The Violence Is Preventable (VIP) Girls Project, which began in 1998, is a collaboration among several San Francisco-based youth service agencies committed to assisting young women who are at-risk of becoming victims or perpetrators of violence. The VIP Girls Project provides a continuum of services to young women, 11-18 years old, from all ethnic backgrounds and all parts of San Francisco. VIP Girls provides counseling, case management, therapy, mentoring, personal development, employment, shelter, family mediation, parenting classes, peer education, and a wide range of other services to assist these young women and their families in breaking the cycles of violence in their lives. The collaborating agencies have created a referral network which ensures that youth have as many project services as necessary to support and assist them.

In the first two years, over 600 young women participated in the VIP Girls Project. Collaborating agencies include:

• Huckleberry Youth Programs (lead agency)
• Bayview Hunters Point Foundation
• UCSF Mount Zion Violence Prevention Project
• YWCA Come Into The Sun Girls' Mentorship Program
• Juma Ventures
• Community Youth Center
• YWCA - Western Addition, Chinatown & Mission Districts

The VIP Girls Project is funded by the California Department of Justice, Gang, Crime and Violence Prevention Partnership Program, with second-year VIP expansion funding provided by the Goldman Fund and the United Way of the Bay Area.

For more information, contact Starr Britt at 415.386.9398.

Read what young women had to say about the VIP program.