The Access Fund is the heartbeat of Her Climb's student experience. It's the MetroCard that gets a girl to campus and the meal that's waiting when she arrives. It's the stipend that tells her showing up has value, and the moment she walks into Lincoln Center for the first time and realizes she was always supposed to be there. It's the tennis clinic and the golf course, the US Open and Carnegie Hall, the horseback riding and the Bear Mountain hike. These experiences—and everything that makes them possible—are not extras. They are the curriculum, and right now, they are the part of our budget most dependent on you.

The Access Fund supports full participation—every experience, every first, every door.

Your support helps girls like Shalee. She's 15 years old, a 9th grader at Urban Assembly School for the Performing Arts, and a recent immigrant from the Dominican Republic, still finding her footing in English. When she applied to Her Climb, she wrote about her little brother Denzel, who is about to turn two. She dresses him every morning, she picks him up from daycare, she helps her mom with the household chores. And then, in the same breath, she wrote about her desire to grow, to lead, to become independent, to be part of something important.

Our review committee and executive director were moved by her tenacity from the very first read. In her interview, she looked us in the eye and said, "My English no good, but I know, I good." Her teacher agreed; in their recommendation, they noted, "Shalee will surprise you." Her transcript confirmed it. Here was a young woman who was relentless, determined, and absolutely clear about who she was—even if the language to say it fully wasn't there yet.

She was admitted to Her Climb's inaugural cohort because that is exactly who Her Climb was built for. Not the girl who has every advantage, but the girl who shows up anyway.

Our team is equipped to meet her exactly where she is. Her Climb's program staff brings decades of experience working with multilingual learners and girls from underserved communities, ensuring that every girl, regardless of where she starts, has what she needs to rise.

This summer, alongside her 15 cohort sisters, Shalee will have a home base at Columbia University and stand on a golf course for the first time. She'll walk through the Metropolitan Museum of Art and hear a performance at Carnegie Hall. For the girls in our inaugural cohort, these will be genuine firsts, not because they aren't ready, but because no one has ever opened the door.

The Access Fund opens the door—and it goes further than a single event or a single season. Every dollar you give goes directly to the full range of experiences that expand how these girls see themselves and the world. Campus visits and industry immersions. Career and professional workshops to prepare her now for her tomorrows. Tennis clinics and golf courses, concert halls and hiking trails, professional sports and world-class museums. Stipends, meals, and transportation so that no girl sits this out because her family cannot afford it. These are the rooms where networks are built, confidence is formed, and futures are decided. And our girls deserve to be in them.

Her Climb's inaugural cohort of 16 girls launches July 6, 2026, at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. The Access Fund will carry them through years of experiences that build cultural fluency, professional confidence, and a sense of belonging in every room, and it will do the same for every cohort that follows.

This is not a one-time campaign; The Access Fund is a permanent promise.

Will you help us keep it?

Her Climb is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit leadership program for public high school girls from underserved communities across New York City, based at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Rooted in four pillars—Leadership, Access, Wellness, and Sisterhood—and delivered across four career tracks—Business, Journalism, STEM, and Creative Arts—Her Climb provides a free, multi-year pathway that combines academic preparation, mentorship, industry exposure, and cultural fluency. We recruit during freshman year and walk with our girls through high school and college graduation and into early career, ensuring they arrive at college and beyond confident, connected, and prepared not just to participate, but to lead.

The Access Fund

Supporting Full Participation—From Campus to Carnegie Hall

Team Members