She's the First: Supporting Girls' Education in the Developing World

Headquartered in New York City with campus chapters across the United States, She's the First (STF) is a non-profit organization that sponsors girls' education in developing nations to create first-generation graduates and the next generation of global leaders. She's the First gives girls an opportunity to become the first in their families to graduate from secondary school and ultimately break cycles of generational poverty. The non-profit's educational philosophy is “quality always trumps quantity;” thus, each sponsored girl is provided with multiple tools to ensure her success in this world, both during and after her school years. STF scholars not only learn academic subjects such as science and math; they also learn how to apply their new skills in the real world with a support system encouraging them throughout the entire process.



She's the First has chosen to focus its efforts on girls as they are statistically faced with greater disadvantages. In the developing world, only one in every five girls finish primary school. In the countries where STF works, the rate of enrollment for girls in secondary school is only 33 percent, yet just less than two cents of every developmental dollar go toward helping them. Research shows that educating girls and allowing them to join the workforce considerably boosts a country's GDP. In addition, educated girls are more likely to marry later, have fewer children, educate their own kids, and be less vulnerable to sexual abuse.

Since its inception, STF and its supporters have provided 735 years of education to 346 scholars in 10 countries. The non-profit was founded by Tammy Tibbetts, who studied journalism at The College of New Jersey and was the first in her family to graduate from college. The 2013 recipient of Diane von Furstenberg's People's Voice Award, Tibbetts has been named to Fast Company's “League of Extraordinary Women” and Forbes' “30 Under 30 in Education.”