STARS Youth-Led Town Hall

Girls Write Now is proud to be a founding member of STARS Citywide Girls Initiative, a coalition of ten nonprofits leading girls’ and gender-expansive youth programming in New York City. Over the past 12 years, we’ve joined forces to advocate for girls, young women, and gender-expansive youth from systemically underserved communities—supporting their growth emotionally, academically, and physically to be strong, skilled, and successful leaders.

Last week the STARS (Sports, Training, and Role Models for Success) Coalition held a Town Hall with NYC Council Members, Ty Hankerson and Amanda Farías. Girls Write Now mentee, Nailah Araf, served as Girls Write Now’s Fellow alongside the representatives from other STARS organizations. Nailah moderated a panel discussion with the Council Members centered around what it means to create a safe space, and facilitated conversation with Town Hall attendees to devise actionable solutions for creating and maintaining safe spaces for young people in their communities, at school, and online. Learn more about the Town Hall here.

Girls Write Now has also designed and produced a related key initiative for 2026 STARS coalition: Crafting White Papers for Change. In this program, STARS Fellows across organizations engage in a youth-led writing and advocacy experience that empowers them to turn their experiences into policy-focused narratives.