitudinal, professional and participatory. The guiding goals of our programmatic model are Empowerment, Passion and Joy, Meaningful Access to Resources, Social Connectedness, and Health and Wellbeing.

Empowerment
Members strengthen social-emotional capacities, demonstrating confidence, purpose, perseverance, and a solid sense of self. They can navigate the world and take action to change it.

Passion and Joy
Members thrive as they explore interests, discover and pursue their creative passions, take risks, collaborate, communicate their ideas, and fulfill their potential.

Meaningful Access to Resources- Members connect with the resources, opportunities and social support they need to heal, envision a future, and set a path forward to achieve their dreams.

Social Connectedness- Members experience solidarity and a sense of belonging, strengthen social skills, build supportive peer groups, and authentically engage with staff and mentors who encourage, challenge and care.

Health and Wellbeing- Members practice self-care and develop habits for lifelong health.

The Lower Eastside Girls Club (LESGC) supports young women and gender-expansive youth of color throughout New York City in leveraging their inner power to shape a better future for themselves, their community, and the world. Through free, year-round, innovative programming we connect young people with their passions, celebrate their curiosity, and channel their creative energy. We believe that the health and wellbeing of the young people we serve is intimately connected to the wellbeing of their families and their community. To address this need in 2022, we expanded our mission and service population with the Center for Wellbeing and Happiness, which provides free, full-spectrum wellness services addressing the social determinants of health for all generations and genders on the Lower East Side.

We understand that building a community in which the wellbeing of all generations and genders is collectively supported requires a holistic approach that addresses the social determinants of health.

With care and purposeful action, we create space for meaningful discoveries, healing, growth and evolution.

We build in partnership with our Community and recognize that we need solidarity and collaboration to build a just world. We are committed to uplifting the expertise and experience of Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) based in the Lower East Side community.

We embrace Radical Imagination, facilitating learning as a joyful, playful, and emancipatory act that allows our members to envision a present and future that breaks the boundaries and barriers of the status quo.

We affirm all identities and experiences.

We are rooted in Healing Justice. We believe a more equitable and just future is possible and commit to both acting upon and embodying the values of anti-racism, gender- and sexuality-based equality, and socioeconomic justice. We aim to address harm at its root cause and heal together.

We commit to Sustainability and environmental justice for ourselves, our community, our city and our world.

We foster Innovation through dynamic and proactive youth and community programming.

We are trailblazers, building new, intergenerational pathways for our members and community to thrive and to create their own transformative change.

We value shared wisdom and the exchange of knowledge passed down over generations and gained through life experiences.

Since 1996 The Lower Eastside Girls Club has connected young women and gender-expansive youth of color throughout New York City to healthy and successful futures through free, innovative year-round programming and mentoring. Every year, 1000+ of youth enter our Center for Community (5,000 sq. ft facility) that is filled with joy, power and possibility. Inside our doors members have access to Art, Design, Digital Media, Sound Studios, a STEM lab, a Maker shop, Sustainability Studies lab, a Planetarium, a Culinary Education Center, Movement and Performing Arts space, Rooftop Farm and all the programming to go along with it. Members and families enjoy this programing free of charge, year-round.

In 2022 Lower Eastside Girls Club (LESGC) opened the Center For Wellbeing & Happiness (CWBH), an adjacent 5,000 sq. ft. space where we provide wellness programming for all genders and generations at no cost. CWBH is a space grounded in healing justice, where local practitioners, expert practitioners, and health-based agencies can convene to address harm at its root cause and heal together. Collectively, we are creating a dynamic wellness hub that transforms self-care into community care. Programs are implemented in partnership with community practitioners and peer organizations. Partners include We Speak NYC, University Settlement Families Thriving program, RISE Parent Advocacy program, GOLES, Neighborhood Trust Financial Partners, Stacks + Joules, and Mama Glow doula training program, among others.



LESGC has financial processes and procedures in place, beginning with developing a detailed budget for the upcoming fiscal year. Our funds are tracked by program and donor (including individual donors, corporations, foundations, and government funders). Invoices are generated and completed by program staff members. All expenditures are submitted to our finance team. We are audited by an independent organization annually and have been in strong financial standing as a not-for-profit organization under the laws of the State of New York for over 25 years.

For over 27 years, LESGC has been committed to building a more just and equitable future alongside our community. Our founders are neighborhood mothers, aunties, and now grandmothers, who imagined radical alternatives for the next generation and came together to make it happen. We honor their legacy in our vision for change.

From an idea, to a shopping cart, to over two dozen locations throughout the neighborhood, LESGC finally raised money to construct our current facility, which opened its doors in 2013. We continue to thrive with our recent expansion, the Center for Wellbeing and Happiness, an adjacent 5,000sq.ft. space, allowing us to reach all genders and generations in the Lower East Side. We have become a global model for a community space, with partners in all 5 boroughs, across the country, and around the world.

In 2022 we opened our Center for Wellbeing & Happiness, creating a dynamic wellness hub that transforms self-care into community care. We are more fully meeting our families’ and community’s full needs—from the mental, emotional, spiritual, and social to the economic, environmental, and educational. As we celebrate our one year anniversary of CWBH we have registered nearly 1,000 members, engaged 30 instructors rooted in the Lower East Side community, offered 26 unique courses and 22 events, and reached nearly 3,000 visits to the space.