Women's Leadership Project

The Women’s Leadership Project (WLP) is a Black feminist mentoring, civic engagement, service learning and advocacy program designed to educate and train young middle and high school age girls of color, LGBTQIA+ and gender expansive youth in South Los Angeles to take ownership of their school-communities.

Since 2006 WLP has been based at South L.A. high schools such as Gardena High School, Washington Prep High School, King-Drew Medical Magnet, Dorsey High, Diego Rivera and Duke Ellington Continuation School.

Using a Black feminist humanist curriculum with a social justice lens, the WLP program is designed to empower youth to develop their own voices, self-identity, political agency, and healthy relationships, while promoting critical consciousness about and activism around sexual and domestic violence prevention, racial justice, gender justice and LGBTQIA+ empowerment to prepare for college, careers and community leadership. The WLP also sponsors the #Standing4BlackGirls coalition, which advocates for mental health, education, safe spaces and jobs for BIPOC girls and queer youth.

Creating Safe Spaces for LGBTQIA+ Youth and Communities
Over the past decade, the number of individuals who identify as LGBTQIA+ has increased dramatically in the U.S. Utilizing culturally responsive, intersectional best practices, literature and community engagement strategies, this course will examine local and national climate issues for LGBTQIA+ communities of color; center LGBTQIA+ perspectives; and provide practitioners with data, strategies, and resources to affirm positive mental health and social agency for LGBTQIA+ and gender expansive youth and adults.

Participants will:

Learn about the sociopolitical climate that informs LGBTQIA+ lived experience.
Become educated about key terms and language that amplify the diversity of sexual orientation, gender identity, gender performance, and gender expression.
Participate in verbal and written reflection exercises that connect their lived experiences and cultural knowledge with social and gender justice advocacy and community engagement.
Develop critical consciousness about the ways in which intersectionality informs their professional practice and stakeholder relationships.

Sessions will be offered multiple times throughout the year.

Courses

Creating Safe Spaces for LGBTQIA+ Youth and Communities: April 25

Participants will:

Learn about the sociopolitical climate that informs LGBTQIA+ lived experience.
Become educated about key terms and language that amplify the diversity of sexual orientation, gender identity, gender performance, and gender expression.
Participate in verbal and written reflection exercises that connect their lived experiences and cultural knowledge with social and gender justice advocacy and community engagement.
Develop critical consciousness about the ways in which intersectionality informs their professional practice and stakeholder relationships.

Date & Time:

April 25 6pm - 7:30pm

Creating Safe Spaces for LGBTQIA+ Youth and Communities: May 23

Participants will:

Learn about the sociopolitical climate that informs LGBTQIA+ lived experience.
Become educated about key terms and language that amplify the diversity of sexual orientation, gender identity, gender performance, and gender expression.
Participate in verbal and written reflection exercises that connect their lived experiences and cultural knowledge with social and gender justice advocacy and community engagement.
Develop critical consciousness about the ways in which intersectionality informs their professional practice and stakeholder relationships.

Date & Time:

May 23, 6pm - 7:30pm

Creating Safe Spaces for LGBTQIA+ Youth and Communities: June 27

Participants will:

Learn about the sociopolitical climate that informs LGBTQIA+ lived experience.
Become educated about key terms and language that amplify the diversity of sexual orientation, gender identity, gender performance, and gender expression.
Participate in verbal and written reflection exercises that connect their lived experiences and cultural knowledge with social and gender justice advocacy and community engagement.
Develop critical consciousness about the ways in which intersectionality informs their professional practice and stakeholder relationships.

Date & Time:

June 27, 6pm - 7:30pm

Creating Safe Spaces for LGBTQIA+ Youth and Communities: July 25

Participants will:

Learn about the sociopolitical climate that informs LGBTQIA+ lived experience.
Become educated about key terms and language that amplify the diversity of sexual orientation, gender identity, gender performance, and gender expression.
Participate in verbal and written reflection exercises that connect their lived experiences and cultural knowledge with social and gender justice advocacy and community engagement.
Develop critical consciousness about the ways in which intersectionality informs their professional practice and stakeholder relationships.

Date & Time:

July 25, 6pm - 7:30pm

Creating Safe Spaces for LGBTQIA+ Youth and Communities: September 26

Participants will:

Learn about the sociopolitical climate that informs LGBTQIA+ lived experience.
Become educated about key terms and language that amplify the diversity of sexual orientation, gender identity, gender performance, and gender expression.
Participate in verbal and written reflection exercises that connect their lived experiences and cultural knowledge with social and gender justice advocacy and community engagement.
Develop critical consciousness about the ways in which intersectionality informs their professional practice and stakeholder relationships.

Date & Time:

September 26, 6pm - 7:30pm

Creating Safe Spaces for LGBTQIA+ Youth and Communities: October 29

Participants will:

Learn about the sociopolitical climate that informs LGBTQIA+ lived experience.
Become educated about key terms and language that amplify the diversity of sexual orientation, gender identity, gender performance, and gender expression.
Participate in verbal and written reflection exercises that connect their lived experiences and cultural knowledge with social and gender justice advocacy and community engagement.
Develop critical consciousness about the ways in which intersectionality informs their professional practice and stakeholder relationships.

Date & Time:

October 29, 6pm - 7:30pm

Instructor: Sikivu Hutchinson

Sikivu Hutchinson is an American feminist, novelist, playwright, and director. She is the author of The Rock ‘n’ Roll Heretic (2021), Humanists in the Hood: Unapologetically Black, Feminist, and Heretical (2020), White Nights, Black Paradise (2015), Moral Combat: Black Atheists, Gender Politics, and the Values Wars (2011), and Imagining Transit: Race, Gender, and Transportation Politics in Los Angeles (2003). Moral Combat is the first book on atheism to be published by an African-American woman. In 2013 she was named Secular Woman of the Year and in 2020 she was a recipient of the Harvard Humanist of the Year award.