Submitted by: Girls Inc. of Orange County
Written by: Paige Wood
For many young women, especially those from underserved communities, entering the professional workforce can feel out of reach. Limited access to mentors, professional networks and real-world workplace experience often leaves talented young women without the confidence, connections and exposure needed to pursue careers they are fully capable of achieving. Girls Inc. of Orange County recognized that preparing girls for the future required more than classroom learning. It required meaningful access to professional workplaces, experienced mentors and opportunities that shape careers.
A successful program changes lives in the moment. A transformational one continues changing lives long after participants leave.
For nearly two decades, Girls Meet the Workforce has been creating opportunities that extend well beyond a single externship, preparing young women not only for their first professional experience, but for the careers and leadership roles that follow.
Since launching in 2008, Girls Meet the Workforce has grown into one of Girls Inc. of Orange County's flagship workforce development initiatives. It stands as one of the organization's strongest examples of how sustained philanthropic investment creates measurable impact. Participation has grown by 940% over the past decade, expanding from a small pilot initiative into a countywide workforce development program serving 250 girls annually. That growth has been made possible through sustained philanthropic investment and long-term employer partnerships.
In 2026, 21 Orange County businesses opened their doors to host Girls Meet the Workforce externs, including Disneyland Resort, Boeing, PepsiCo, ADP, Ingram Micro, Edwards Lifesciences, Allergan Aesthetics, and BJ’s Restaurants. Together, these partners provide girls with the opportunity to step inside professional workplaces, build relationships with industry leaders, and gain firsthand experience across a wide range of career fields.
Before beginning an externship, every participant completes approximately 50 hours of professional development designed to prepare them for success. Through a curriculum that combines classroom preparation with real-world experience, girls strengthen communication skills, build professional confidence, explore career pathways, and develop the workplace competencies needed to thrive in professional environments. As a result, participants arrive ready to do more than observe. They are prepared to contribute, ask thoughtful questions, build meaningful relationships, and envision themselves in careers they may never have imagined possible.
The program's impact is reflected not only in its growth, but in the outcomes participants achieve. In 2025, 100% of participants demonstrated increased career awareness, while 99% strengthened their professional competencies. These results reflect years of refining a program that prepares girls not only for one externship, but for long-term career success.
While these outcomes demonstrate the program's success, the truest measure of Girls Meet the Workforce's impact cannot be found in a single year's data. It is found in the young women who return years later, not as participants, but as professionals.
Lara Elkatat embodies that impact.
As a Girls Inc. participant, Lara completed an externship at Boeing through Girls Meet the Workforce. Today, she works as a Stress Analyst at Boeing, where she not only builds aircraft but also mentors the next generation of Girls Meet the Workforce participants, helping them navigate the very professional environment where she once stood as an extern herself. In many ways, she has come full circle, guiding girls through the very experience that helped shape her own career.
Her journey captures the program's purpose in its simplest form. A young woman who once benefited from Girls Meet the Workforce is now opening the same doors for the next generation.
Sustained philanthropic investment has been essential to the growth and evolution of Girls Meet the Workforce. Major funders, including Pacific Life and U.S. Bank, have provided critical support that has helped Girls Inc. expand the program, reach more participants, and deepen its impact over time.
As Orange County's workforce continues to evolve, so does the importance of Girls Meet the Workforce.
Every externship placement, every hour of professional development, and every employer partnership reflects an investment not only in individual girls, but in Orange County's future workforce.
That investment is especially important as the needs of Orange County's workforce continue to evolve. Employers are increasingly focused on developing a strong, diverse talent pipeline, and Girls Meet the Workforce helps prepare young women to become part of it. Participants gain the confidence, skills, and real-world experience needed to succeed, while employer partners have the opportunity to help prepare the next generation of professionals.
Every new employer partnership expands the network of opportunities available to participants, while every graduating class strengthens the region's future workforce.
Girls Meet the Workforce is about far more than an externship.
It is about creating a future where young women see themselves as engineers, scientists, executives, innovators, and leaders - and have the preparation, confidence, and opportunities to make those aspirations a reality.
Girls Meet the Workforce continues to demonstrate what philanthropy can accomplish when donors invest for the long term. Girls leave the program with new skills, confidence and professional networks, but its greatest impact reaches much further. They become engineers, analysts, executives, entrepreneurs and mentors who return to lift up the next generation. That is the proof of philanthropy: an investment whose impact continues long after the program itself is complete.
