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Making room for inclusion: Girls A.L.I.V.E. expands to Fayetteville
- Details
- Tuesday, 25 August 2026
- Written by Tiffany Haywood
Rhonda Gee created Girls A.L.I.V.E. after seeing firsthand how isolation can affect neurodivergent girls. Now the organization is building a Fayetteville presence shaped by the needs and voices of local families.
Imagine being a parent and watching your daughter begin to remove herself from friends and family. She goes to school, comes home and heads straight to her room. And you know that much of what is pushing her away from the world is connected to something that makes her different — something she cannot simply turn off or change.
That was Rhonda Gee’s experience as she watched her daughter, Daniella, struggle with exclusion and bullying before eventually beginning to isolate herself. Gee found herself asking where girls like her daughter could go to connect with others who understood them and what they were experiencing.
That question became the doorway to Girls A.L.I.V.E. NC.
A.L.I.V.E. stands for Awareness, Love, Inclusion, Voice and Empowerment. Of those five words, Gee said inclusion most closely captures the need the organization exists to address.
“The problem that Girls A.L.I.V.E. is addressing, and the gap we’re trying to fill, is that isolation,” Gee said. “A girl can have a therapist. She could have accommodations at school, and she could have a supportive family, and she can still be lonely.”
Girls A.L.I.V.E. serves neurodivergent girls ages 10 to 18, creating opportunities for connection outside the clinical, educational and family supports that may already surround them.
That need for inclusion has extended beyond the organization’s Raleigh-Durham-area community.
Gee said families from Fayetteville and the Fort Bragg area had already been making the drive to attend Girls A.L.I.V.E. programming and interest meetings. In response, the organization began exploring how to create those same opportunities closer to home for Fayetteville families.
Jessica Taylor, a Girls A.L.I.V.E. parent from the Fayetteville area, was among those making the trip. Gee said Taylor saw a need locally and has since begun helping build community relationships and support the organization’s developing Fayetteville presence.
That growing interest led to a July 25 community interest meeting in Fayetteville. Creating an inclusive space begins with something simple: asking the girls what they actually like.
Girls A.L.I.V.E. uses interest forms to learn about the girls and incorporates those interests into activities and programming. Rather than asking them to change themselves to better fit an existing environment, the organization works to create an environment that has room for who they already are.
Gee recalled meeting one girl whose particular interest was raccoons.
“She just loves raccoons,” Gee said. “She wanted to find someone that could identify with her interests — like a raccoon lover, or someone that loves animals as much as she does.”
At Girls A.L.I.V.E., girls are encouraged to openly share the things that interest them while connecting with others who bring passions of their own.
“We try to just provide those safe spaces where girls can feel comfortable and safe in their interests without being ridiculed or made fun of,” Gee said.
Those spaces can include art and painting, bead-making, friendship bracelets, identity sessions, vision boards and social-emotional learning activities. The activities give girls something to do together, but the larger goal is creating opportunities for relationships to grow.
Gee has seen evidence of that connection in what the girls themselves say.
At the Fayetteville interest meeting, she spoke one-on-one with an autistic girl who uses a wheelchair. As the girl interacted with others in the room, she told Gee what she hoped to find.
“I just want to find other girls that are like me,” she said.
Another girl regularly approaches Gee with a hug and tells her, “I love Girls A.L.I.V.E.”
When the girl was asked what she wanted to do after high school, Gee said she answered that she wanted to remain with her Girls A.L.I.V.E. family.
The program currently serves girls through age 18, but Gee hopes girls who age out will eventually return as mentors, allowing those who once received support to help support younger girls.
Sometimes the strongest confirmation comes through parents.
Gee recalled a mother sharing what her daughter, Macy, said after participating in Girls A.L.I.V.E.
“I finally found a place where I fit in.”
Gee said it confirmed that what she hoped to create was happening.
The message from Fayetteville families has been similarly consistent. Gee said the girls and parents who attended the July 25 meeting wanted more opportunities for friendship, connection and interaction with girls who share similar experiences and interests. One attendee also expressed a desire for greater awareness surrounding autism, something Gee said Girls A.L.I.V.E. may be able to help address.
The Fayetteville presence continues to take shape. Gee said Taylor is helping develop community relationships and local activities, with museum visits among the programming already planned. Families interested in participating or learning more can contact Girls A.L.I.V.E. for registration information and upcoming opportunities online at www.girlsalive-nc.org
Gee has heard from parents whose daughters come home from school, go directly to their rooms and remain disconnected from other children and friendships. Girls A.L.I.V.E. is making room for something different.
And perhaps its impact is summed up best by Macy’s words:
“I finally found a place where I fit in.”
