BALI curricula is created to benefit young women and girls enrolled in middle school, high school and colleges throughout New York City around the country. BALI is founded on the principles and vision of Bella Abzug, a leading feminist and the first Jewish Congresswoman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. As a lawyer, Congresswoman, and international feminist leader, Bella worked all her life for civil rights and equal rights for women both domestically and internationally. She believed in empowering women to become proactive activists and entrepreneurial leaders working toward full equality for women. Our mission embodies Bella’s values as someone who had great principles, heart, passion, and commitment to creating positive social change. BALI’s staff, is made up of highly skilled individuals from different professions and racial, ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Our top professional women mentors from every field, work closely with BALI students to help them build the intellectual confidence and communication skills necessary to become powerful, ethical, dynamic leaders?both in their chosen professions and within civil society. Our programs focus on high-achieving disadvantaged students in underserved public schools as well as those who have had more access to resources and attend some of the most competitive New York City public middle and high schools as well as private and charter schools. We also train students from community, public, and private colleges located throughout the United States, especially in the tri-state area. BALI provides the very best skills based leadership and policy and public forum debate training, which would be otherwise unavailable to our trainees if we did not provide it free of any tuition cost.