We’re beyond thrilled to announce Girls Write Now is the recipient of a grand prize $100,000 social innovation grant from NBCUniversal Foundation’s 21st Century Solutions Grant Challenge Awards! Girls Write Now won the first place award in the NBC New York market for our Digital Media Mentoring Program.
This grant, applicable in 10 of NBCU’s most high-impact markets, seeks to support non-profits committed to social innovation in order to move communities forward in new, game-changing ways. We’re honored that our Digital Media Mentoring Program is the winning program for the NBC New York market. This funding underscores the importance of teaching teens new technology skills to transform their writing into digital art, gaining self-confidence, independence, and leadership aspirations in the process.
As we all know, the technology landscape isn’t the most gender-equal or gender-equitable in today’s world. Girls are often discouraged from pursuing degrees in computer science (only .3% of adolescent girls chose it as their major), and misrepresentation in media is exacerbated by the unequal access to new media technology. Our Digital Media Mentoring Program is tackling these issues, one girl at a time.
This social innovation grant was awarded to Girls Write Now because of our deep mentoring model and our commitment to moving beyond basic technical training. We’re eager to leverage this opportunity to help educate our teens in computer science and transform their writing into digital art. With Girls Write Now, teens put their tech skills into action to enhance storytelling and brand themselves online, preparing to be arts and publishing leaders in the ever-evolving digital space.
Thank you, NBCUniversal!
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NBCUniversal is one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience. NBCUniversal owns and operates a valuable portfolio of news and entertainment television networks, a premier motion picture company, significant television production operations, a leading television stations group, world-renowned theme parks, and a suite of leading Internet-based businesses. NBCUniversal is owned by Comcast Corporation.