HER Resiliency Center

Huge thank you to Sisters4Sisters for their generous donation of wellness bags to our Triple Crown Academy fellows! 🌟 Your support means so much to us and our community, providing essentials that help our fellows prioritize well-being and self-care. These thoughtful gifts show the power of community care and remind us that we’re all in this together. We look forward to building more impactful connections and lifting each other up! 💜_

Today marks the 8th week, and final day of the Triple Crown Academy's cohort #1 pre-apprenticeship program. There's more to come though with our 18-month workforce development program. We're formally moving into our 5 section 32 class workshop series, "Getting & Keeping a Job" (soft skills).

𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚 𝐟𝐞𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝟖 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞-𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦:
👑OSHA 10 certified
👑Set up and broke down 3 trade shows: Comic-Con, Astro, AUSA
👑Learned the back end of the trade show industry while working in the warehouse(s) receiving and loading inventory for shows.
👑Built team amongst each other, and members of 491 Carpentry Local
👑Applied for the apprenticeship program with the Eastern Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters
👑Started financial wellness coaching with APG Federal Credit Union
👑Accountability of being prepared and on time
👑Built community within the cohort that comes with being mindful each others boundaries and feelings.
👑Received constructive feedback including redirection on those "bad days," we all have from time to time.
👑Identified their internal strengths often marked by their adaptability, resolve, and resilience

This is only the start! Stay tuned on the journey of cohort #1!

Our commitment is strong! Tonight we studied math and updated resumes. This Saturday during the last class for this pre-apprenticeship cohort, Triple Crown Academy fellows will take complete their apprenticeship application and take their math tests! Success starts with preparation.

A very special thank you to Milwaukee Tool for kindly supporting Fellows of the Triple Crown Academy by donating tools sets for their on-the-job training as Trade Show Carpenters! With your support, and that of Eastern Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters, 491 Carpentry Local, GES, and many, many others, this Saturday 8 of 8 Fellows are eager to apply to enter the Carpenters Apprenticehip program and become first year Trade Show apprentices!

Thank you!

“We actually made benches today.” - Ch’Keria, Triple Crown Academy, Cohort 1

The Triple Crown Academy Fellows are all in! Join us in encouraging them to keep their eye on the prize. Keep going ladies. You got this! 💪

Last week, we had the incredible opportunity to table at the Union Trades Career Fair, where we connected with an amazing group of high schoolers, including many young women interested in trades. Since the event, we’ve received an overwhelming number of calls and inquiries about the Triple Crown Academy. We’re excited to see the growing interest, especially from young women eager to enter the skilled trades, and look forward to supporting them on their journeys!🧡💜
👷🏼‍♀️👷🏽‍♀️👷🏾‍♀️👷🏿‍♀️

Join us live on YouTube! Click the link and tune in now for an event you won’t want to miss!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QweNrhIcjn8

This week the young women of the Triple Crown Academy from Baltimore are in DC building the show for Association of the United States Army - AUSA National at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. The experience has been memorable. Though the Triple Crown Academy is not in DC (yet!), we were honored to have Director Jennifer Porter and Deputy Director Kelley Dillon from the Office of Victim Services Justice Grants, one of HER's DC grantors, stop by to meet the ladies, and to hear their experiences with the program. The fellows are learning how to use hand tools to build in the construction industry, while also gaining tools for advocacy through use of voice. Proud of you, ladies!

HER Resiliency Center is truly honored to have our Founder & President, Natasha Guynes, recognized as one of the Baltimore City Office of Equity and Civil Rights 2024 Community Leaders to Watch. Thank you, Mayor Brandon M. Scott for this incredible acknowledgment and for your continued support of organizations dedicated to improving the quality of life in Baltimore. Natasha Guynes! Your hard work does not go unnoticed. 💜

"You have to be almost militant about your mission because if you're not, no one else is going to be." Starting HER Resiliency Center in 2015 was the single largest bet that I ever took on myself. It was nerve wrecking. Friends worried for me and my livelihood as I stepped outside the DC political realm I started my career in. I had to get comfortable with my own story so that the women HER would serve could trust the model and services we were to provide, and so that donors could trust that as a survivor leader, I brought an inherent understanding to the services we were to offer.

In 2015, I met with about 50 different government agencies, executive directors, United States Senators, really, anyone who would listen to my pitch. There was a lot of "hmmms" and "ummms" at the start... until I was given the opening quote above. It's one of the most impactful pieces of guidance I've ever received in business development.

It's been nearly 10 years since I founded HER at my dining table. Since then, here are just a few of our accomplishments:
♦️ Started at my kitchen table in 2015 -> advanced to a cubicle -> purchase of a property in 2023.
♦️ Operated in 2 major cities: DC and Baltimore City
♦️ Served nearly 4,000 vulnerable women. In fact, in 2024 alone, we've engaged 700+ women through all of our programs.
♦️ Increased operating budget of $53,000 in 2016 at opening - raising most of it in $75 increments - to $1.7M in 2023.
♦️ Created hundreds of partnerships, calling upon dozens of them repeatedly over the years to assist in providing life changing complimentary services for the peers (young women).
♦️ Interviewed and/or been quoted in nearly 50 publications. Eight of these media engagements have occurred in 2024.
♦️ Leveraged the model HER was founded on, Roadmap to Success which provides young women 18-25 years old intensive and holistic wrap around support -> to identify gaps and fill them through two additional programs: Street Outreach which operates in seven Baltimore City neighborhoods, and The Triple Crown Academy an 18-month workforce development program for women 18-29 to have access to careers in the construction trades and real economic power.

These are just a few very high level successes. These do not do justice to the impact HER has made in the lives of the women we've helped get clean, or escape sexual exploitation - nor does it get near the inspiration that fills your soul as you see a woman gain her autonomy and voice.

I've been vocal in recent weeks that there have been some tough days this year but as I've also been known to share a similar sentiment to the following.... "I do not know the word 'quit.' Either I never did, or I have abolished it." - I welcome you to join us as HER Resiliency Center continues to show up every single day in the lives of vulnerable young women who we have the opportunity of guiding as they build "different" lives for themselves and families.

If you want to know more, get involved and/or support our mission, I want to share it with you. Please be in touch.

-Natasha Guynes
Founder & President

Week #5! We're more than halfway through the first general construction pre-apprenticeship cohort and 100% of the young women who started the cohort on September 7th are still committed to their education and career. We are incredibly proud of what they are accomplishing as they invest in their education by attending class each Saturday, and go to work as Trade Show Carpenters each weekday. Join us in wishing them success over the next three weeks as they complete their pre-apprenticeship program, apply to enter the Eastern Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters's Trade Show apprenticeship program and become first year apprentices. Keep going ladies!

We are incredibly grateful 😊to the Maryland Covenant of Ministers' Wives, Inc. 🙏🏽 for their amazing support! After seeing us featured on WBAL-TV 11 Baltimore’s Project Community segment with Breana Ross, they reached out and organized a donation drive with Minister Wives all around Baltimore City. Thanks to their efforts, we now have a full stock of hygiene supplies to continue serving our community!🫶🏽

Do you want to donate? Text or call us at 1-844-4HERNOW. We’ll be waiting to hear from you! Also check out our Amazon wish list link in our bio 🧡

The first cohort of Triple Crown Academy is halfway through the hard skills component of our 18-month workforce development program. The hard skills general construction pre-apprenticeship program, or CARP led by the Eastern Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters and the Mid-Atlantic Carpenters Training Center has opened doors, and access for marginalized young women in Baltimore City to gain careers in the construction trades and economic freedom.

We're so proud of each young woman as she journey's the path to her career goals, and grateful to the Carpenters for the collaboration.

The rain did not stop the show! 🌧️ I am beyond honored to have marched alongside fellow survivors and advocates at the Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice March on Washington. Despite the weather, we came together with incredible energy, sharing our stories, supporting one another, and demanding the justice and healing that all survivors deserve.

Our peers had an amazing time connecting, reflecting, and standing in solidarity. The resilience and strength of everyone involved made the day truly unforgettable.

Thank you to Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice for uniting us in this powerful movement. Rain or shine, we will continue to push for change and build a safer, more just future.💜

Happy Birthday to our extraordinary founder and president, Natasha Guynes ! 🥳Your unwavering commitment and inspiring leadership have shaped everything we do. May this special day bring you the joy and appreciation you truly deserve. Cheers to more achievements ahead!

If you’d like to support HER Resiliency Center, you can make a donation through the link in our bio. Thank you for your generosity!

All in a hard days work! The Triple Crown Academy fellows made their way to DC’s Walter E. Washington Convention Center today to work alongside their Saturday instructor Danielle Crislip to install the ASTRO show coming at the end of week. We are very proud of you ladies for going the length needed to achieve “different.” Stay the course!

It's week #3 of classes for the first cohort of the Triple Crown Academy. We're so proud of their commitment to themselves and their journey. Last week they started work as Tradeshow Carpenters with Carpenters Tradeshow Local 491 on the Baltimore Comic-Con show, and today, in class, they will take their OSHA10 test. Please join us in congratulate and wish them luck on their exam!

HER Resiliency Center is named one of the DEWALT Grow the Trades Grant recipients! To be among 166 organizations selected for our efforts to help close the trade skills gap is such an honor. Learn more about this amazing opportunity at:
www.stanleyblackanddecker.com/impact/people/grow-the-trades
www.dewalt.com/growthetrades

Success! It was amazing to come together for our first community event post-pandemic! We had the honor of astronauts, Minions, princesses, Spongebob, Superman, Councilman Glover, Delegate Addison, friends, and family joining us for a safe and happy Halloween. Hope your night was a safe one. Maybe we'll see you at our next one!

Great kickoff of the 30th annual Civil Rights week hosted Baltimore City Office of Equity and Civil Rights. It's always a privilege to come together with community partners who are also showing up daily for the advancement of civil rights and equitable growth for all.

Pictured with HER Team
*State's Attorney, Baltimore City State's Attorney, Ivan Bates;
*Councilmember Zeke Cohen;
*Baltimore Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement-MONSE Victim Services, Assistant Director, Mark Mason;
*Baltimore City Councilman Antonio Glover

At HER, we're hiring! If you're looking to make a meaningful impact in the lives of young women in Baltimore City, we have the opportunity for you. Check out our Skills & Strengths Facilitator (case management) opening. If it fits your strengths, send us a cover letter with why you're interested in joining us at HER, and resume. Please share widely.

*This position is an in person position.

Skills & Strengths Facilitator (Baltimore City) HER Resiliency Center is now hiring for the position of Skills & Strengths Facilitator (Baltimore City) in Baltimore. Apply today.

Take a stand! We will not stand by while one more woman's voice is silenced. We will be her voice until she can find her own. We will stand with her in partnership, and as an ally until her voice is known and cannot be ignored. If you are not an ally, you are the issue!

Don't know where to start? Start by doing. Every action matters.

Wear purple with HER and Baltimore City this Friday, October 20, 2023. Let your alliance, and support of ending domestic violence be known.