Freedom Forward

🍁🍂2024 Fall Newsletter🍁🍂 Read the latest updates, stories, and highlights from Freedom Forward as we work to create a future where San Francisco young people can live free from exploitation and thrive! Read now:  https://lnkd.in/eS_EbKqx #FreedomForward #Fall2024 #EndCSEC #Prevention #HYPECenterSF

Announcing the 2024 Hellman Collaborative Change Initiative awardees! We're thrilled to announce $2.66M in new funding for four promising partnerships in the Bay Area that were selected by a Community Panel of local leaders: - Alameda County Health: Maternal, Paternal, Child, and Adolescent Health Unit’s Birth Worker Capacity Building Project - Alameda County Health: Recipe4Health (R4H) Collaborative - Freedom Forward: The Helping Young People Elevate (HYPE) Center - Young Women’s Freedom Center: Beloved Youth Collective The collaborations will work to improve birth justice, increase health equity, counter sex trafficking and exploitation, and break the cycle of youth incarceration. Read more about the partners and goals of these powerful collaborations here: https://lnkd.in/gKcTWjhk #bayarea #health #equity #reproductivejustice #nonprofits #philanthropy

🌟 Exciting News! 🌟 Freedom Forward is honored to announce that we are a proud recipient of the Hellman Collaborative Change Initiative (HCCI) Grant! This partnership reflects a powerful alignment of our shared missions—uplifting community-based solutions to dismantle systemic barriers. At Freedom Forward, we believe that young people are the experts of their own lives. Through our HYPE Center, we collaborate with youth to transform the systems that affect them, ensuring they have the autonomy to choose their own paths. Our work prevents commercial sexual exploitation by fostering spaces where young people can thrive—free from harm, empowered in their choices, and supported by a network that sees their full potential. The Hellman Foundation stands out for its commitment to equity, collaboration, and bold community-based solutions. Their trust-based philanthropy approach aligns perfectly with our vision, as both organizations believe in empowering communities, fostering partnerships, and addressing systemic disparities. This synergy will allow us to scale our efforts, creating safe spaces and support systems for vulnerable youth, while continuing to work toward a future free of exploitation. Together we will continue to build a world where every young person has the resources and opportunities to exercise agency over their bodies, relationships, and futures—thriving in freedom and dignity. We are grateful for the Hellman Foundation’s belief in the power of community-led change and look forward to the impact we’ll create together! 💙 #FreedomForward #HellmanFoundation #CommunityImpact #YouthEmpowerment #HYPECenter #EndExploitation #CollaborativeChange #ThrivingYouth

Join our Executive Director Francesca Gonzalez on this month’s Crucial Conversation, hosted by Black Women Revolt Against Domestic Violence on September 18, 2024 at 12:00 PM. She will be sharing the incredible work at Freedom Forward’s HYPE Center, a multi-service drop-in center for Bay Area youth (14-24), designed for and by young people, to co-locate the services and resources they need, under one safe, youth friendly roof. She’ll discuss systemic gaps that put young people at risk and how the HYPE Center is working towards preventing commercial sexual exploitation. Join us for this important conversation! #EndCommericalSexualExploitation #NotForSale #CrucialConversations #BlackWomenRevoltAgainstDomesticViolence

Along with Safe & Sound, SFCASA, and other community partners, we are excited to invite you to a Mayoral Candidates' Forum on Foster Care and Juvenile Justice on October 1st, 2024, 6pm-8:30pm, at the Ruth Williams Bayview Opera House! (See flier below for registration link!) Come hear from the mayoral candidates about how investment in improving the foster care and juvenile justice systems and supporting families from the start can lead to safer and healthier communities for all San Franciscans. Youth and parents with lived expertise will join our moderators in asking questions of the candidates. Confirmed candidates include Mayor London Breed, Daniel Lurie, Supervisor Aaron Peskin, and Supervisor Ahsha Safai. We look forward to seeing you there and appreciate your support in highlighting the importance of improving the city's foster care and juvenile justice systems, as well as the need for robust family support!

Check it out LinkedIn fam.. our HYPE Center Boutique needs some love and attention! Please drop off your GENTLY USED or NEW clothing items to 198 Potrero Ave in SF. (M - F 10-7pm) We are in need of the following items for all gender identities and expressions: Shoes Jackets Sweaters/Hoodies Socks (new only) Underwear (new only) Business attire / Interview clothes Accessories (belts, purses, sunglasses, etc..) Baby clothing & products Join us in preventing commercial sexual exploitation of our SF Bay Area youth and donate today! #EndCommericalSexualExploitation #SupportNonProfits #DonateToday #BasicNeeds #TAY

Check it out LinkedIn fam.. our HYPE Center Boutique needs some love and attention! Please drop off your GENTLY USED or NEW clothing items to 198 Potrero Ave in SF. (M - F 10-7pm) We are in need of the following items for all gender identities and expressions: Shoes Jackets Sweaters/Hoodies Socks (new only) Underwear (new only) Business attire / Interview clothes Accessories (belts, purses, sunglasses, etc..) Baby clothing & products Join us in preventing commercial sexual exploitation of our SF Bay Area youth and donate today! #EndCommericalSexualExploitation #SupportNonProfits #DonateToday #BasicNeeds #TAY

📢 Exciting News! Thanks to a Lived Experience Impact Grant from Youth Villages the first payments in our year-long Supplemental Income Pilot for survivors of commercial sexual exploitation who are aging out of foster care were directly deposited into accounts at the end of July. This initiative represents a significant step forward in empowering survivors to rebuild their lives with dignity and independence. Through this pilot we will provide monthly financial support of $500, enabling these resilient individuals to meet their essential needs, pursue education, and access vital resources through our HYPE Center, as we support them on their journey toward healing and self-sufficiency. A HUGE thank you to our dedicated team, partners, and supporters who have made this milestone possible, especially the SF CSEC Coordination Team, iFoster and Foster America. Press Release from Youth Villages: “We’re excited to award a Lived Experience Impact grant to such a worthy organization as Freedom Forward,” said Catherine Smith, Youth Villages BPP managing director. “We share a common goal of supporting young people as they make the transition to adulthood. We look forward to partnering with Freedom Forward and its respective leaders who will bring invaluable lived expertise and important perspective. Together, we will have an even greater positive impact on services and outcomes for transition-age young people across the country.” The grants support organizations led by individuals with lived experience in child welfare systems who are improving outcomes for transition-age young people through programming, advocacy and systems reform. More than 30 organizations from across the country applied for the grants. After a thorough evaluation process that included application reviews by Youth Villages staff and its Lived Experience Corps members (more than 50% of the grant committee had lived experience in child welfare systems) and oral presentations from the top 12 scoring organizations, the grants were awarded to eight organizations from across the country. #FosterYouth #AgingOut #FinancialEmpowerment #EconomicIndependence #GuaranteedIncome #SurvivorSupport #SanFrancisco #CommunityImpact #SocialJustice #EndingExploitation

Our HYPE Center is looking for two dynamic community leaders to join our team of dedicated professionals. Join us today & together we can Help Young People Elevate! Links in comments below! #wearehiring #joinourteam #communityimpact #sharethispost