Michelle Obama Announces New Obama Foundation Girls Opportunity Alliance Campaign to Inspire Everyone to Get Involved in Girls’ Education and Empowerment

By BLACK ENTERPRISE Editors (see companion article on page 53)

RECENTLY, IN CELEBRATION of International Day of the Girl, former First Lady Michelle Obama announced that the Girls Opportunity Alliance, a program of the Obama Foundation, is launching a new campaign.

Get Her There is a global call to action to help educate and empower adolescent girls around the world to reach their full potential. Over the next fi ve years, the Alliance aims to bring together a diverse group of everyday people, corporations, industry leaders, nonprofi ts, and valuable stakeholders to support hundreds of community-based organizations worldwide, reaching thousands of adolescent girls, according to a press release.

Watch the inspiring Get Her There launch video titled “Dear 25-Year-Old Me,” produced by Blackish actress Marsai Martin, featuring students from the Girls Opportunity Alliance community.

“When we launched the Girls Opportunity Alliance four years ago today, we knew the key to advancing our work was an alliance of stakeholders coming together to support girls completing their education,” said Michelle Obama.

“AND THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT THE GET

HER THERE CAMPAIGN WAS CREATED

TO DO. THE BARRIERS OUR GIRLS FACE

TODAY ARE STEEP AND ARE LEAVING

MILLIONS OF GIRLS OUT OF SCHOOL.”

“Our goal is to help clear away all that’s standing in the way of girls achieving their dreams. While that’s too big of a challenge for any one of us to tackle alone, it’s something I know can be accomplished if we all work together. We all have a role to play in ensuring girls get the opportunities they deserve, so I hope everyone will join us on our mission to get every girl to the place she wants to be.”

Get Her There represents an expansion of the Girls Opportunity Alliance’s reach and impact. Since 2018, the Girls Opportunity Alliance has worked to inspire, empower, and connect more than 4,000 leaders and community-based organizations who are working to support adolescent girls around the world; drive specifi c commitments through the Girls Opportunity Alliance Fund; and galvanize young people everywhere to take action in support of their peers.

To date, the Girls Opportunity Alliance has funded 54 projects from community-based organizations in 20 countries, including India, Malawi, Cambodia, and Peru, and has provided these organizations with access to resources to help inform and

strengthen their work. Over the next fi ve years, the Girls Opportunity Alliance’s Get Her There campaign will fund more than 100 organizations and grow its network of leaders around the world who are helping to educate and empower our girls. Today, the Girls Opportunity Alliance is adding 12 new community-based organizations from countries like Kenya, India, and Colombia to its fund as part of this eff ort.

The Girls Opportunity Alliance is grateful to all of the donors and partners that are making Get Her There possible and is proud to announce its diverse coalition of growing sponsors, collaborators, and supporters who are united in ensuring all girls are empowered with the resources they need to fulfi ll their potential:

Sponsors/Collaborators

Founding Sponsors

• Comcast NBCUniversal • lululemon • Saks Fifth Avenue

Supporting Sponsors

• The LEGO Group • FedEx

Participating Sponsor

• Olivela

Nonprofi t Collaborators

• CAMFED – Campaign for Female Education • CARE • Girl Rising • Girls Inc. • International Center for Research on Women • Room to Read • She’s the First • The GIRL Center and the Population Council • The United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative • UNICEF USA

For more information about Get Her There and the Obama Foundation’s Girls Opportunity Alliance, visit GetHerThere.org. hhttps://www.blackenterprise.com/michelleobama-announces-new-obama-foundation-girlsopportunity-alliance-campaign-to-inspire-everyoneto-get-involved-in-girls-education-and-empowerment/

Image credit: Photo by NAACP via Getty Images, Pinterest, Obama Foundation