Step Up propels girls in Chicago, Dallas, New York City, and Los Angeles to fulfill their

potential by empowering them to become confident, college-bound, career-focused, and ready

to join the next generation of professional women. The after-school programs help young

women take action to graduate high school as confident, college-bound, career-focused women,

ready to join the next generation of professional women.

 

Between 2012-2015, Step Up expanded from a single site in Los Angeles to Chicago and New York

City. In 2016, the organization partnered with Impact Catalysts (as its predecessor firm, Root

Cause) to review its growth experiences and consider the best path to spread the model to

other cities. Over the course of the planning process, we helped Step Up establish clear criteria

for evaluating prospective expansion cities and the organization’s readiness for expansion. We

also guided Step Up leadership as they moved forward with expansion to Atlanta and Dallas.