Sisters in Strength – Lansing (SISL) is a youth organizing program for 15 teens of color, entering 10th, 11th, or 12th grade in the tri-county area of Mid-Michigan (Ingham, Clinton, Eaton Counties). Programming is shaped both by the unique needs and interests of the SISL youth organizers, and by The Firecracker Foundation’s vision, mission, and goals. SISL does community organizing around gender-based violence and confronts the multiple layers of individual and institutional discrimination that threaten the safety of girls and women.
Facilitated by Firecracker Peer Support Staff and volunteers, the SISL groups will meet biweekly for a total of four hours for 20 weeks. The 2019-2020 session will be held in 2 semesters to coincide with the school year; mid-September through December 2019 and early February 2020 through May 2020. The curriculum will be facilitated by staff trained by TFF and offer participating teens a stipend for participation. The focus will be to give youth context for examining cycles of violence and trauma, as well as tools for exploring identity, autonomy, and healing from a youth-centered perspective. The program will encourage teens to assume leadership roles within their larger communities through understanding and disrupting the culture of silence, avoidance, and shame around topics pertaining to sexual violence within our intimate, personal, shared and community spaces. Concepts including intergenerational restorative justice and healing justice will be introduced and practiced by the group.
While this program is open to all teen survivors of sexual trauma and their allies, The Firecracker Foundation will prioritize the applications of teens of color, LGBTQ2SIA teens, teens with disabilities and other marginalized groups in the Lansing area. The Firecracker Foundation values youth leadership in this work. For that reason, SISL members receive stipends of up to $250 per month for their participation in the program. We will also provide mileage reimbursement as needed.
For questions about this program, please call 517-742-7224 or send an email to info@thefirecrackerfoundation.org.
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Sisters in Strength – Lansing is an expansion of The Firecracker Foundation’s current Teen Club programming utilizing an adapted version of the Sisters in Strength (SIS) curriculum developed by Girls for Gender Equality, based in Brooklyn, New York, and the national Me Too Movement. This program is possible through funding provided by the New York Women’s Foundation and Girls Innovate Fund and is one of two pilot #MeTooTeen programs in the country.