The Girl Scouts of Northern New Jersey (GSNNJ) recently opened the doors to its new Girl Scout DreamLab, transforming a long-held community property into a sprawling, 12,000-square-foot destination center for youth leadership, technology and hands-on learning.
Located at 300 Forest Avenue in Paramus—a building the council has owned for nearly 50 years—the completely overhauled facility bridges the gap between traditional scouting and modern innovation. The DreamLab features 8,500 square feet of high-tech experiential programming space paired with 3,500 square feet of collaborative, modernized office space for staff and volunteers.
A crowd of local dignitaries gathered for the ribbon-cutting ceremony, including Assemblymembers Lisa Swain and Chris Tully, Bergen County Executive Jim Tedesco, County Commissioner Tracy Zur, and Paramus Councilwoman Jeanne Weber. Nicolette Carpenter, representing Congressman Josh Gottheimer’s office, joined the delegation to present the Girl Scouts with official legislative proclamations honoring the milestone.
The DreamLab moves far beyond traditional camp crafts, offering specialized, state-of-the-art zones engineered to spark interest in high-demand fields:
- STEM Exploration: Dedicated workspaces fully equipped for robotics fabrication, computer coding, and 3D printing and scanning.
- Digital Media: A professional-grade podcast studio allowing youth to practice public speaking, audio engineering, and digital storytelling.
- Creative & Culinary Arts: Flexible spaces for woodworking, jewelry design, textile work, and culinary science programming.
- Sensory Inclusion: A specialized sensory room designed by a local Gold Award Girl Scout, ensuring the facility is welcoming and accessible to neurodiverse participants.
Adding a unique retail element to the destination, the site also features an integrated Build-A-Bear Workshop inside the official Girl Scout shop, providing an interactive badge-making and bear-building experience.
While the facility will primarily serve GSNNJ’s membership base of more than 19,000 youth and 10,000 adult volunteers across Bergen, Morris, Passaic, Sussex and northern Warren counties, officials emphasized that the DreamLab is built for the entire region. The facility will double as a community resource, opening its innovation programs, conference rooms, and educational workshops to local schools, partner organizations, and non-members.
“The DreamLab reflects our commitment to creating experiences that meet girls where they are and empower them to grow into who they want to become,” Sandra Kenoff, president and CEO of Girl Scouts of Northern New Jersey said. “We designed this space with intentional flexibility so it can evolve alongside the needs of our girls and adult members. It is a hub for sisterhood where curiosity is encouraged, confidence is built, and every Girl Scout has the opportunity to discover her strengths and use them to make an impact.”
