Project WE
Women’s Empowerment

Seven out of ten Garden of Hope clients come to us unemployed. Financial independence is key for victims to leave their abusive situations. However, many factors and roadblocks prevent our clients from securing a job, such as: language barriers, underdeveloped marketable skills, insufficient job market information, and low self-confidence (often from internalizing their abusive partners’ belittling), just to name a few.

Project WE (women’s empowerment) is an initiative birthed from the needs expressed both explicitly and implicitly from the women in the Asian immigrant community that we have served throughout the years. It’s a culturally sensitive and client-centered initiative with the overarching objective to help clients overcome their sense of helplessness. We take a five pronged approach: Economic Autonomy, Legal Knowledge, Self-Care, Life Skills, and Give Back.

Economic Autonomy includes individualized assessments on job readiness, resume building, interview skill coaching, job matching, as well as routine workshops and resources for entrepreneurship, job skill training, and financial management. We also provide paid internships for occasional economic empowerment projects and platforms.

Self-Care provides a space for respite and self-exploration to enhance self-confidence, increase self-awareness and self-worth, improve self-image, build healthy relationships through support groups, client-care events, art therapy, jewelry making, arts and crafts, cosmetology, baking,etc.

Legal Knowledge includes workshops provided by our partnered law agencies which offer legal knowledge pertaining to immigration, family, civil, and criminal law.

Life Skills provide practical resources and classes, such as ESL, computer literacy, cultural orientation, city navigation, as well as  tips and ideas to help immigrants survive and achieve healthy living in a new culture.

Give Back aims to create a sense of meaning and community contribution through volunteering, survivor-led groups and workshops, and outreach initiatives.