Education gives women the opportunity to become leaders in their community and the skills to take on the world. Project S.H.E. (Spreading Hope through Education) addresses women’s educational rights advocacy and skills, inspiring and empowering young women to become future leaders. SHE will be hosting regular leadership workshops in schools and organizations of South Bend, focusing on female empowerment and growth for the young girls of South Bend. As students at Saint Mary’s committed to activism and engagement in our community, we are called to be positive role models for younger generations of women.
Our mission, as an independent, tuition-free, non-sectarian middle school, is to educate and inspire economically disadvantaged girls from the New Bedford area. Our Sisters’ School empowers girls to step into the future with valuable life skills and a mindset of achievement and excellence by providing a safe, supportive, and academically challenging environment.
In 2006, a group of concerned citizens began to ponder the limited educational success and opportunities for girls in the greater New Bedford area. Encouraged by the research that positive educational opportunities for girls in the middle grades contribute to reduced teenage pregnancy, higher rates of high school graduation in four years, greater possibility of post-secondary education, and an overall interruption of the poverty cycle, this group formalized and began the challenging task of starting a tuition-free middle school serving New Bedford’s girls.
Since opening its doors to students in the first two grade levels in September 2008, the School now has a capacity of 72 girls in grades five through eight (5-8) from diverse races, cultures, and faiths — whose families qualify for assistance based on Federal Poverty Guidelines. Since the first graduating class in 2011, our alumnae continue to pursue academic excellence and professional satisfaction while continuing to contribute to their communities.
The School remains as fervently committed to its mission today as when it was founded. We steadily graduate positive and empowered young women.
At Hyde Square Task Force, youth are at the heart of what we do. We believe youth have immense potential, yet at the same time research tells us that they face many obstacles.
When HSTF was founded in the late 1980s, a coalition of neighbors and community leaders felt a sense of urgency to address the violence and economic and social challenges facing the Hyde/Jackson Square neighborhood of Jamaica Plain. Today the neighborhood is known as Boston’s Latin Quarter, and while in some ways our community has transformed, many challenges persist.
HSTF now engages over 800 youth ages 6–25 in college and career preparation, Afro-Latin arts and cultural enrichment, and community-building initiatives. In doing so, we ensure that youth have the arts and educational opportunities they need and deserve in order to be successful, and that their voices and cultures are valued and celebrated in Boston’s Latin Quarter and beyond.
Our work is guided by our mission: to amplify the power, creativity, and voices of youth, connecting them to Afro-Latin culture and heritage so they can create a diverse, vibrant Latin Quarter and build a just, equitable Boston.
We support youth as they…
Explore, master, and celebrate Afro-Latin culture through art;
Learn, grow, and achieve academically and in life; and
Develop into changemakers and advocates for themselves.
