Written by Judi Marraccini (Information compiled from Unicef.org) / Legislative@flnow.org

On October 11^th, “International Day of the Girl“ is a global moment to celebrate girls everywhere, amplifying their voices, actions and leadership. On that day, we come together to recognize and advocate for the full spectrum of girls’ rights.

The theme this year is to end child marriage and invest in girls’ rights.

Investing in girls is one of the most powerful ways to build healthier families, stronger communities and more resilient societies.

The Facts

According to UNICEF’s 2026 estimates, an estimated one in five girls are married before age 18 across the world, representing approximately 650 million women and girls alive today who were married in childhood.

Nearly one in four married or partnered girls aged 15-19 have experienced intimate partner violence in their lifetime.

Crisis, conflict and displacement continue to increase the risk of child marriage, sexual violence and maternal mortality for girls.

Girls aged 15-19 are twice as likely as boys to not be in education, employment or training. In fragile, conflict and violence-affected contexts girls are nearly 90 per cent more likely to be out of secondary school than girls in stable contexts – increasing their risk of child marriage.

What can you do locally in Florida?

The following organizations support girls:

Girl Power Rocks is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit prevention and intervention social change program that promotes positive behavior, enhances social skills and improves academic performance in at-promise girls ages 11-17. They are based in Miami FL. Their mission is to protect the Power of Girls. “We envision a world where girls are nurtured and celebrated. We are committed to “Improving Our World, One Girl at a Time through local solutions that have global impact.”

Throughout their website, Girl Power Rocks, they use the phrase “at promise” instead of “at risk”.

Girls Inc. is another local organization, local chapters are in Sarasota, Pinellas and Lakeland.

Girls Inc. inspires girls to be strong, smart and bold. Their core programs and focus areas: STEM Education, Life Skills & Financial Literacy, Leadership & Advocacy, and Health & Mental Well-being.

Introduction to Abolitionist Feminisms

Join Florida NOW for a four-part virtual series exploring abolitionist feminism, transformative justice, community care, and the work of building a world beyond surveillance, punishment, and policing.

Through film screenings, a panel discussion, and our book club, we’ll explore how abolitionist feminisms challenge systems of incarceration and violence while imagining new approaches rooted in safety, accountability, care, and collective liberation.

[Read more…]

We want to apologize to anyone at the FL NOW conference who was upset, harmed, or distracted by unauthorized literature being handed out during presentations. Presenters may distribute literature to support their presentations, but materials that were not part of a presentation should not have been distributed during sessions. It did not occur to us that we would need to establish or enforce clearer boundaries around this, and we recognize that this created an unnecessary disruption.

We apologize and will work to prevent this from happening at future Florida NOW conferences by establishing clearer expectations around the distribution of materials and ensuring that those expectations are communicated to participants in advance.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the conference, and especially to the many people who engaged respectfully with one another, even when conversations were difficult or perspectives differed. We are grateful to our speakers, panelists, workshop leaders, volunteers, and attendees who contributed so much to making this a powerful weekend of connection, learning, and movement building.

As we continue to learn from one another and work toward building a more diverse, inclusive, and robust organization, we also want to acknowledge the people who have historically been excluded from, marginalized within, or made to feel unwelcome in the narrow, white, middle-class idea of who a “feminist” is and is not.

Florida NOW is committed to continuing to examine how we create space for people with different lived experiences, identities, perspectives, and histories within our movement. Building a stronger feminist movement means not only celebrating our differences, but listening when people tell us where we have fallen short and taking meaningful steps to do better.

Thank you for being part of Florida NOW and for continuing to build this movement with us.