Craira Davis, left, and Adezna Ventura shared a laugh at BCYF’s Girls Night event at Boston Bowl on Tuesday. In all, 105 girls participated. Lauren Dezenski photo

Their five phones were stacked, neatly organized on the table like Jenga blocks ready to be plucked. Sure, some were slid out for a glance at a notification or to text a friend, but for an hour or so, the focus was on the friends in the room and the tower remained intact.

“We have something to do. That’s why,” said Craira Davis. “It gets me out of the house and it’s fun to be around different people.”

The 15 year old from Roxbury was with a half dozen girls at Boston Bowl. They bowled, chatted, laughed, and even did the robot while waiting for the bowling ball to return to the lane. In all, 105 girls between the ages of 6 and 18 joined in the Tuesday night event, dining on pizza and soda, and hanging out.

“I just want the girls to be active and having fun,” said Erika Butler, the coordinator of the Boston Centers for Youth and Families’ Girls Night program, one of 78 summer learning programs in action across the city that engage nearly 6,500 young people in diverse, non-traditional settings. Earlier this summer, Mayor Martin Walsh announced the goal of increasing the number of programs to 100 and enrolling a total of 10,000 youths over the next two years.

The Girls Night summer events, of which the bowling event was the first of the season after last week’s beach day had to be rescheduled due to the weather, are a series of free girls-only events at which activities are designed to bring girls together in a safe, non-competitive environment where they can be themselves, meet other girls their age, and engage with role models.

“Sports for them [boys] is this for us. We just want to hang out,” said Adezna Ventura, 15, of Codman Square, who also left her phone stacked in the tower. “It’s something that all us girls can fit into even if it’s not easy. You can get into it and you can have fun.”
Lynne Jackson, program supervisor for BCYF at the Gallivan Community Center, agreed: “With most summer recreational programs, most of the centers are male-oriented because they are so centered around sports. To me, this is just phenomenal.”

Even some older girls stopped by for the fun: At-Large City Councillor Ayanna Pressley swapped her sandals for bowling shoes and knocked down some pins while chatting with the girls before whisking off to another event. “So often we’re talking about really heavy stuff with these girls,” she said. “It’s nice to just do something that is fun.”

The next event is Friday night, a skate night and sleepover at the Gallivan Center in Mattapan. On Aug. 12, the girls will be skating it up old school at the Chez Vous roller rink. Butler says that the Chez Vous skate is one of the most popular events, other than the beach day at Curley Community Center, which will be held later. Other events include a beauty night with skincare tips and facials, a pool night and BBQ, a dance night, and ice cream social.

“It’s great for different girls around the city,” said Malikah Young, 22, of Dorchester. “Some of those girls here are from South Boston. They never would have mingled with girls from Dorchester or Roxbury. They’re making connections here that they wouldn’t normally.”

Young is involved with the Girls Leadership Corps, a program that has them helping run events with BCYF.

Craira Davis agrees with Young: “Once you get to know the girls, it becomes a usual thing. Overall, everyone is mad chill,” she said, adding that Ventura is the only girl she knew before the program started two weeks ago. The older girls don’t even mind the little girls that are there.

“It’s okay because they’re mad cool,” Davis said.