Girls Coordinating Council of Palm Beach County

About the Program

Category: Children and Youth (Best in Category)

Year: 2022

The Girls Coordinating Council of Palm Beach County (GCC) is a community collaborative focusing on strengthening the system of care for girls and increasing the availability of gender responsive, trauma informed and strength-based services. In June 2020, Palm Beach County Youth Services Department came together with Palm Beach County Victim Services and Pace Center for Girls, Palm Beach to focus on initiatives that support girls. The GCC presented to the Birth to 22: United for Brighter Futures Steering Committee and began a collaboration with backbone support from the established alliance (http://pbcbirthto22.com/). The GCC has increased its membership to over twenty community partners. The GCC formed a subcommittee for girls ages 12-19 to have a voice in the collaborative. The Girls Voice Taskforce hosts monthly meetings and monthly leadership labs where girls can learn to advocate for themselves and girls in their community. The GCC is leading a data-driven project is to map services that currently exist for girls in the county. Eighteen organizations participated in the initial survey and GCC created four maps to demonstrate the system of information and resource sharing and referrals. The GCC believes a strengthened system of care will lead to improved long-term outcomes for girls.