Rethink Resources

So many great things happening with the Young Women’s Empowerment Project in Chicago, it’s hard to know where to begin.

Youth facilitated five amazing workshops at the SisterSong National Conference “Let’s Talk About Sex”, including four that were youth only:

Girls in the Hood (on exploring why girls date gang members and how they can be safer in those relationships)
Girls do what they have to do to survive (on girls trading sex for money or survival)
Wish you were queer for youth (on everyday stress for queer youth)
Harm reduction for girls in the sex trade (on supporting girls to protect themselves)
Safer drug use (on supporting harm reduction strategies for youth)

YWEP youth and all adult allies were deeply involved in the planning and coordination as a part of the host committee. The conference was an amazing success with activists from across the country joining to learn and share ideas on reproductive justice.

Speaking of reproductive justice, YWEP is all over a new report by the Third Wave Foundation on their Reproductive Justice Initiative. We were so honored to be chosen (when I was Executive Director of YWEP) as one of four organizations nationally to receive substantial multi-year support from Third Wave. It really made the difference in building our capacity and propelling the organization to receiving national recognition.

You can download the report here >> Reproductive Health and Justice Initiative Report: Supporting Youth-Led Social Change

YWEP is making it possible for the voices of youth impacted by the sex trade and street economies to be involved in many social justice efforts. I’ll be reporting on more of their efforts soon.