More than 98 million of the world’s adolescent girls do not go to school. On Thursday, former American first lady Michelle Obama announced a new program to help empower girls through education. The program is called the Global Girls Alliance. It plans to support more than 1,500 local organizations that are already working to educate their community’s girls. The effort will include social fundraising. Obama said Thursday on NBC’s Today Show, “When you educate a girl, you educate a family, a community, a country.” She said her two daughters, Malia and Sasha, are “some of the reasons why this issue means so much” to her. Her announcement came on International Day of the Girl. The United Nations has marked the Day of the Girl on October 11 since 2002. The hashtag #DayoftheGirl became a top trending topic worldwide on Thursday.