Women and Girls Empowerment Groups in NYC
In New York City, there are several noteworthy organizations that seek to embrace feminism, and offer support and opportunities to all women. Here’s to the hardworking people making a better, more diverse world.
Sadie Nash Leadership Project was founded in 2001 to promote leadership and activism among young women. The program is designed to strengthen, empower, and equip young women as agents for change in their lives and in the world. Sadie Nash Leadership Project offers year-long programming for high school-aged young women and centers on community building and intensive leadership development through intellectual and personal growth.
The New York Women’s Foundation is a voice for women and a force for change. They’re a cross-cultural alliance of women catalyzing partnerships and leveraging human and financial capital to achieve sustained economic security and justice for women and girls. With fierce determination, they mobilize hearts, minds and resources to create an equitable and just future for women, families and communities in NYC.
Girls on the Run is the only national physical activity-based positive youth development program for girls with compelling evidence of program impact. A recent study, conducted by Maureen R. Weiss, Ph.D., a leading expert on youth development, showed that the program is highly effective at driving transformative and lasting change in the lives of third to fifth grade girls.
Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and the New York City Council launched the Young Women’s Initiative (YWI) to identify the gaps in services for young women age 12–24, with a focus on women of color. The YWI brings together leaders and organizers who work with teens and young adults and advocate for them in all aspects of our society, with the goal of crafting policy recommendations that address racial, gender and other disparities. This is being done with young women at the center of the conversations — as active and consistent participants in discussions and through a multiplatform campaign, #SheWillBe — to hear directly from them.
Girls Write Now mentors underserved young women to find their voices through the power of writing and community. The spirit of their organization is simple: every girl who’s passionate about telling their story gets a shot at exploring it. They introduce NYC public high school girls to women writers and digital media professionals from every discipline, who join Girls Write Now as mentors to pass on their craft. As mentees work with their mentors, a one-to-one relationship becomes a two-way street.
WomanKind works with survivors of gender-based violence to rise above trauma and build a path to healing. For example, they have an upcoming event on jiu jitsu. The art is geared towards improving one’s safety. Many techniques used in jiu jitsu are purely technical, requiring barely any strength, and can be used to triumph over much stronger opponents. This empowerment fitness course is designed to make you more aware, prepared, and ready for any situation that may occur in your everyday life.
You Can Thrive!’s mission is to ease suffering for people with cancer, and provide better outcomes regardless of income. Their Thrivers have access to holistic survivorship resources that are effective, convenient and affordable. Their community represents selfless-love for people living with cancer and offers an insiders understanding of the difficult journey in treatment, recovery and ease the journey with access to free self-care tools. Together, they are addressing a long underserved aspect of overall health for the masses, supporting those diagnosed.
WE Fund supports women who need capital to expand their businesses. WE Fund Growth partners with local NYC lending institutions to increase the chances of women-owned businesses getting financing, and to grow their business to the next level. On the other hand, WE Fund Crowd is a program that has NYC be the first investor of the businesses’ crowdfunding program. NYC will pledge 10%, or up to $1,000, of their crowdfunding goal.
Step Up propels girls living or going to school in under-resourced communities to fulfill their potential by empowering them to become confident, college-bound, career-focused, and ready to join the next generation of professional women.
To date, Unleashed has rescued over 400 puppies from the Urgent Lists of high kill-shelters in rural areas all over the country, preventing the dogs from being euthanized. The rescue organization is an integral part of the Unleashed program, providing girls with firsthand experience with the injustices faced by animals and an opportunity to channel their passion to create change.
