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| Greetings! |
You know that old expression:
"What a difference a day makes"?
Well, around here we're marveling at what a difference a year can make:
- Just a year ago, we were making do in a too-small, hot-in-the-summer and cold-i
 n-the-winter open-plan office up a steep flight of stairs.Today, we're celebrating our first holiday in our new, 1,800 square foot, multi-functional offices, complete with high ceilings, a shared kitchen, and lots of program space!
- Just a year ago, we were wondering how we'd survive the financial storm we have all endured. Today, we're looking back in gratitude and relief, thankful to all those funders -- small and large, individual or collective -- who showed their faith by maintaining their support.
- Just a year ago, we were embarking on several new initiatives: updating our graphic identity, starting a capacity-building evaluation project, hiring our first Oasis girls as Youth Staff. Today, we've debuted our beautiful new logo, completed our first girl-led evaluation project, and are celebrating the amazing leadership development of our Oasis participants and youth staff.
It just goes to show you, I suppose, what a difference community can make, when we pull together.  It's thanks to all of you -- our girls, our funding partners, our resilient staff, our supporters and volunteers of every stripe -- that we can look back on this year with gratitude. As the holiday season approaches, we hope that you have many blessings to count.
Thanks to you, we surely do.
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A Wish List!
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We've got a great new home, and we'd welcome a hand in furnishing it.
We've already received a George Foreman grill from a generous donor -- it's great for making healthy snacks!
Can you help with additional donations? We've established an online wish list at Target to make it easy.
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It's Easy to Donate Right Now!
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Want to help support the advancement and capacity of the girls and young women of our community?
Just click the "Donate Now" button, below, and you'll join the ranks of supporters helping us to help shape our collective future!
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| Quick Links |
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Oasis For Girls website |
Here's our new address:
Oasis For Girls
245-11th Street, 3rd floor
San Francisco, CA 94103
Phone: 415-701-7991 Fax: 415-701-0131
sfoasis.org | |
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Home Away From Home: An Open House For Families
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It's almost 6 o'clock on a school night:
Do you know where your teenage daughter is?
Well, if your daughter is an Oasis girl, the answer is likely to be "yes."
In this economy, many parents take whatever work they can, whenever they can. As a result, really great after-school programs - like Oasis For Girls - offer an important resource for families looking for positive, engaging, and safe after-school "homes" for their kids: keeping them off the streets and on the right track. For many working families, though, finding the time to visit their children's
after-school programs is a real challenge. So here at Oasis, we host "Family Nite" several t  imes each year. Family Nite gives families a chance to meet the organization and staff, network with other
families, and provide feedback about our work. To add to the fun while making it easier for families to attend, Family Nite includes dinner, child care, and translation upon
request.
On Monday, October 26th, we hosted our most recent
Family Nite. Gathering over a dinner of spaghetti and meatballs, parents and other family members toured our new space, engaged in "getting to know you" games, watched a
slideshow about Oasis programming, and participated in breakout groups to talk about Oasis and how we can improve our services. Overwhelmingly, the parents and other family members expressed their appreciation that Oasis offers a fun, safe, supportive, and stimulating environment for girls of all ages. They told us that Oasis has helped increase the girls' self-confidence, meet new friends, and improve their abilities to communicate their desires, struggles, and dreams. The families also discussed ways that Oasis can continue to build our services. In particular, they hope that we can add academic support and counseling services, as well as
additional opportunities for parent involvement.
As we stood to say our good-byes, it was a pleasure to watch families chatting with one another as they gathered their belongings and cast a lingering glance around our girl-friendly space. Now, when it's almost six o'clock on a school night, the families of our girls can answer that question with assurance: Yes, I know where my daughter is. She's at Oasis, so she's just fine.
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We Invite You To Partner With Oasis For A Better Tomorrow
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"I guess you could just call it home.
That's really what Oasis
For Girls means to me."
"Home." It's such a simple idea,
but its power is immense. For the hundreds of girls we serve each year, Oasis
For Girls represents a home away from home, off the streets, away from the
gangs and the social pressure to fit the mold of what it means to be female. It's
a place where girls and young women, ages 11 to 24, are surrounded with the
possibilities of discovery, offered in a safe and welcoming place created just
for them.  And you make it possible. Your gifts help us create that place of safety and possibility for
girls who may have no other place to call their own.
As we enter our second decade
cultivating the development of capable, confident girls and young women, I
invite you to help foster the futures of the next generation of young female
leaders. Your gift - whether $500 or $50 - will support the programs that allow
us to help girls and young women draw the map of a better world.
To further the work of
creating a promising future for girls and young women - and for the families and
communities in which they live - I ask you to make a donation of any size. Our success depends on the
help of generous partners like you. Please join us by making a donation today. And it's easy, too. Click here, and with just a minute of your time, you can help us make a world of difference.
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| Girl Works |
"I am not afraid to speak my mind but I am respectful.
I am judged cuz people base my mentality
off the way I talk and dress, but it stresses me out
that they don't get that I am not gonna let myself
become another teen statistic. But yo be realistic."
-- excerpt from spoken word piece by Oasis For Girls participant Janette Lopez
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So-Youn Kim: In Memory of a Remarkable Young Woman
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Our hearts are full of sadness as we share the loss of our very own So-Youn Kim. So-Youn passed away on Monday, November 16th, after falling ill in Morocco, where she was serving in the Peace Corps.
So-Youn, t he beloved Middle School Program Coordinator at Oasis from September 2007 to July 2008, vibrantly played an integral role in the lives of many girls from the South of Market neighborhood and other parts of the City. She worked with girls on a large scale, coordinating the Girl 2 Girl program as well as providing anti-homophobia and sexual harassment workshops for the entire student population at Bessie Carmichael Middle School. Yet So-Youn also invested in individual girls, organizing a campus tour at her alma mater, Stanford University, for three Oasis youth staff.
So-Youn demonstrated an unending commitment to the girls, education, and activism for social justice. She brought incredibly uplifting energy, self love, and compassion for others with her every day. Even after she left Oasis, So-Youn remained committed to Oasis girls, often emailing staff with resources to share with them.
So-Youn will be dearly missed, but her independent, warm, and joyful spirit lives on in all of the Oasis girls and staff whose lives she touched. As we grapple with saying goodbye to So-Youn, we find oursevles drawn to her favorite words to tell her how she has affected us: "So-Youn, you made our hearts happy."
A memorial will be hosted for So-Youn on Tuesday, December 1st, 2009 from 7-9 pm at San Francisco Korean Methodist Church, 3030 Judah Street, San Francisco, CA 94122. Oasis staff and girls who knew So-Youn will be speaking at the memorial. If you'd like to join us, please come to our planning meeting today, Monday, November 30th, from 5:45-6:30 pm at Oasis. RSVP to Rachel at rparas@sfoasis.org.
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Come Celebrate With Our Girls!
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Girl 2 Girl Performance (it's free!)
Saturday, December 12th, 2 pmIntersection for the Arts (map) We are so excited about our new Girl 2 Girl collaboration with Intersection for the Arts! This fall, through theater activities and discussion, International Studies Academy middle-school girls explored a range of topics central to their own lives. Now these young artists have developed a performance expressing their inspirational discoveries, and we invite you to join us at 2 PM on Saturday, December 12th for the premiere! For more information, please contact Jessica at: jvantuyl@sfoasis.org.
Holiday Party for Girls and AlumniDecember 18th, 6-9 pm Oasis for Girls
Please note that we will be closed beginning on
December 21st, reopening on January 4th.
See you in the new year!
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| Raise a Glass (and Some Money) For Oasis! |
 Swank's Sixth Annual Holiday Party
will benefit Oasis For Girls!Join us on December 4, 2009, from 7-11 PM, at the Hotel Frank at 386 Geary Street in San Francisco. From the ritzy interior
to the bubbly VIP reception and live jazz,
this party will be the cat's meow! Pow.wow Network and Oasis For Girls share the mission to build community around, support, and foster women (and girls) in business. Last year, the SWANK event raised over $5,000 for Oasis and our Future Fund Scholarships.
We hope you'll join us this year, building on this momentum while enjoying a fabulous evening of cocktails and dancing. VIP tickets, at $100, include a VIP-reception at 7 PM; general admission tickets at $40 each grant you entrée to the main event, which begins at 8 PM.
To reserve your ticket now, click here.
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