About YWP

History & Values

Founded by and for young women in 1992 and operating as a volunteer collective during its first two years, YWP has grown to a full-time staff of seven, a teen staff of twenty, and a budget of $450,000.

YWP is guided by love, a belief in the power and abilities of teen women, and a commitment to involving young women in every level of organizational planning and leadership, from training to fundraising, program design, and the board of directors. 

Our Teens 

YWP works mainly with women and girls who are under-resourced (lack economic resources, family support, opportunities) and teens of color. Our programs build teen women leaders who:

1) Have a strong self-concept, a powerful sense of their own worth and potential;

2) Are dealing with and solving problems in their lives and among their friends and family;

3) Value their opinions and views and speak assertively;

4)  Have information, knowledge, and understanding of larger issues that affect them and make healthy life choices and decisions in response;

5) Are setting and achieving goals;

6) Understand that they can have an impact; and

7) Create projects that improve the lives of teen women and strengthen communities.

                                                                                                     

Accomplishments

  • Trained more than 800 teen women leaders through TWA
  • Provided sex education to more than 300 girls
  • Employed and developed more than 200 teens as staff members
  • Helped write and pass Group Home Regulations (impacting 450 teens a year)
  • Passed sexual harassment policy for DCPS students (impacting 24,000 students);
  • Trained 1,500 DCPS students on sexual harassment
  • Reached more than 3000 teen women through projects led by our TWA teens (including bathroom improvement campaigns, workshops on violence, reproductive, and mental health, publications, and forums on tolerance and diversify)

 

Funders

YWP would like to thank the following organizations for their support of our work:  Moriah Fund, Eugene and Agnes Meyer Foundation, Freddie Mac Foundation, Hill Snowdon Foundation, Consumer Health Foundation, DC Child and Youth Investment Trust, Gwendolyn and Morris Cafritz Foundation, Community Foundation of the National Capitol Region, Commonweal Foundation, Mental Wellness Fund, General Mills Foundation, and Summit Fund.