Our empowerment philosophy starts with the self, our internal power. How we feel inside.  

 

Next up, it's about navigating daily life. Feeling happy with the way we use our voices at home, at school, and within our families and friendship groups. Feeling proud and confident in expressing our identities, and feeling able to say when something is wrong. 

 

Then it's about influencing the decisions that affect us more broadly. Feeling part of the bigger picture. Having a say in the world and how it's organised. Feeling able to challenge injustices and improve our communities.

 

And lastly, lifting those around us to use their voices too. Kindness to self, kindness to others. 

​

Even within a short space of time most of our participants tell us that they've had a mood boost, gained new skills, made new friends, and that they felt able to shape the sessions, felt respected, and are more likely to join in with something similar in the future.  

 

Over time, we try to help the women and young people who join our community to empower themselves using our support. That means different things to different people, and we try to make sure our offer is flexible to our participants' goals. Maybe it means producing something creative that expresses an identity, perspective or opinion. Maybe it means gaining financial independence by starting to sell some artwork. Maybe it means getting some support and coaching to navigate the more challenging parts of life. Or it might mean working together with a team to run a new project that addresses a social issue. It might look like engaging with participatory budgeting for the first time, or might involve using our support and platforms to influence decision-makers. Often it's a bit of all of these things! 

​

Empowerment is self-driven and takes time, but we are there to support our participants step by step.

​

We are a small non-profit achieving big things, creatively!