Sisterhood mentoring for 30 girls in St. John

Our group of thirty girls in St. John has been reduced to ten after the majority of girls graduated and now attend high school on the island of St. Thomas.  With this ten, we are focusing on leadership training, sisterhood retreats, field trips, and paid employement positions so that they can "pay it forward" by helping their younger sisters.

Activities focus on peer mentoring, team building and mentoring young girls to build the Sisterhood Mentoring group back up to thirty through engagement of girls at the local elementary school. Leadership training and sisterhood retreats promote health and emotional well-being, healing from trauma, positive behavior, and goal-setting while offering paid employment opportunities for those whom are eligible.

The group is getting ready for the 5th Annual Sisterhood Brotherhood New Year's Eve Youth Extravaganza on December 31, 2014. The venue has been secured. We are receiving small businss sponsorships from local businesses and will plan the event's activities with youth in the Sisterhood Mentoring group and the St. John Youth Coalition.

It's going to be a great winter and a positive start to the new year!

Thank you for your support!  We continue to work with our younger sisters in St. John to provide them with love, guidance, and a safe space just for them. We are grooming them to become leaders by offering them constructive outlets for expansion and opportunities for career development and life skills.  In addition, we are in the process of creating a natural product created from local materials to mass produce and market that represents who they are and where they want to be.

Our new activities will focus on holisttic health and healing. Women and girls in the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) experience higher than average rates of obesity/overweight, diabetes, teen pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections, substance abuse, and violence.

In the U.S., including its territories, one in three girls is sexually abused by age 18. Women are 50% more likely than men to have high adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Those with high ACEs are significantly more likely to have mental health and substance abuse problems, chronic physical illnesses, and early death. Women with high ACEs are prone to depression, are more likely to become victims of rape and domestic violence; two-thirds of all suicide attempts are attributable to ACEs.

While tourists generally come to the USVI to heal, most youth in the USVI do not experience healing. Sisterhood Agenda aims to change that through evidence-based program implementation that is:  1) African-centered, 2) trauma-informed, and 3) gender-responsive.

It is the understanding of whole body health (mental, spiritual, and physical) that will transform our mentoring initaitives with our girls. The healing envirionment created by the Sisterhood Empowerment Academy (SEA) will also greatly facilitate empowerment and healing processes.

Sisterhood Agenda is expanding its team to include social workers and clinical psychologists who are committed to helping girls in St. John.  Training is provided by nationally recognized trauma and female empowerment experts.

Thank you again and we look forward to updating you about our new activities and the Sisterhood Empowerment Academy (SEA).  We love having you on our team and hope that you will continue to support this important cause.