Program seeks to get Maldivian women into the swim of things

In Ann Arbor, Michigan, the program Sisters United Resilient and Empowered, also called SURE Moms, offers counseling to mothers in an effort to address their trauma, and thus have an effect on their entire families. With research showing the connection between home life and criminal behavior, SURE Moms gives women the opportunity to provide their children with emotional support by giving them that same emotional support. What started as an informal bible study group is now funded by the city and offers regular, twice per week classes.

The Fulton Community Supervision Center in Missouri provides trauma-informed, gender-specific care and services to women who face the risk of recidivism. Participants live at the center, where they receive services like cognitive behavioral therapy and classes that teach coping mechanisms and personal and professional development. Core to much of the programming is helping women find their self worth.

In the United States, the incarcerated feel like they have no voices and their mistakes that led them to jail go unacknowledged. A documentary film spotlights the IF Project, a writing program that encourages female inmates and recently released felons to write down what they would have done to change the path they went on. With police and teachers as mentors, the convicted have support transitioning into society and can reflect on what they can do to change their lives for the better.

For 20 years, the Center for Young Women’s Development has been a safe space for thousands of young women ages 16 to 24 who have been incarcerated or are homeless in the San Francisco Bay Area. The center is most recognized for its strategies to give these women opportunities for personal and professional growth.

A girls camp in West Virginia and a residential program in Kentucky help Appalachian women build self esteem and enable them to turn their life around through mentoring, stem classes, and job counseling.

Lansing, Michigan built an ecosystem of community violence intervention programs (anchored by Advance Peace and the Lansing Empowerment Network) that reduced shootings by 38% between 2022 and 2025. Their relationship-based outreach, mentorship, and victim support continue to prove effective despite federal funding cuts.

Nantes, France has implemented a comprehensive city-wide strategy to combat gender inequality through multiple coordinated initiatives. The centerpiece is Citad'elles, a, 24/7 shelter that centralizes 18 nonprofit organizations offering legal, psychological, and medical services for women experiencing violence, eliminating the need to travel to multiple locations across the city. Since opening in 2019, Citad'elles has served over 5,500 women, averaging three new users daily and 450 follow-up appointments monthly.

Organizations around the world are using an integrated approach to empowering women by addressing climate justice and health issues in their communities. PATH Foundation Philippines, for example, helped implement sustainable marine management practices to increase the fish stocks in fishing communities so families were less inclined to send their daughters away for financial support.

A city-sponsored program in Bogotá, Colombia, sends outreach teams to businesses and events to teach men to do household tasks and help them talk about their feelings. The effort aims to redefine what it means to be a man and undo the traditional idea of machismo, or toxic masculinity.

The Sebastian Indian Social Projects (SISP) works with socio-economically disadvantaged communities, providing social services like healthcare and employment assistance with a primary focus on educating youth. SISP has focused on educating the local female population, which has helped empower them economically and led to several women receiving jobs outside of their village. SISP has also educated several students who were forced to drop out of traditional school and provides supplementary activities along with their standard education, such as skating and coding clubs.