"EMPOWERING THE VOICE OF A NEW FEMININE GENERATION"
This initiative utilizes each component of the Arts Based Civic Transformation™ model to empower young women who seek to use their creative talents and expression to better themselves, their communities, and society as a whole.
Leadership Training
The We Got Issues! Leadership Institute (WGI! Leadership Institute) is a 12-month training program that supports young women’s civic contribution by providing them with a strategic leadership development curriculum as well as a network for collaboration, support and continued engagement. Each woman develops a project infused with the Institute’s Art and Social Change methodology. For more information CLICK HERE.
Leadership Training
The We Got Issues! Leadership Institute (WGI! Leadership Institute) is a 12-month training program that supports young women’s civic contribution by providing them with a strategic leadership development curriculum as well as a network for collaboration, support and continued engagement. Each woman develops a project infused with the Institute’s Art and Social Change methodology. For more information CLICK HERE.
“The tools I gained took me from a place of confusion and burnout, to a place of clarity, focus and rejuvenation. I’ve not only grown as an artist, but I have a renewed faith in the capacity of art to evoke social change.” - Chelsea Gregory, Performing Artist, Activist, & Educator (WGI! Leadership Institute Graduate, 2007)
Performing Arts
The performing arts are a vital part of our overall mission. Through outlets like theater, multi-media, the visual arts, music, poetry and dance, women find a passionate means of connecting with the social issues that impact themselves and their communities. We foster this creativity.
The performing arts are a vital part of our overall mission. Through outlets like theater, multi-media, the visual arts, music, poetry and dance, women find a passionate means of connecting with the social issues that impact themselves and their communities. We foster this creativity.
“A beautiful, proud, lyrical, loving, defiant, truth-witnessing, joyful chorus of voices, some louder than a bomb, some rarely heard, all wanting a better world - We Got Issues! is what democracy sounds like." - Jeff Chang, author Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop, winner of the 2006 National Book Award
Authentic Dialogue
Young women lead the way for social change, and yet their contributions are still afforded second-class value or go completely unnoticed in relation to their male counterparts. We affirm the value of women’s opinions, contributions and concerns through a variety of projects. Community Dialogues, Red Tent Sacred Storytelling Circles & Rant!Fests create a safe space for women to connect, share best practices, and devise creative solutions.
“WGI! was the first space I felt safe, nurtured, and celebrated as a woman. It was the first space I experienced and recognized the connection between the work we do in the field and our day to day personal existence." - Jen Armas, 2007 WGI! Institute Graduate
Civic Engagement
Empowerment encourages civic engagement. It motivates one to start caring and actually taking action. 1+1+1=One is about providing women with tools and a means to affect greater impact. Through the 10 Point Visionary Political Platform we offer a framework for young women to activate and utilize their empowerment to engage most effectively.
Empowerment encourages civic engagement. It motivates one to start caring and actually taking action. 1+1+1=One is about providing women with tools and a means to affect greater impact. Through the 10 Point Visionary Political Platform we offer a framework for young women to activate and utilize their empowerment to engage most effectively.
“Leadership is not a birthright, it is the prerogative of anyone bold enough to endeavor to alter the status quo.” - Yvonne Bynoe, author of the book, Stand and Deliver: Political Activism, Leadership and Hip Hop Culture & Commissioned Author of the We Got Issues! 10 Point Visionary Political Platform
WGI! Presents The Ten Point Visionary Platform For Young Women.
We Got Issues! A Young Women’s Guide to a Bold, Courageous and Empowered Life
Published by New World Library, edited by Rha-Goddess and JLove Calderón
In 2005, the “We Got Issues” team, Rha Goddess and JLove Calderon, traveled the country gathering rants from over 1,000 women, from Rikers Island to the Republican National Convention. They held community dialogues, rantfests, and Red Tent gatherings. This joyful call-to-arms by young women warriors collects the best of those events. We Got Issues! showcases a new feminine generation as they speak honestly and courageously about the 10 most important issues facing young women today, from money and racism, to relationships and motherhood. Each chapter frames a particular issue socially, culturally, and politically. A diverse range of rants, poems, and monologues are accompanied by an inspiring portrait of a woman warrior, "rituals of empowerment," quotes, statistics, and trends. Powerful black-and-white images capture these spiritual descendents of Eve Ensler, Alice Walker, Jane Fonda, and other old-schoolers acting up, acting out, and demanding change.
“Powerful, original, diverse, outrageous young women. Their voices literally pulse through the book. A manifesta, an invitation, a revelation.” –Eve Ensler, Creator of the Vagina Monologues & Founder of V-Day
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