LYNN — The We Rise Summer Empowerment Program is underway for its second summer, providing a safe space for girls ages 13 to 17 to learn about the world around them and lift each other up.
We Rise is part of Centerboard, a nonprofit human-services organization in the city.
Outreach Worker Amanda Jenkins-Maxwell said the aim of We Rise is to provide mentoring services to at-risk youth.
“We do training in the community regarding CSEC (commercial sexual exploitation of children),” Jenkins-Maxwell said.
Along with the summer program, Jenkins-Maxwell said We Rise provides training for schools, after-school programs, and anyone who works directly with children to help identify issues that might be occurring.
This summer, the program will go until Aug. 30, with sessions held on Tuesdays through Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Last week was the first week of the program, which the girls spent getting to know each other.
Now, in the program’s second week, Jenkins-Maxwell said they are working on self-care.
“So, (Tuesday morning), we just talked about the definition of self care, what that means to you. We worked on some emotional-awareness things, and we had someone come in and do a yoga session with the girls,” Jenkins-Maxwell said.
Each Thursday, the group will do a field trip related to the topic of the week. This week, the girls will see “Inside Out 2” in theaters.
“Next week is our money-management week, so we’re going to work with the girls on educating them about finances, credit scores, bank accounts, and things like that, how to save their money,” Jenkins-Maxwell said.
Next Thursday, the girls will have a guest speaker from Metro Credit Union come and teach them all about money management.
Other weekly themes are arts and crafts and STEM.
Jenkins-Maxwell said that the main thing the program is here for, along with the organization’s other services, is to help the youth.
“It’s a hard time growing up with social media and the pressures and all that stuff going on. Especially sex trafficking is a big problem that we have with our kids,” Jenkins-Maxwell said. “We definitely just want to help the youth.”
Outside of the summer program, the organization works with sexually exploited children from the ages of 7 to 19.
“For me personally, weekly or biweekly, I meet with my clients and I take them out to eat or we go to the zoo. Kind of just do something, an activity that they enjoy, where they also have someone to talk to outside of their normal life, and give them any guidance we can give them,” Jenkins-Maxwell said.
For more information regarding We Rise, people can visit the nonprofit’s website at https://centerboard.org/werise-index.
