The transition from girlhood to womanhood can be difficult without proper guidance. The High Tea Society is dedicated to imparting young girls from disadvantaged backgrounds with the critical social and professional skills to navigate their professional, civil and global communities. In the words of our founder, the Honorable Mary A. Gooden Terrell, we want young women to "be just as comfortable in the White House as they are in their house." To that end, we go where our girls are: their schools, their homes, their laptops and smartphones. 

Although the foundations of the High Tea Society are rooted in tradition, the organization's trailblazing spirit is setting a course to meet the needs of the girls of the 21st century. That means creating programs that work in both the physical and digital space. 

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Since 1997, the High Tea Society has worked with over 800 promising young ladies from the 3rd - 12th grade. We've employed a four-pronged approach, named the 4 Es (Exposure, Environment, Expectations & Experiences) to enact our curriculum that focuses on academic achievement, community service, cultural awareness, lifestyle improvement, and international awareness (ACCLI). ​

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Through participation in the High Tea Society programs, our young ladies learn that living and working successfully in the 21st century global community requires certain life skills, not just “street skills.”  Through our innovative programming, HTS builds up the resiliency of girls to resist unhealthy influences such as gangs, peer pressure, teenage pregnancy, drugs and juvenile delinquency that currently control their existence.  Placed in new environments with high expectations, our protégés are put on the path to discover that they belong in and can contribute to the civil society.