Donate to our Fall Fundraiser!
Help us reach our $100,000 goal to replenish our scholarship fund! Visit our fundraising page at Willamette Week’s Annual GiveGuide!
Our Mission:
Girls.Power.Tools.
See what happens when you place a tool in a child’s hand and give them the skills to use it. Girls Build™ is a non-profit organization based in Portland, OR, inspiring curiosity and confidence in girls through the world of building. We currently empower girls in Southern Oregon, Portland, the Oregon coast.
Make a Donation
The majority of our participants attend on scholarships. How do we manage this? You!
Wondering how your dollar helps? We offer free programming to any child involved in the foster care system—summer camps, after school programming, weekend programming, spring break camps. We are proud of the work we do to welcome girls from all over the state to our programming, and to make sure that money is not a barrier for any girl wanting to access our programs.
Girls Who Build
Girls Who Build features candid and arresting photographs of forty-five girls showing off their power tools and can-do attitudes. Accompanying each girl is a profile interview where she speaks to her inspirations and favorite builds, plus tips for others starting out.
“Building makes me feel like I can do whatever I want, because I can do whatever I want. I can be creative in my own way, and I can just do anything.""
— Gabii, 8
Our Programs
Girls Build™ offers programming for girls teaching the basics of carpentry, electrical, plumbing, roofing, painting, auto and bike mechanics, sheet metal and more via summer camps (8-15 year olds) and after-school workshops.
Summer Camps
We run nine summer camps in various locations around Oregon. During summer camps, participants learn through 20 different workshops over five days.
Classes
Our after school programming is held at our warehouse. We run small workshops through the school year for girls.
We also run the occational Women’s classes, for the building girls in the adult us.
Our Impact
Growing and growing! From our first year of 60 girls to now close to 500 a summer, we continue teaching and building confidence! Expanding from our Summer Camps, we are moving into after-school programming at our warehouse so we can continue educating girls and women all year long!
3600+
Girls LEarning to Build
Since our beginning in 2016 we have taught over 3600 girls through our summer camp and after school programming.
750+
Scholarships Awarded
Because of the generosity of our donors we have been able to award partial or full scholarships.
135+
Foster Care Kids
Through our foster care program, over 80 foster care kids have attended camp for FREE!
The Team
Our History
Carpenter Katie Hughes frequently found that she was the only woman on construction worksites. To change that, she began teaching classes to girls ages 8-14, showing them how to drill, saw, and weld. Her classes quickly became sold out summer camps and she founded her own non-profit, Girls Build™. Since our beginnings in 2016, where 60 girls attended two weeks of camps, Girls Build™ has grown to now empowering close to 500 girls over 9 summer camps each year.