WYSE was founded by three UCLA students in 1992 who after working with homeless families, were alarmed by the fact that the fastest growing population among the homeless was single mothers and their children. They designed the WYSE program initially to prevent teenage pregnancy and single motherhood by providing young women with contraceptive information. As they organized other students, the group found that teenage pregnancy was just one of the many issues middle and high school girls faced. Low self-esteem, a lack of awareness of future options, and violence in their communities were among many other issues preventing young women from achieving their greatest potential. Thus, over the next five years WYSE developed from simple after-school sessions to include a comprehensive yearlong curriculum striving to inform girls of all the issues that can contribute to their disempowerment.
President Clinton recognized WYSE and its UCLA student founders at a UCLA address:
“Service creates heroes. Women and Youth Supporting Each Other… aims to help middle and high school girls pursue their education and not become single mothers… Now let me tell you what that means to me. That is America at its best.”
Yet even more significant to us than national acclaim has been the acclaim of the young women. As one of the WYSE participants exclaimed about the program, “It makes girls go out there and change the world!” Through comments such as this one, high school girls who experienced WYSE in middle school have indicated that the most effective means of giving them a sense of control over their lives is to actively engage them in changing their environment. Thus, WYSE developed a high school component of the program that is focused on community activism.
With the graduation of the founders from UCLA, WYSE’s national expansion began. First it went to Yale and UC Berkeley, then to Stanford, the University of Chicago, Harvard, USC, CSU Northridge, and eventually to NYU, CSU Long Beach, and UCI. In 1995, WYSE hired our first paid staff member to provide national support to the various local student-run branches, and in 1997, received generous funding from the California Wellness Foundation to initiate the National Resource Office which would provide much needed branch support and technical assistance.
Today, the WYSE National Resource Office is guided by the WYSE Board of Directors. We have succeeded in providing more than 700 young women with critical information and leadership development, and challenged them to take action to inspire positive change in their communities. Several of these young women are now high school and college students who continue to participate in the program, or have become involved in decision-making for the organization as a whole. Together, we make up the WYSE National Movement calling for a better future for women, girls, and the communities in which they live.
President Clinton recognized WYSE and its UCLA student founders at a UCLA address:
“Service creates heroes. Women and Youth Supporting Each Other… aims to help middle and high school girls pursue their education and not become single mothers… Now let me tell you what that means to me. That is America at its best.”
Yet even more significant to us than national acclaim has been the acclaim of the young women. As one of the WYSE participants exclaimed about the program, “It makes girls go out there and change the world!” Through comments such as this one, high school girls who experienced WYSE in middle school have indicated that the most effective means of giving them a sense of control over their lives is to actively engage them in changing their environment. Thus, WYSE developed a high school component of the program that is focused on community activism.
With the graduation of the founders from UCLA, WYSE’s national expansion began. First it went to Yale and UC Berkeley, then to Stanford, the University of Chicago, Harvard, USC, CSU Northridge, and eventually to NYU, CSU Long Beach, and UCI. In 1995, WYSE hired our first paid staff member to provide national support to the various local student-run branches, and in 1997, received generous funding from the California Wellness Foundation to initiate the National Resource Office which would provide much needed branch support and technical assistance.
Today, the WYSE National Resource Office is guided by the WYSE Board of Directors. We have succeeded in providing more than 700 young women with critical information and leadership development, and challenged them to take action to inspire positive change in their communities. Several of these young women are now high school and college students who continue to participate in the program, or have become involved in decision-making for the organization as a whole. Together, we make up the WYSE National Movement calling for a better future for women, girls, and the communities in which they live.