SISTERS RISING  Moving beyond survival
Each year we hire 17 young women for a paid internship that incorporates healing, skills development, political education, community organizing and reintegration into the community. The lack of gainful and meaningful employment is the primary obstacle facing young women struggling to stay out of the criminal justice system and stabilize their lives. With limited education and the stigma of a criminal record, job prospects for these young people are dim.    READ MORE

Sisters Rising provides these extremely low-income young women with both a livable income and an environment that is supportive and personally transformative. Young women who have endured multiple traumas including long periods of incarceration, loss of their children while they were in the system, poverty, violence, drug addiction and the incarceration of a parent do not just need a job — they need to believe that they can make it in the "above ground" economy.

The Sisters Rising internship combines skills development with a wellness and empowerment curriculum called "Beyond Survival," exposure to civic engagement and political education and reintegration into the community through a hands-on, neighborhood-based project.

We limit the number of Sisters Rising participants to 17 because the program is both intensive and expensive. Sisters Rising helps its participants, some of San Francisco's most disenfranchised young women, achieve self-sufficiency.

Actual Employment and Employment Training
Sisters Rising addresses the critical need among young women who have been involved in the underground street economy and the juvenile justice system to have legal employment and to make a living wage.

Young women in the program develop practical workplace and leadership skills, while building their resumes and lists of references. They learn about self-care, healthy lifestyles and sisterhood along with basic computer and writing skills.

The 17 Sisters Rising interns work four hours a day, four days a week — during the hours that have the highest incidence of arrest of female sex workers and drug dealers. Sisters Rising effectively competes with the street economy by providing respectable wages and benefits, job training, child care, peer support, housing assistance and leadership opportunities. The part-time nature of the job and its regular income allow the young women in Sisters Rising to return to or stay in school. Sisters Rising demonstrates to young women and girls from the streets and the juvenile justice system that another way is, in fact, possible!

Technology Center
The Center for Young Women's Development houses a state-of-the-art Technology Center, partially funded by the Bothin Foundation. Young women use the 10 personal computers in the Technology Center to prepare themselves for the workforce. They learn basic research skills, brush up on their typing, become conversant with the latest office software technology, and refine other office skills. This training serves them in both continuing education and joining the workforce.

Our technology instructors include: volunteers, staff, and program participants who have learned skills. We practice a unique "each one, teach one" methodology — after a young woman completes our intensive training, she then teaches the skills she has learned to others. We have found that the best way for young women to learn and retain technical information is by teaching it.

Political Awareness Project
Sisters Rising incorporates a political education component to facilitate understanding the larger world and the systems at play in the lives of young women. Participants identify issues which they then research and discuss. They engage in community mapping — surveying young women in their community about the issues they see as important. Participants then select an issue and develop their own project to address it. Past Sisters Rising projects have included: creating a community resource guide, mounting and joining a community campaign, providing street law trainings and conducting street outreach and community health education.

Support for Continuing Education
While employment opportunities and community involvement are critical for Sisters Rising participants, the young women in our program will always face serious limitations if they do not progress academically. We have a part-time college counselor on staff to help young women develop individual professional and educational plans, and to assist them in getting back into school. Young women support one another in study groups and receive one-on-one tutoring to prepare for the GED. They also receive research and technical assistance as they apply for grants, financial aid, scholarships and childcare designated for emancipated youth. Emancipated youth constitutes 73 percent of the population with whom we work.

Supportive, Safe and Welcoming Environment
Our facilities include a state of the art Technology Center (described above), a library, a resource room, a wellness room for massage and psychotherapy, and a spiritual circle/altar space. Every year young women collect over 1,000 books and videos through our annual book drive. Our library contains thousands of books and videos on such issues as: sexuality, political movements, ethnic studies, fiction, spiritual enrichment, motherhood and financial literacy. The library is a calm place to read, study or rest and offers young women a respite from the street. Through collaboration with the Immune Enhancement Project, we offer young women an alternative health benefits package that includes onsite and offsite massage therapy and acupuncture. Every month young women rebuild the altar to re-focus and ground themselves in their goals.

Resource Handbook: The Hook Ups
Envisioned and researched as a community mapping project by Sisters Rising participants, The Hook Ups is our 16-page resource guide for young women involved in and coming out of the juvenile justice system. The handbook provides information on housing, employment, health care and resources that girls need to live safe, fulfilling lives. Available free-of-charge, this guide gives young women in San Francisco some of the tools they need to achieve stability after exiting the juvenile justice system. We have partnered with the Juvenile Hall Girls' Services Unit to ensure that every young woman and girl leaving detention gets a copy of this guide. When young women join Sisters Rising, they use the handbook in a more in-depth manner and update it for future participants.

Open Door Policy
Our staff works with each Sisters Rising participant to prepare her for the transition into other employment and educational opportunities, ensuring that each young woman has a plan for her next steps. We give each young woman in the program the attention and support she needs. After participants graduate from Sisters Rising, the door to our resources remains open to them. Our alumnae have lifetime access to employment and popular education trainings, wellness services, case management, referrals, retreats and paid speaking opportunities. We also host monthly alumnae luncheons to keep the open door revolving.

"Changing the Odds" Externship Program
In order to experience a continuum of support and career development, all Sisters Rising interns participate in an eight-week professional development externship. The first two weeks of the externship include orientation, intensive skill building and placement in a community-based externship. Hosts for the externships include District Attorney and Public Defenders offices, as well as social justice and grassroots organizing groups. During placements, our staff conducts weekly one-on-one check-ins with the externs. The externs also participate in weekly group gatherings and continuing educational activities.

Health and Wellness
Partnering with the Sisters Rising Coordinator, the Wellness Coordinator provides case management services to ensure that our programming is meeting the needs of the young woman in every aspect of her life journey. Each young woman that walks through our doors is encouraged to meet with our Wellness Coordinator during her drop in hours to “check-in” and consult about resources that she needs, advice on a personal issue or to just talk. This is key in helping a young woman reflect on her participation in our programming, as well as helping her progress with her personal goals. The Wellness Coordinator partners with the young women to create realistic goals for their lives and help them find the resources to become self-sufficient.

The Wellness Coordinator also assumes on the role of teacher and co-facilitator for the Sisters Rising Program, guiding young women through exercises, activities and trainings. These activities allow each young woman to personally assess how she thinks about herself — her self-esteem, body image, abuse history and techniques to heal. We create a space where it is safe to talk about personal stories and learn from each other’s experiences We also provide the information young women need to create their own definitions of health.

Sisters Rising is unique among employment-training programs. Besides training the future workforce; it also develops a cadre of young women with a commitment to social change. Young women graduate from the program with both the skills to help them secure long-term employment and a passion for social justice.
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