Girls Inc., the Omaha-based national organization that inspires all girls to be strong, smart, and bold, has received $10 million in funding as one of four awardees selected by the Equality Can’t Wait Challenge to benefit its Project Accelerate program.

Project Accelerate aims to expand the power and influence of women in the United States by 2030, according to a news release.

Building on Girls Inc.’s evidence-based programming, Project Accelerate addresses inequality in the workplace, particularly the absence of women of color in positions of influence and leadership. The program will accelerate young women’s trajectories through college and career entry, leveraging partnerships with corporations and social impact organizations to ensure both their preparation and their access to positions of influence.

Project Accelerate will also reduce the gender gap by working with young women starting as early as their junior year in high school to ensure they have the resources and support to thrive as leaders.

Through a network of 78 affiliates — including in Omaha — Project Accelerate aims to lift 5,400 diverse women into corporate positions of power and influence. That would have the result of shifting the equity landscape for generations.

“At Girls Inc., we consider ourselves part of a movement for a more just and equitable future for the girls we serve and for all people,” said Girls Inc. of Omaha Executive Director Roberta Wilhelm. “Project Accelerate acknowledges the inherent strengths in each girl and proposes to both prepare the girls for the world and to change the world for the girls. It’s a tall order but the girls deserve no less.”

The Equality Can’t Wait Challenge, which launched in 2020, is the first competition centered on gender equality in the U.S. with an award of this magnitude and represents an opportunity to invest in and empower women leaders who bring a wide range of lived experiences to their work to advance women’s power and influence in the United States.

The three other awardees are Building Women’s Equality’s Strengthening the Care Infrastructure, a cross-movement coalition of organizations that will transform attitudes around caregiving as unpaid work to establish a publicly supported care infrastructure; Ada Developers Academy’s Changing the Face of Tech, which will expand immersive training and internship program creating pathways for into impactful software development careers; and The Future is Indigenous Womxn, a project to support and scale impactful businesses owned by Native American women.

Find more information about Project Accelerate and the grant announcement at bit.ly/3E6npIr.