Raleigh group SAGE mentors young women in southeast Raleigh

What SAGE is trying to build in southeast Raleigh

In southeast Raleigh, SAGE has turned a weekly gathering into a leadership pipeline for high school girls who need structure, guidance, and a clear place to belong. The Raleigh nonprofit, Saving Adolescent Girls Everywhere, says its mission is to cultivate the next generation of female leaders through education, mentorship, and community service.

That mission is not abstract. SAGE says it is a four-year program for girls ages 13 to 18 in select Raleigh-area schools, and it is currently serving 30 students from a variety of high schools in southeast Raleigh. The group’s regular meeting place is The Club Teen Center, where participants gather every Thursday from 3 to 5 p.m. for a two-hour session and a meal.

How the program works week to week

SAGE’s model is built around consistency. The organization says girls meet each Thursday at The Club Teen Center and also complete a quarterly community service project, which gives the program a rhythm that extends beyond conversation and into action. The weekly meal matters too, because it makes the program a dependable place to land after school and helps keep the experience rooted in care as well as instruction.

The nonprofit’s public contact information lists its meeting address as 15 N. Tarboro St., Raleigh, NC 27610, and its phone number as (919) 928-3978. Those details matter in a story like this because SAGE is not operating as a distant countywide initiative. It is embedded in a neighborhood and built around repeated in-person contact.

SAGE says the curriculum reaches beyond general leadership talk and into issues that affect teenage girls directly. Its programming includes mental health, domestic violence, teen pregnancy, body image, human trafficking, and career development. Downtown Raleigh’s business directory describes the organization as helping adolescent girls in underserved communities, which fits the practical, prevention-focused role the nonprofit says it plays.

Why the stakes are higher than a feel-good mentorship story

The strongest case for SAGE is not its branding. It is the evidence the group points to about who it reaches and what happens after girls enter the program. SAGE says it has mentored more than 75 high school girls and currently serves 30 more, which gives the group a track record beyond a single class or one-off workshop.

Most striking is the outcome the organization cites: a 100% graduation rate among participants. In education and workforce terms, that is the kind of number that suggests more than goodwill. It suggests that a steady mentoring structure can help girls stay connected to school long enough to cross a major finish line.

That matters in southeast Raleigh, where young people face a mix of academic, social, and personal pressures that can pull them in different directions. SAGE is not trying to solve every problem in the neighborhood, but it is offering a consistent alternative to drift. The organization gives girls a setting where they can build identity, practice leadership, and be seen as more than students moving through a system.

How SAGE fits into Wake County’s youth landscape

Wake County already has one prominent public model for developing female leadership. Wake Young Women’s Leadership Academy, established in 2012, is described by the district as the only all-girls public school in North Carolina. That makes SAGE part of a broader local conversation about how and where young women are prepared for leadership.

The difference is that SAGE works outside the school building and reaches girls from a variety of high schools in southeast Raleigh. That distinction matters. A school can provide academics and structure during the day, but a community-based program can fill in the gaps with mentorship, emotional support, service learning, and career exposure that continue after the final bell.

WRAL reported in May 2024 that SAGE started in Raleigh and helps teenage girls discover their talents. CBS 17 has described the organization as one on a mission to cultivate the next generation of female leaders. Those descriptions align with what the group says about itself, but the local significance is even more concrete: SAGE is trying to create a reliable support system in a part of Raleigh where families often look for positive, organized spaces for girls to grow.

A small nonprofit with a bigger public footprint

SAGE is also trying to raise its visibility. CBS 17 reported that the group was preparing its first-ever gala at the McKimmon Center in Raleigh, a sign that the organization is not only serving girls quietly each week but also seeking broader community support. A larger public event like that can help a small nonprofit expand its reach, deepen its donor base, and keep the program stable enough to serve more students over time.

Founder Tatiana Cooper has been central to that identity, and local coverage has highlighted her description of SAGE as a community rooted in authenticity and love. That framing helps explain why the organization resonates in southeast Raleigh. It is not presenting itself as a generic empowerment brand. It is trying to create a space where girls can talk honestly about the pressures they face and still leave with tools, support, and a sense of direction.

For Wake County families weighing what meaningful youth development looks like, SAGE offers a clear answer: regular contact, a defined curriculum, community service, a meal, and a long enough timeline to matter. In a county where leadership development is often discussed in terms of schools, jobs, and civic pipelines, SAGE is showing that some of the most durable work begins with one group of girls, one Thursday at a time.