Young Women’s Empowerment Project

Chicago, IL

The Young Women’s Empowerment Project hires 5 youth staff! Beginning 2004, YWEP has been a grantee partner of the RHJI. With Third Wave’s financial and technical assistance support, the organization has made the leap to hire youth as staff as well as raise its budget significantly by leveraging Third Wave’s multi-year grant.

The mission of the Young Women’s Empowerment Project is to offer safe, respectful, free of judgment spaces for girls and young women impacted by the sex trade and street economies to recognize their goals, dreams and desires. It is are run by girls and women with life experience in the sex trade and street economies. YWEP is a youth leadership organization grounded in harm reduction and social justice organizing by and for teen girls and young women (ages 12-23) impacted by the sex trade and street economies. The organization has found that hiring youth as staff is the foundation for building a deeper leadership within the project, and is dedicated to making certain that youth have the support and skills necessary to lead this project and lead the struggle for girls and young women impacted by the sex trade.

The three core programs of the organization are the Popular Education Workshops – where girls facilitate conversations in the community about issues impacting the lives of teen girls in the sex trade, Peer Outreach and Education program where girls are trained and paid to be peer educators to other girls in the sex trade, reaching out to give support and resources, and the Leadership Development and Social Organizing group where girls run weekly meetings to develop new materials, make important decisions about current programs, and create new initiatives for YWEP.