Young Women's Empowerment Project

Harm Reduction principles and practice seek to reduce violence and harm experienced by individuals and communities by understanding the multiple causes including trauma and systematic oppression. We will introduce a Transformative Justice (TJ) framework, including principles and practices as an effective approach to responding to and seeking justice in individual and community cases of violence or harm in such a way that challenge oppressive systems and do not reinforce state violence and repression. Through this workshop we seek to develop models for harm reduction programs to integrate violence prevention, response and services to address trauma and to train anti-violence organizations in harm reduction practice. TJ seeks to provide those experiencing violence or abuse with immediate safety and long-term agency, healing and reparations while holding those who are violent or abusive to others accountable within and by the communities in which they live or are part of. This accountability includes stopping immediate abuse, making a commitment to not engage in future abuse, and reparations for past abuse. Such accountability requires community responsibility to support people who are violent in changing their harmful behavior and as well as to access to personal healing. Beyond those who experience and perpetrate violence, TJ seeks to build community relationships and standards of behavior that reduce violence and increase collective capacity to organize for greater justice and health.

Young Women's Empowerment Project is a member based social justice organizing project for girls and transgender girls involved in the sex trade and street economy. Using harm reduction, popular education, transformative justice and healing values we work to organize young people across Chicago who are street based, homeless or homefree. This will be a two hour workshop that will connect the dots between our youth lead participatory action research study to our current campaign work. We will talk about challenges and strategies for organizing street based youth, our campaign to change the way Chicago sees its Homeless Homefree and street based youth and we will share tools we have developed to track institutional violence in our communities. People will leave with new concepts about the sex trade and street economy, tools to organize young people in their community and inspiration!

A People's Movement Assembly bringing together organizations from across the country working from an empowering social justice, harm reduction and leadership development perspective with street-based youth to talk about issues of policing and criminalization in the context of "quality of life" policing and policing of sex work. Centering the experiences of young women and queer youth of color and using popular education methods, participants will share information about their programs and the conditions they face in their cities, skills and strategies, and solutions grounded in the experiences and realities of youth of color. Together we will develop strategies for working more closely together, supporting each other in our local struggles, and building a world free of violence against youth!

Harm Reduction principles and practice seek to reduce violence and harm experienced by individuals and communities by understanding the multiple causes including trauma and systematic oppression. We will introduce a Transformative Justice (TJ) framework, including principles and practices as an effective approach to responding to and seeking justice in individual and community cases of violence or harm in such a way that challenge oppressive systems and do not reinforce state violence and repression. Through this workshop we seek to develop models for harm reduction programs to integrate violence prevention, response and services to address trauma and to train anti-violence organizations in harm reduction practice. TJ seeks to provide those experiencing violence or abuse with immediate safety and long-term agency, healing and reparations while holding those who are violent or abusive to others accountable within and by the communities in which they live or are part of. This accountability includes stopping immediate abuse, making a commitment to not engage in future abuse, and reparations for past abuse. Such accountability requires community responsibility to support people who are violent in changing their harmful behavior and as well as to access to personal healing. Beyond those who experience and perpetrate violence, TJ seeks to build community relationships and standards of behavior that reduce violence and increase collective capacity to organize for greater justice and health.

Young Women's Empowerment Project is a member based social justice organizing project for girls and transgender girls involved in the sex trade and street economy. Using harm reduction, popular education, transformative justice and healing values we work to organize young people across Chicago who are street based, homeless or homefree. This will be a two hour workshop that will connect the dots between our youth lead participatory action research study to our current campaign work. We will talk about challenges and strategies for organizing street based youth, our campaign to change the way Chicago sees its Homeless Homefree and street based youth and we will share tools we have developed to track institutional violence in our communities. People will leave with new concepts about the sex trade and street economy, tools to organize young people in their community and inspiration!

A People's Movement Assembly bringing together organizations from across the country working from an empowering social justice, harm reduction and leadership development perspective with street-based youth to talk about issues of policing and criminalization in the context of "quality of life" policing and policing of sex work. Centering the experiences of young women and queer youth of color and using popular education methods, participants will share information about their programs and the conditions they face in their cities, skills and strategies, and solutions grounded in the experiences and realities of youth of color. Together we will develop strategies for working more closely together, supporting each other in our local struggles, and building a world free of violence against youth!