The Tyra Banks TZONE will be a leadership development center within the Lower Eastside Girls Club (LESGC). Through a rich mix of career development workshops, mentoring, experiential learning opportunities, financial literacy initiatives and community-wide events, hundreds of young girls will build self-esteem, achieve greatness in their lives and prepare for life as entrepreneurs and change-makers in the world. The pre-teen and teen years are the most complex developmental years in a contemporary girl’s life. It is terrifying, turbulent, and terrific... all at once. A girl’s body, family, friends, schools and community are all demanding growth and change. For many inner-city girls living in poverty, low self-esteem, disengagement from school, pervasive community violence, risky behaviors and sexual experimentation contribute to a trip down a slippery personal slope. The Tyra Banks TZONE at the LESGC will offer girls hope, opportunity and the potential for a better future.
Tyra founded the TZONE camps in 1999 to inspire girls to believe in themselves and to take control of their futures. TZONE reinforced positive values and encouraged girls to resist negative social pressures through team-building camp adventures that built self-esteem.
Tyra Banks is now partnering with the Lower Eastside Girls Club to develop the NEW TZONE. Now the development program will last longer than a camp experience, providing a year-long, brick-and-mortar facitility for girls aged 8-18. TZONE is scheduled to open in the fall of 2013.
The new TZONE at the Lower Eastside Girls Club will offer a rich mix of career development workshops, mentoring, experiential learning opportunities, financial literacy initiatives and community-wide events. Through this program, hundreds of young girls will prepare for life as change-makers in the world.
• Prioritize prevention over intervention
• Treat every girl like an individual with pure potential and unlimited development possibilities
• Provide a girls-only, welcoming and liberating space
• Promote personal accountability, self-esteem, goal setting and healthy lifestyles
• Encourage philanthropy that supports women and girls by increasing awareness of accomplishments of outstanding women-led organizations
• Raise awareness about issues facing girls today
Founded in 1996, the mission of the Lower Eastside Girls Club (LESGC) is to provide a place where girls and young women 8-23 can grow, learn, have fun, and develop confidence in themselves and their ability to make a difference in the world. The LESGC strives to deliver strong arts, literacy, science, health and leadership programs, and to provide girls with the vision to plan - and the tools to build - their future. With over 16 years of experience, the LESGC has evolved from a small, all-volunteer program serving 20 girls to providing support and essential programming to approximately 300 girls.
Current programs are based on a project-based experiential learning model of education focused on ethical, entrepreneurial and environmental awareness and leadership. Activities and workshops in the arts, science and technology, health and wellness, literacy, world of work and civic engagement, aim to assist girls in discovering their individual skills and passions, and developing their full potential as informed, involved and responsible young women.
In 2013, LESGC will open their NEW state-of-the-art, sustainable Center for Community which will allow the expansion of programs, integration of co-educational services as well as job training, health and community support. Additionally, through the partnership between The Tyra Banks TZONE and The Lower Eastside Girls Club pre-teen and teen girls will have the opportunity to follow a specialized curriculum that address the whole girl, building self-confidence by providing skills, knowledge and opportunity at critical developmental times of adolescence.
For additional information, about Tyra Banks TZONE, LESGC or to RSVP for The Flawsome Ball, please contact (212) 684-1110 or email tyra@flawsomeball.org
The Lower Eastside Girls Club Center for Community, New York City's first and only Girls Club facility, is currently under construction on Avenue D between 7th and 8th Streets in Manhattan. 78 units of mixed income housing above the Girls Club are being developed by Dermot, through NYC's Department of Housing Preservation & Development.
We expect to open the doors to the new 30,000 sq foot Girls Club in early 2013. This sustainably built "green" state-of-the-art building will enable us to triple our program capacity to over 1500 girls per week. When the doors open to our new building, girls will enter a new world filled with hope, imagination and possibility for the future.
We are expanding our successful entrepreneurial social venture businesses, The Sweet Things Baking Company and Community Café, with the construction of a Culinary Education Center and commercial kitchen. These programs offer job training and opportunities for teenage girls and neighborhood women. The kitchen will also serve as a classroom for nutrition education and meet in-house food service needs. A courtyard filled with flowers, an outdoor fountain designed by artist Kiki Smith, and café tables will provide a unique oasis for dining and quiet events.
In the Fair Trade Gift Shop and Book Store, items from cooperatives around the world share shelf space with girl-made crafts and artwork. Our public market space will be a home for our Farmers Market Center, simultaneously supporting New York State farmers and our community's health.
Our Technology Core / IT Center is the epicenter of all technology-related programs and equipment. The tech core will be fully accessible to LESGC members and their families and will be home to a domed planetarium, computer stations with free wireless Internet access, digital photography, filmmaking and editing equipment, digital sound and music stations.
The Library & Academic Support Center is the site for after-school tutoring, book clubs and quiet activities - offered daily by educational staff and trained volunteers.
Program development offices, conference and training rooms share space with the Counseling, Career and Leadership Center where girls can meet with social workers, career counselors, and college advisors. Ongoing leadership development and civic engagement programs take place here.
The Health and Wellness Center, a multipurpose facility for healthcare and physical activities, will include dance, yoga, drumming, fencing, meditation and stress reduction programs, sports activities and more. Nurse practitioners, nutritionists, and physical fitness instructors will be available for counseling and training. Educational classes and events for families and new parents will also take place here.
Large light-filled art studios will be used for painting, drawing and other materials arts classes. A book arts center with working printing press will also be available to members.
A Science and Environmental Education Center will open onto a working “green roof” where girls will grow flowers and herbs for the café and demonstrate a variety of alternative energy products.
A portion of this new facility will be devoted to public programming and the arts. The “Girls Out Loud” Internet Radio Station is the site for live programming, podcasting, and digital journalism activities. Simultaneously, girls will be taking their digital film, photography and IT courses, while school classes and the general public participate in film festivals and screening events in the Screening Room. The Art + Community Gallery, site of LESGC’s teen curatorial training programs, will act as a venue for a wide range of art exhibitions.
The Tyra Banks TZONE at the Lower Eastside Girls Club will be a leadership development center within the Girls Club. Through a rich mix of career development workshops, mentoring, experiential learning opportunities, financial literacy initiatives and community-wide events, hundreds of preteens and teens will build self-esteem, achieve greatness in their lives, and prepare for life as entrepreneurs and change-makers in the world.
The Lower Eastside Girls Club Center for Community will be the first center of its kind in New York City—offering free and creative programs and opportunities to girls and their families for years to come.
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