Puppies bring out the little kid in everyone, it seems. But one afterschool program is showing that puppies can also awaken something else: leadership and self-confidence in girls.

That’s the ambitious agenda of Unleashed at MS 260, the Clinton MS for Artists and Writers, near Hudson Yards in Manhattan. The program for girls ages 11–14 uses puppy rescue as a way for girls to take up a worthy cause and find their voices.

“I’ve learned how much I care about puppies,” said 11-year-old Grace Albano, who is in the 6th grade. “I learned how dedicated I was. I can make change, even though I’m young and a girl — no matter how old you are and what gender you are.”

The girls — about 22 in each cohort — meet once a week for 12 weeks after school to discuss what it means to be a girl and a woman in society. Teachers are trained as school coaches for the program by founder Stacey Radin.

Girls have the option to participate in the puppy rescue on Saturdays. Puppies up for adoption are transported to an off-school site, where the girls care for them until the adults who are adopting them show up.

The girls not only feed the puppies and give them water, but also give tips to those taking one in about taking care of the puppy so it adjusts to the new home. The girls also design public awareness campaigns around animal welfare and fundraise to support an animal rights organization of their choice.

Radin, a psychologist focused on the development of adolescent girls, said she hit on the idea of puppy rescue after extensive research. She knew that early influences shape a girl’s perception of power — and she reasoned that a fitting cause could spark the engagement and passion that enable a girl to step up and find her voice in ways that would benefit her throughout her life. Further research led Radin to the discovery that animal rights and welfare scored high as a cause for girls. A program was born.

Guidance counselor Davida Hunter, one of two school coaches at Clinton, said that some of the girls, before joining the program, didn’t participate in class or engage with their peers. She has seen firsthand how they have blossomed — and she hears it from their teachers. Suddenly, she said, the shy girl is raising her hand and interacting more with her classmates.

“They learn how to work through their issues,” Hunter said. “And they advocate for each other.” That became clear recently, she said, when girls involved in Unleashed rallied around a classmate who had an illness in the family. “If they see something, they speak up,” Hunter said.

In the after-school Unleashed sessions, Hunter and Naimah Hasan, a performing arts teacher and the school’s second coach, pose a provocative question about dreams, inspirations and role models and facilitate the discussion that ensues.

Who is a role model and why? What does a powerful girl look like? The goal, they say, is to puncture and recast all the false notions — that power makes a girl mean or girls aren’t supposed to have opinions — that silence girls early on.

“There’s so much pressure on them in terms of media,” Hasan said. “We’re teaching them how to rely on themselves.”

Hasan has led discussions about body image, a fraught topic for adolescent girls who are bombarded with images of rail-thin celebrities. This “ideal” body image — often airbrushed or Photoshopped — conflicts with their own reality, she says. “When you have a child who feels she needs to look a certain way, it creates tension,” Hasan said.

Hasan has also led the girls in a lesson in empathy that searches out everyday role models in the girls’ lives. “We study a person for 10 weeks and become that person — it’s beyond celebrities,” she said. “It could be the crossing guard or the person who cooks for you.”

Kristine Sabo, another 6th-grader, said the program, especially the exercises in public speaking, has helped boost her confidence.

“I learned leadership is just having courage in yourself,” Kristine said.