20+ Enrichment Programs for Girls + Gender Expansive Kids

Thank you to Go Girls!™️ for sponsoring this guide to excellent programs for girls, female-identified youth, and gender-nonconforming kids.

Go Girls! educates, inspires, and activates girls and gender-expansive youth to take center stage in their life, ensuring that they are equipped with the confidence, creativity, and compassion required to become the leaders we are ready for. Find out more about Go Girls! 

Go Girls! and many other East Bay organizations want to change the world by empowering girls to follow their passions and serve the greater good. There are so many wonderful camps, classes, clubs, and community spaces dedicated to this mission. Some focus on technology, the arts, sports, justice, and a bit of this and that, so we present these East Bay girls’ and gender-non-conforming programs in alphabetical order.

Enrichment programs for East Bay Girls

Bay Area Girls Rock Camp is a gender-inclusive space where girls, ages 8 to 18, learn to play instruments, create a band, make new friends, experience fun workshops, and perform at a showcase at the end of the program. Website >>

Black Girls Code aims to increase the number of women of color in the digital space by empowering girls of color, ages 7 to 17, to become innovators in STEM fields, leaders in their communities, and builders of their own futures through exposure to computer science and technology.  Website >>

Brown Girls Climbing supports developing climbers as they experience the benefits of outdoor leadership skills. Website >>

Cinnamon Girl creates cohorts of girls and high-performing mentors of color. Activities include travel, creative endeavors, and more. Website >>

Girl Scouts encourages girls, grades K to 12, to gather under the leadership of a parent volunteer to master topics related to the great outdoors, financial literacy, volunteerism, and self-care. Find a troop of same-aged girls to join here >>

GirlVentures’ mission is to empower adolescent girls to develop and express their strengths. Through outdoor adventures, including backpacking, hiking, kayaking, and rock climbing, GirlVentures brings diverse girls together in a social justice and leadership development framework. Website >>

Girls Garage is a dream come true for girls and gender-inclusive youth, ages 9 to 18, who want to fuse metal and make something new. Fearless builder girls can come together for after-school lessons in welding or weekend workshops in visual and industrial arts. Website >>

Girls Inc. of Alameda County inspires girls and gender-inclusive youth to be strong, smart, and bold through its many programs for girls entering grades 1 to 12. Website >>.

Girls on the Mic (GOTM) program is a groundbreaking after-school training and mentoring program serving San Francisco Bay Area (including Oakland) girls and gender-expansive youth ages 11-18 from under-resourced communities. We offer free creative technology and digital media production training on a variety of topics. Website>>

Go Girls! Campers create and perform an original play or work together to make a media production driven by their voice, body, and imagination and the Go Girls! Culture Code, a five-part social-emotional learning framework that empowers campers to become their boldest, bravest selves. Highly trained teaching artists lead creative, expressive, and performing arts-based instruction to elementary and middle school-aged Go Girls!  Campers learn skills and tools to love themselves and each other and to make bold and brave choices in their lives and communities. Every day at camp is designed to balance facilitated community building, arts-based instruction, and plenty of free play and time to be present, to be mindful. Summer and school-break camps and after-school clubs are hosted across multiple school sites in Oakland and Berkeley. Find out more about Go Girls! and follow on social media @gogirlsoakland

The Intuitive Writing Project, Bay Area. Find empowerment through writing your story. For girls and gender-expansive youth. They also offer non-fiction writing and other coaching for young writers. Website >>

Julia Morgan School for Girls, Oakland. East Bay girls middle school, grades 6-8, with specialty camps in the summer. Aims to prepare confident, capable, creative, compassionate women of tomorrow. Website >>

Oakland Girls Softball League provides coaching and team competitions to develop athletic skills. Website >>

Play Like a Girl Bay Area and Try (it) Out (Piedmont). The annual Play Like a Girl event is aimed at getting girls ages 2 to 17 involved in sports in a fun and supportive environment with several different coaches and lots of sports equipment to allow girls to really experience each sport. Try (it) Out similarly offers young girls a chance to try new sports, meet coaches and find opportunities in their communities.

Radical Monarchs has a chapter in Richmond for girl-identifying youth of color from ages 8-11. Following a model similar to girl scouts, activities focus on skill-building and independence. Learn more >

REEL Stories When women, girls, and non-binary filmmakers are better represented behind the scenes, they’re better reflected on the screen. Reel Stories is training the next generation of female filmmakers with collaborative, hands-on programs, they’re creating a pipeline of young women with the skills they need to enter the film and media industry, and the confidence they need to succeed. Website >>

Find East Bay Summer Camps for Girls >>

San Francisco Girls Chorus provides music education and produces performances for girls and young women, with programs available in the East Bay as well. Website >>

Science Adventures for Girls – Scientific Adventures for Girls (SAfG) is an Oakland-based nonprofit organization that aims to increase the number of women in STEM fields by offering after-school science enrichment programs to young girls. Offers volunteer opportunities to individuals and companies who care about closing the gender gap. Website >>

Skate Like A Girl hosts clinics, summer camps, and volunteer opportunities in the East Bay. Website >>

SWE GetSET is a hands-on engineering and technology overnight camp for high school girls of underrepresented groups to show them that engineering is fun, creative, improves lives, and is an exciting career option. Website >>

Thank you again to Go Girls! for sponsoring this guide to the many excellent programs for girls, female-identified youth, and gender-nonconforming kids. We hope your daughter finds the right ones to ignite her passions.