Founded in 1993, the Young Women’s Freedom Center (YWFC), is a leadership and advocacy organization led by systems-involved cis and trans women and young women, trans men and young men, and gender-expansive people of color who have grown up in poverty, worked in the underground street economy, and have been criminalized by social services such as foster care, welfare, and the mental health systems.

This grant provides general support to YWFC to continue to divert cis and trans young women and girls, trans young men and boys, and gender-expansive youth from incarceration, reduce recidivism, and support successful re-entry of these populations in San Francisco, Oakland, Santa Clara, and Los Angeles. In addition to leading leadership development programs, YWFC organizes advocacy and movement-building campaigns, including Freedom 2030, which aims to end incarceration and criminalization of families and communities, and replace both with transformative justice processes and community-based alternatives.