Center for Young Womens Development

“In addition to reviewing the audit, the audit committee (selected board members) reviews the 990 forms. The executive director also reviews the 990 forms. A draft copy of the 990 is presented by email to all board members. If needed, a conference call may be scheduled to address questions or concerns.”

“Upon or before hire, election, or appointment each employee and board member must provide a full written disclosure of all direct or indirect financial interest that could potentially result in a conflict of interest. Examples include employer, business, and other nonprofit affiliations, and those of family members or a significant other. This written disclosure is kept on file and is updated annually and as needed. Employees and board members must disclose any interests in a proposed transaction or decision that may create a conflict of interest. After disclosure, the employee or board member will not be permitted to participate in the transaction or decision.”

“The board of directors has the authority over starting salary levels and salary increases for the executive director. The board of directors also determines the executive director's salary based on wages that are comparable to those paid to employees with similar qualifications and responsibilities in local non-profit organizations.”

“Cywd pays salaries and wages that are comparable to those paid to employees with similar qualifications and job responsibilities in local non-profit organizations doing similar work. Salary comparability studies are periodically reviewed and salaries are adjusted accordingly. Compensation is reviewed as part of annual performance and merit. The executive director has final approval over all starting salary levels, salary increase, and staff promotions, except for her own.”

“Cywd's governing documents, conflict of interest policy, and financial statements are made available to the public. To review the contents of these documents, requests should be made to the deputy director. The deputy director will respond to request within 10 business days. After reviewing request, the deputy director will schedule an appropriate time for you to review the documents. Documents may also be mailed or viewed online at www.guidestar.org.”

“Sisters rising developed a digital story about young women in the bay area. This developed surveys, and conducted a series of interviews, group listening sessions, and surveys. They reached 200 young women via; online, street, jail and service organization outreach. It compiled all the data from all the activities, including other independent research into a written narrative about the needs of marginalized, low income young women in the bay area. This was helpful to guide future program plans for cywd, and helped identify service gaps. Young women collaborated with dcyf to produce a report that outlines the needs and service gaps of young women in sf. Cywd participants engaged in participatory action research where they worked in collaboration with data center to develop question specific to address the needs of over 200 young women. We were able to engage a population of young women who do not typically respond to traditional educational programs and/or do not have access because they are incarcerated. Priority for enrollment was for young women ages 14-24 who were homeless, considered the hardest to reach, in the foster care system, who have had multiple arrests or who were two or more grades behind in school. During the 2014-2015 fiscal year, 10 young women received an educational assessment and a tailored educational plan. 20 young women received extensive self-determination services, and follow up services with cywd. Please see schedule o for further details in addition, the sisters rising program provided onsite employment and training, math and english tutoring services to the 5 young women who we believed required high level supports and the economic incentive to leave the illegal underground street economies - and return to school. We worked with a range of partner agencies to identify, refer and assess the mental health, educational, and social needs. While cywd has always maintained relationships with partner organizations to support our participants' needs, through the education initiative we deepened existing relationships and established new ones, including city college of san francisco, san francisco unified school district, san francisco city & county juvenile probation department, youth guidance center improvement committee and youth justice institute. During the nine month sisters rising paid internship, 100% of the 10 young women who graduated were placed in externships or permanent jobs. Five of the young women also went on to pursue higher education, enrolling in community colleges and 4-year state universities including city college ofsan francisco, berkeley city college and sacramento state university. Working with employment partners such as chalk, match bridge, community assessment center, new door ventures and dcyf, we have assisted young women in securing employment with starbucks, sf exploratorium, tenderloinrecreation center, sf airport, acrobats, cpm environmental, levis company, port of san francisco, chalk, mission pie, raphael house and sf housing authority. The sisters rising interns also completed several trainings in community organizing, communications, and conducting research. Through focus groups and trainings with the data center, young women were able to address barriers to employment and education. Throughout the internship, the young women received emotional support through services with an onsite therapist and weekly sister circle support groups. The young women were able to deal with issues of anger management, substance abuse, stress around being a young mother, and issues of self- esteem.”

“Many of these young women transitioned out of gdap into sisters rising after release from juvenile hall. 28 of these women went onto participate in sisters circles, receive case management and referrals.”

“We completed the policy platform which was designed to deepen communityunderstanding of the center for young women's development's (cywd)framework and theory of change. Its use enables to support policyengagement with strategy and alignment to the organizations core values andconstituency- society's most marginalized young women. We prioritize policystrategies that address increasing access to comprehensive reproductivehealth, economic self-sufficiency, and well-being of the young women weserve. Young women of color, young mothers, young queer women, formerlyincarcerated young women, and undocumented young women are the core of ourconstituency. The next step is to develop a year-to-year agenda thatoutlines our policy priorities and action steps for implementing ourstrategy. We didymu outreach with the goal to do some membershiprecruitment and shift culture on what a strong family looks like. Ourallies from forward together have been instrumental in helping us achievethis goal. This year we were able to hire an alumni from previous years to be the self determination coordinator at cywd.”