Strong Women, Strong Girls is hosting a two-year FAO Schwarz Family Foundation Fellow in our Headquarters office in Boston. The fellowship is designed for recent college graduates in order to train future leaders in education and youth development as well as to strengthen high-quality youth-serving organizations by providing both direct & indirect service. Our FAO Schwarz Family Foundation Fellow, Kayla Peck (pictured far left), reflects on her recent retreat with the fellowship in NYC:

It is quite an honor to work at Strong Women, Strong Girls, and have the opportunity to meet 8 other like-minded people who desire to see youth thrive in Boston, Philadelphia, & New York City.
For three days, I had the privilege to collaborate with 8 other fellows who are working at the following organizations:

While we were in New York City, we toured organizations of fellows who work in the area. I spent the week reading to preschoolers at an elementary school in Brooklyn with Jumpstart, participating in a discussion about how to overcome adversity with a class taught at Year Up, and working with Breakthrough New York students as they thought about how to manage their time well.
It was impressive to see the quality of support that these organizations provide to New York City youth, and to learn more about the overall mission and values of the organizations where fellows work. In the spring, the FAO Schwarz Family Foundation Fellows will come to Boston, and Strong Women, Strong Girls will have the opportunity to highlight the mission and work that we do. As a new organization in the fellowship, many fellows are excited to learn more about the impact that we are having in Boston, Pittsburgh, and Miami.
The FAO Schwarz Family Foundation Fellowship has already served as a unique opportunity to partner with other organizations, and to work at an organization that supports and empowers women.  I’m looking forward to showing off our program to this talented group of people, and sharing with them how I’m engaging, supporting, and communicating with volunteers, including mentors, professionals, and alumnae at Strong Women, Strong Girls!