To our amazing community,
I’m incredibly proud to present our new name and look: Girls Forward Foundation — same mission, same values, with a renewed promise so we can better support our participants, role models, and partners, and ensure that girls across the country have the resources and encouragement they need to advance confidently in their journeys.
Many of you may ask yourselves – why a rebrand? The legacy of Fast and Female is a wonderful one: from being founded in 2005 by Chandra Crawford in Canmore, AB, evolving from a grassroots initiative to a registered charity by 2019. 2025 marks our 20th anniversary, and over the past two decades, we’ve achieved remarkable milestones:
- Empowered over 34,000 youth across North America.
- Engaged 2,500 Role Models to inspire and mentor our participants.
- Delivered over 402 opportunities nationwide and abroad.
Still, we have become aware of how our branding and our name can be exclusive and not welcoming to many participants and individuals – especially non-binary and trans folk. And that’s not what we want. Our organization is not about excluding others; it’s the opposite. Our program model is to collaborate with communities to understand their needs and barriers, elevate and highlight their incredible local women role models, bring in your neighbourhood sport and physical activity experts, and make something together for girls and gender-diverse youth. For the girls, by the girls. We know there is so much more work for us to do to create brave and welcoming spaces for underrepresented and marginalized communities. This rebrand is about having a branding identity that focuses on the girl and puts them forward.
This is our next chapter, our new beginning. We can’t wait for you to join us as we continue to empower girls through sport, physical activity and education. Whether it’s supporting us as a donor, a volunteer, a role model, or an overall supporter, we’re so grateful.
The future is forward – and we are Girls Forward.
Yours in sport and physical activity,
Gabriela Estrada
Executive Director
PS – stay tuned for our new and improved website, coming Spring 2025!