Tarrant County will end its partnership with a nonprofit group that seeks to empower girls and young women, citing the organization’s support for gay rights and access to legal abortion.
Tarrant County commissioners voted 3-2 Tuesday to block state funding for Girls Inc., following public testimony from conservative residents and activists who blasted the organization over its political leanings.
The vote came after a week in which some commissioners said they received hundreds of emails — many vitriolic — demanding they strip funding from the nonprofit group. One email claimed Girls Inc. was communist, Commissioner Roy Brooks said.
Girls Inc. applied for roughly $115,000 for its “Girl Power!” program, which focuses on self-esteem, stress management, healthy relationships and hygiene. The money, which comes from the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, is administered by individual counties.
Opponents took aim at the organization’s national platform, which supports access to legal abortion and gay rights. The group also has been vocal about fighting systemic racism, and it accepts transgender girls in its programs.
“Girls Inc. is an extremist political indoctrination machine advocating for divisive liberal politics,” said Leigh Wambsganss, a Southlake activist and chief communications officer for Patriot Mobile, the conservative cellphone company that has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to promote candidates in Tarrant County school board races.
Girls Inc. of Tarrant County serves roughly 20,000 girls a year, from kindergarten through the first year of college. Girls come largely from low-income and Black and Latino families. The organization encourages health, education, career readiness and independence, according to its mission statement.
Tarrant County has directed state funds to Girls Inc. since 2007, and the nonprofit group has operated in the county for 47 years.
But Jolyn Potenza, a Southlake resident, said Girls Inc. tries to indoctrinate children to believe in systemic racism and support Black Lives Matter, among other subjects.
“Young minds follow and trust what they are told by leaders as being the truth. It’s like lambs being led to the slaughter,” she said. “It is a bold-faced lie and, quite frankly, child abuse.”
Urging commissioners to fund the program, Janet Mattern, vice president of programs for the League of Women Voters of Tarrant County, said she suffered from low self-esteem as a child and needed leadership training. Girls Inc. helps deter girls and young women from drugs, gangs and abusive relationships, she said.
Of high school seniors enrolled in the program in Tarrant County, 100% graduate from high school on time, according to Girls Inc. Roughly 90% pursue higher education.
“I know what it’s like to feel like you have low self-worth. I do not wish these feelings on anyone,” Mattern said. “All girls should know they have self-worth. We must lift up our young girls and young women.”
Brittany Christian, chairwoman of Girls Inc. of Tarrant County, sought to draw a distinction between the national organization and the work done at the local level. Tarrant County is re-evaluating its affiliation with the national organization, she said, as the two do not share all of the same views.
“Our mission is to inspire all Tarrant County girls to be strong, smart and bold,” she said. “And we do that by tailoring our services with the girls in Tarrant County, and their families, led by people who live in and love Tarrant County.”
County Judge Tim O’Hare, a Southlake conservative who has said his priority as judge is to push Tarrant County further right, said the county can find other organizations that help disadvantaged girls.
O’Hare, along with the commission’s two other Republicans, Gary Fickes and Manny Ramirez, voted against funding Girls Inc. O’Hare said the county should not be directing money to “an organization that is so deeply ideological and encourages the children that they are teaching to go advocate for social change.”
The commission’s two Democrats, Brooks and Alisa Simmons, voted to fund the program. Both said they were surprised at the level of vitriol directed toward Girls Inc. Brooks, who said he is a longtime supporter of the group, said some are trying to spread a false narrative about the organization.
“Stop trying to destroy the organization for political reasons,” Brooks said. “And let them get about the business of making strong, smart and bold women who know who they are, what they’re about, and just need a little support from the community that claims to love them.”
