Seven years after opening its doors as a vibrant learning community for educationally underserved girls, the Chattanooga Girls Leadership Academy (CGLA) has grown into an exemplar for outside-the-box public education in our city.
While the school's been commended for academic performance, athletics, and arts, it still faces a common challenge for our area: 97% of its students live below the poverty line. That means that students' families are struggling to make ends meet for daily extras that come about with their girls hitting puberty. CGLA, with the help of The Hutton Company, is providing a resource closet for coming-of-age like deodorant, shampoo, feminine hygiene products, and spare uniforms so the girls who need it most never have to feel out of place or unprepared. Just $50 will buy these products for a student for a year, meaning that our $2500 grant will impact 50 girls daily for the next 12 months thanks to Hutton's work. Cheers to helping close the gap and bringing girls to school ready to shatter some glass ceiling.