Girls’ LEAP’s self-defense and empowerment programs are based on a curriculum that teaches physical safety skills and socio-emotional, reflective activities to develop conflict resolution skills, violence de-escalation, self-esteem and courage. The physical component teaches innovative physical safety and self-defense skills, based on the strengths of a girl's body, to be used in only extreme, wor
st-case scenarios. The socio-emotional learning component uses reflective activities to foster self-awareness and build girls' self-confidence, courage, and self-esteem. By integrating these two components, we allow girls to develop assessment skills, increase their awareness of extreme threats and internal signals, and to practice making decisions then to reflect on what happened. We offer 20-hour out-of-school-time programs, 2-4 hour Introductory workshops and a year-round Teen Mentor Program (a paid leadership and empowerment program that trains young women, aged 14-18, to mentors in our programs). Each program is hosted by a partner organization that provides facilities, recruits participants and covers a portion of program costs. Programs are taught by all female inter-generational teaching teams that include an adult lead teacher, college mentors and teen mentors.
