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Committed to Serving Our Communities

The Fierce Woman is in the business of changing and shaping lives. Some of our most important work is  the work we do with the youth. Whether it's through literacy and writing with our Young Authors Program at Chris the King Elementary School in the Bronx, our FIERCE Girls Empowerment summits, or our annual back to school backpack drives we are committed to empowering the next generation of leaders. The work we do is aimed at providing a hands on approach to solving some of our communities' biggest challenges. As such, we make sure our partners are aligned with our vision and mission of creating opportunities for individuals and communities.            

2020 Annual Christmas Toy Drive

In Partnership with Brooklyn Farm Co. and Lavish Lift

Pouring back into the community is one of our greatest commitments. This year TFW partnered with Brooklyn Farm Co. and Lavish Lift for our annual Christmas Toy Drive. On December 20, 2020, our founder Nancy Ruffin and the TFW team went back to her childhood neighborhood of Williamsburg, Brooklyn to spread some Christmas cheer. Through donations, sponsorships, and the support from the Fierce Woman community we were able to give away over 300 toys to the children of the neighborhood. While this was an incredible accomplishment we hope that next year we can double that number.

Annual Back to School Backpack Drive

In Partnership with Foster Care Unplugged and PCNY

Every year The Fierce Woman partners with Foster Care Unplugged and PCNY to provide the youth of NYC with backpacks filled with school supplies for the upcoming school year. With the help our networks, in we raised over $60,000 and were able to provide 10,000 backpacks to youth all across New York City.

Annual Fierce Girls Summit

Presented by The Fierce Woman

At The Fierce Woman we believe that the key to creating Fierce Women is to create Fierce Girls. By engaging our youth and young girls between the ages of 13-19 we begin to expose them to the qualities and traits that The Fierce Woman embodies. These include self-confidence, kindness, empathy, strength, humility, gratitude, and a responsibility to give back to our communities.

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Usually held at the beginning of the school year the purpose of the seminar is to prepare our teen girls for the upcoming school year by providing them with the tools necessary to set goals and achieve them. The event program includes the following:

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  •  Vision Board Workshop – vision boards have proven to be a useful tool to help clarify, concentrate, and maintain focus on a specific life goal. We will teach the teens to identify their vision for the upcoming school year. We will help make their vision clear, specific, and set realistic time frames. We will teach them how to reinforce their vision through the use of daily affirmations and to use the vision board to help keep their attention on their intentions.

 

  • Self-Esteem/Body Image Workshop – For many young girls entering their teens and starting high school, self-esteem and body image becomes very important. This workshop will focus on helping to foster positive self-esteem, learning to love ourselves wholly and completely despite our differences. We will talk to the girls about embracing their uniqueness and the things that make them stand out from the rest. We will briefly discuss how to handle unwanted sexual attention and harassment.

 

  •  Skin Care and Make-Up presentation – A professional make-up artist will talk to the girls about proper skin care, offer make-up tips and product recommendations that are suitable and appropriate for their age group.

The Young Authors Program

Christ the King Elementary - Bronx, NY

A fierce advocate for arts education, we at The Fierce Woman understand the importance the arts has on the overall growth of a child. Research has shown that involvement in the arts is associated with gains in math, reading, cognitive ability, critical thinking, and verbal skills. Arts learning can also improve motivation, concentration, confidence, and teamwork.

In March 2014, TFW founder Nancy Ruffin partnered with Christ the King Elementary school to start The Young Authors Program. Nancy collaborated with the incoming 4th grade class on a book project after she learned that the students wrote their own poems inspired by her poem, De Donde Vengo Yo (Where I'm From).

 

Impressed by the quality of the poems, Nancy decided that she would publish them and the money earned from the sales would go towards helping fund the school's computer lab. The 2014 class published their first anthology titled De Donde Vengo Yo: (Where I'm From) Poems of Pride. Their book won the 2015 International Latino Book Award for Best Book written by a youth.

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The initial cohort was so successful that then Principal Tara Braswell decided to incorporate the program into the fourth grade curriculum.

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