History
Girls Incorporated of Tarrant County was founded in 1976 as the Arlington Girls Club by local community leaders who saw the need for comprehensive services for girls and young women in the Arlington community. From its beginnings as the Arlington Girls Club, Girls Inc. has grown from serving eight girls in a borrowed facility to serving over 10,000 children and youth annually.
United Way funding was first secured in 1977. A second agency site was opened in 1979. Funding was secured from the Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse (TCADA) in 1982 to fund substance abuse prevention programming. The agency has continued to receive funding from TCADA, giving Girls Inc. the distinction of being awarded the longest grant in the region. In 1982, the agency moved into the multi-purpose Center on New York Avenue, a facility providing a gymnasium and space for recreational and educational activities. This enabled the agency to provide co-educational physical education services and league play for girls. Girls Inc. began providing on-site afterschool services in 1983, initially at Wood Elementary School. Agency site services also became co-educational, which prompted the name change to Arlington Youth Services.
The Teen Center on New York Avenue opened in May 1992 to provide high-risk youth with alternative activities and prevention services. The 76010 Zip Code area – the heart of East Arlington, in which the Teen Center is located – has a high concentration of at-risk, unsupervised teenage youth. The Center provides a safe and drug free environment for teens to participate in educational and recreational activities instead of engaging in at-risk behavior that can lead to substance abuse, early parenthood and juvenile delinquency.
In 2000 the agency changed its name to Girls Incorporated of Tarrant County. The agency continues to provide co-ed afterschool programs, and delivers national Girls Inc. curriculum within the afterschool setting. Our agency’s focus on girls-specific programming and the need to increase opportunities for girls led to the transition of the Teen Center to an all-girls facility in September 2003, now called the Girls Inc. Center. The center offers girls-focused programming and includes a College & Career Center with computers for girls to use and a resource library for learning about educational opportunities and college scholarships. There is also a gymnasium, an arts and crafts area, and meeting rooms where various workshops and programs are held.
Today Girls Inc. is a multi-faceted, multiple-site organization serving hundreds of children and youth daily. Girls Inc. provides afterschool programs at ten Arlington elementary schools as well as our Girls Inc. Center, providing a variety of educational and recreational activities including: studying and tutoring time, academic “Achievers” program, arts and crafts, crocheting & knitting, life skills groups, discussion groups, drawing and contemporary art, video making, Tae Kwon Do, intramural sports, field trips. Our substance abuse prevention program, abstinence-based pregnancy prevention program, and other Girls Inc. programs are offered at schools and community locations throughout Tarrant County. Girls Inc. of Tarrant County is dedicated to providing educational and recreational activities for area youth to help them improve their academic achievement, increase their self-confidence, self-esteem and physical fitness, and give them opportunities to explore creativity, careers and life skills.
