HUNT VALLEY, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The first bullet point under “About the Soledad O’Brien + Brad Raymond Starfish Foundation” should read: Support the foundation's scholarship program to directly fund higher education costs (tuition, books, housing and living expenses) for current scholars (instead of Support the foundation's scholarship program to directly fund higher education costs (tuition, books, housing and living expenses) for about 13 current scholars).
The corrected release reads:
COVERGIRL® #GIRLSCAN MAKES 5-YEAR, $5 MILLION PROMISE TO THE NEXT GENERATION OF WOMEN WHO WILL ROCK THE WORLD
COVERGIRL #GirlsCan is a movement with a mission: to help young women overcome barriers to break boundaries, empowering them to be the next generation to rock the world. The movement was kick-started earlier this year with an inspiring video starring COVERGIRLs Queen Latifah, Ellen DeGeneres, P!nk, Sofia Vergara, Becky G, Katy Perry and Janelle Monáe. With more than 10 million views already and counting, this movement of positivity and #GirlsCan power struck a chord and inspired a provocative conversation.
Now, COVERGIRL is writing an important new chapter in its long history of empowering women to rock their beautiful. Today, the brand announced it will donate a minimum of $5 million over the next five years to support the work of individuals and non-profit organizations that are helping women break barriers and blaze trails. Additionally, COVERGIRL announced through #GirlsCan the first two beneficiaries of its financial commitment: Girls Who Code and the Soledad O’Brien + Brad Raymond Starfish Foundation.
“At COVERGIRL, we’ve always celebrated strong, inspiring women who don’t let anyone or anything stand in their way,” said Esi Eggleston Bracey, VP and General Manager, COVERGIRL Cosmetics. “Our family of feisty, fabulous COVERGIRLs embody this spirit, as each of them have broken boundaries in their own lives and careers. We feel so strongly about empowering women that with #GirlsCan, we’re putting $5 million dollars worth of funding into people and programs with the same passion that we have to motivate women to kick ‘can’t’ to the curb – for good.”
The COVERGIRL #GirlsCan movement will be further ignited by a calendar of content creation, social conversations, funding partnerships, events and activations with a variety of organizations and media partners over the next five years. Starting today, COVERGIRL is participating in the S.H.E. Summit in New York City – a transformational woman’s leadership and lifestyle conference hosted by Claudia Chan and 92nd Street Y. One of the #GirlsCan partners, award-winning journalist, entrepreneur and philanthropist, Soledad O’Brien, will be attending the S.H.E. Summit on Friday, June 6th to join a panel discussion entitled “Breaking Barriers: How to Remove Can’t from the Conversation,” presented by COVERGIRL.
The first beneficiary partners announced are organizations founded on two different passion points, but powerfully aligned in both spirit and purpose with the mission of COVERGIRL’s #GirlsCan.
About Girls Who Code
Founded in 2012, Girls Who Code (www.girlswhocode.com) is a North American non-profit working to close the gender gap in technology. Through its Summer Immersion Program and Girls Who Code Clubs, the organization is leading the movement to inspire, educate, and equip young women with the computing skills to pursue 21st century opportunities.
“Girls are the future of innovation. When you teach young women computer science, you not only open doors for them to succeed in the fast-growing tech field, you empower them with the skills to code solutions for our most pressing problems,” said Reshma Saujani, Founder and CEO of Girls Who Code. “COVERGIRL’s investment in the creativity and capability of girls everywhere will change the world in ways we can only imagine.”
Specifically, COVERGIRL’s $500,000 donation to Girls Who Code will:
- Support the launch of 100 new Girls Who Code Clubs in schools, libraries, and community centers across North America, reaching upwards of 1,500 middle school and high school girls
- Fund the recruiting and training of 100 tech industry professionals to lead these clubs
- Enable middle school and high school girls to receive 60,000 hours of high quality computer science instruction
- Provide Girls Who Code with the resources to measure its impact, refine its curriculum, and expand its programming for years to come
About the Soledad O’Brien + Brad Raymond Starfish Foundation
Founded in 2011, the Soledad O’Brien + Brad Raymond Starfish Foundation (www.obrienraymondfoundation.org) exists to provide hardworking young women with the resources necessary to succeed. The Starfish Foundation was created to get young women out of the shadows and onto the road toward their dreams. Starfish’s comprehensive collection of programs and initiatives is a holistic approach designed to address the complex needs of the foundation’s family of scholars. In addition to providing financial support, they focus on life skills, career readiness, and network building through mentor relationships. The goal is to create transformational change in the individual lives of the girls.
“I’ve dedicated my career to uncovering the often divisive issues of race, class, wealth, poverty and opportunity among women in America,” said O’Brien, creator of her eponymous foundation. “Getting an education – especially when you can’t see a role model or representation of success in your chosen career path when you look around you – can be revolutionary in the life and future of a girl, and all the girls who come after her. It’s an honor to partner with COVERGIRL’s #GirlsCan program to take my passion and philanthropy to the next level.”
Specifically, COVERGIRL’s #GirlsCan $200,000 donation to the Soledad O’Brien + Brad Raymond Starfish Foundation within the next year will:
- Support the foundation's scholarship program to directly fund higher education costs (tuition, books, housing and living expenses) for current scholars
- Provide resources to extend the Foundation’s NYC PowHERful Summit to additional cities impacting over 1,500 young women
- Enable Starfish to expand its Career Readiness curriculum focused on STEM and entrepreneurship exploration through the creation of a career video library, in which videos will be available free of charge to partner organizations including Girls Inc., United Way, and YMCA
- Fund a web portal for a community of young women to stay connected and informed about activities and opportunities
In all of COVERGIRL’s activations for #GirlsCan, the brand is committing to providing a megaphone to the voices of women and their stories of breaking boundaries. Challenge the norm. Break boundaries. Rock the world. Share your #GirlsCan story at http://bit.ly/GirlsCAN.
To stay updated on the latest #GirlsCan news, follow COVERGIRL on YouTube youtube.com/Covergirl, Facebook facebook.com/covergirl, Twitter twitter.com/covergirl and Instagram instagram.com/covergirl.
| For more information and interview requests, please contact: | |||||||
|
Rena Dubs – rdubs@mahercomm.com |
Sara Horowitz – shorowitz@mahercomm.com |
||||||
| Marina Maher Communications | Marina Maher Communications | ||||||
| 212-485-6834 | 212-485-6804 | ||||||
About Procter & Gamble
P&G serves approximately 4.8 billion people around the world with its brands. The Company has one of the strongest portfolios of trusted, quality, leadership brands, including Always®, Ambi Pur®, Ariel®, Bounty®, Charmin®, Crest®, Dawn®, Downy®, Duracell®, Fairy®, Febreze®, Gain®, Gillette®, Head & Shoulders®, Lenor®, Olay®, Oral-B®, Pampers®, Pantene®, SK-II®, Tide®, Vicks®, Wella® and Whisper®. The P&G community includes operations in approximately 70 countries worldwide. Please visit http://www.pg.com for the latest news and in-depth information about P&G and its brands.
