Girls R.I.S.E. Symposium 2026 (RECAP)

Date

May 02, 2026

Time

10: 00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.

Location

Albertus Magnus College - Tagliatela Center, 333 Huntington St., New Haven

Topic

The Community Fund for Women & Girls

Presenter(s)

The Girls of Color Mentoring Network

Cost

Free

A group of young women stand together in a tiled room, smiling and looking up at the camera. Many hold pink flowers and wear name tags, and empty chairs are scattered around them.

“When we were talking about our future today, that stuck out to me, because that’s what I’m really worried about right now in my life,” said Sheemica after the Second Annual Girls RISE Symposium. “That’s what I came here for.”

A woman wearing a blue hoodie sits at a table, holding two artificial pink roses with tags. She is smiling slightly, and there is a water bottle on the table in front of her. A whiteboard is visible in the background.

She joined more than two dozen young women at Albertus Magnus College for a day of deepening self-esteem, setting personal goals and making new connections.

The program, presented by the Girls of Color Mentoring Network, a program of the Community Fund for Women & Girls, featured workshops and activities focused on healthy relationships, mental health and safe AI use.

In one activity, network mentor Miriam James led a music-filled “Color Me Confident” painting activity.

Social worker Rosetta Washington led an inspiring talk about the importance of ROSE: resilience, optimism, striving and effort. Social worker Adilene Garcia spoke to the girls about networking and building healthy relationships.

Chalyce Jacobs, a regional educational counselor with Gateway Community College, presented on QuantumCT, a nonprofit organization convening industry and early-stage innovators, academia, and the public sector across the state, which recently received $121 million from the Governor’s Office.

Three girls pose playfully in front of pink and orange streamers, wearing feather boas and sunglasses. Each holds a chalkboard sign reading “Da Goat,” “Da Best!,” and “Da Queen.”.

In addition to the workshops, a speed networking exercise helped attendees like Genesis, Zoe and Essence meet new people.

“We all started talking to each other,” said Zoe, “and now we're about to get each other’s phone numbers.”

“Self-love” was Sheemica’s biggest takeaway from the day, along with “actually having conversations, looking in their eyes, being professional, stuff like that,” she added.

“That's really what we're doing here: empowerment,” said Yvonne Jones, executive director of D.E.S.T.I.N.E.D. to Succeed and a current mentor. “We're empowering them to their next level.”

Two young Black women smile and hold pink roses and business cards. They are sitting at tables in a classroom setting.

View the full photo album from Girls R.I.S.E. 2026.

PHOTO ALBUM HERE

Girls of Color Mentoring Network:

CMWP Foundation
D.E.S.T.I.N.E.D. to Succeed, Inc.
National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Inc.
New Haven Alumnae Chapter, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
Phenomenal I Am, Inc.
Spanish Community of Wallingford
Theta Epsilon Omega Chapter, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.
Urban Community Alliance