How a peer-run center empowers young people affected by poverty, violence and incarceration

Civic

In the streets, in jails and other detention facilities and at its program sites around the Bay Area, the Young Women’s Freedom Center provides resources and support to girls, women, and transgender and gender non-conforming people. It provides training, internships, fellowships and jobs to help people affected by poverty, exploitation and violence develop their voices. One of the center’s core tenets is the belief that people who are affected by these systems are the ones that can and must lead effective change. Julia Arroyo-Guzman, a site director for Young Women’s Freedom Center, talks about her work and her journey to it.