WISE Women
WISE was founded by a group of multicultural, first generation immigrant women in 1995 as a vehicle for educational, leadership, social and economic empowerment for immigrant and refugee women and girls.
WISE's founding members experienced the hardship of learning a second language with limited access to education. They built the agency around empowering immigrant women and girls to succeed by using education and the development of leadership skills to increase their economic self-sufficiency. They also sought to break the overall chain of poverty associated with gender and education in multicultural communities.
Over the past decade, WISE has implemented a number of community-based initiatives aimed at raising public awareness of immigrant issues, developing leadership capacities, and promoting self-sufficiency of immigrant and refugee women and girls.
recent stories
Featured
Our Work
Girls Getting Ahead in leadership
Girls Getting Ahead in Leadership (GGAL) is a during-school program designed to provide girls grade 6-12 with academic support and life skills training. Learn more about GGAL now!
WeLead
The WELead program supports our GGAL alums in finding employment after graduation and providing on-going professional skills training and academic support for those entering higher education.
Healthy Relationships
Our Healthy Relationships program focuses on educating families about what is a healthy relationship and bringing awareness to gender-based violence.
Pakou joined the Women’s Initiative for Self Empowerment in August 2018 as the AmeriCorps VISTA Communications and Development Coordinator. Her role is to help WISE diversify their funding sources and seek collaboration that will increase the visibility of WISE!