Oasis For Girls was founded in 1999 by Ly Nguyen and Jill Weinberg Pfeiffer to address the needs of girls and young women in San Francisco's South of Market neighborhood. Through focus groups with girls and meetings with other youth service providers, they determined that existing youth agencies did not meet the gender-specific needs of the neighborhood's girls. Most of the girls reported feeling isolated at existing youth programs because boys over populated these programs. In addition, parents of the girls (most who are recent immigrants) did not feel comfortable allowing their daughters to participate in other youth organizations outside of the neighborhood.   We also learned that despite the presence of existing programs, girls from the community continued to become teen parents and to lose interest in school at an early age.

Over the past eight years Oasis For Girls has grown significantly (at an average annual rate of 26%). During the first year the offices of 150 square feet (total) were housed in the basement of a neighborhood SRO. Oasis provided arts programming to 52 girls offsite at community organizations. Today, Oasis For Girls serves over 300 girls annually from throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, provides solid programming year-round, and has a secured space of 1,250 square feet that gives girls and young women a safe, dependable, stable and structured environment to develop a stronger sense of identity and the skills needed to empower their lives. In addition, the organization has expanded its programming to include (in addition to arts) Leadership Development and Life Skills Education. We have developed a three-year capacity building plan to support the increased demand for our programs, including expansions of our physical space and organizational infrastructure.


The Guiding Principles that Oasis was founded on are:

1. Everyone, especially the young women Oasis serves, should be affirmed for their cultural history, be encouraged to learn as much as possible about their family, and to think critically about how young people of color are stereotyped and treated.
   
   
2. Through affirmation of unique histories (family size and shape, immigration history, events, neighborhoods), young women will come together around their commonalities and respect/encourage difference.
   
   
3. Role models who share life experience with the girls are critical in the girls' ability to see themselves as artists, entrepreneurs, college students, leaders, community members etc. Women of color artists, leaders/community members are uniquely able to serve as role models for the young women Oasis serves.
   
   
4. Listening to girls' dreams is imperative to our program planning, as we believe that the girls know best what will serve them.
   
   
5. Cultural diversity is a core value of the Oasis. Leadership is learned through modeling, and we want Oasis girls to see women who look like them in all levels of the organization (co-directors, staff, artists, volunteers and board).
   
   
6. Cultural sensitivity/ awareness of privilege and other issues of race are necessary for Oasis to function as a multicultural organization that maintains space for women of all backgrounds to participate fully.
   
   
7. Gender specific environment is key to Oasis' vision.
   
   
8. Mentoring means taking the time to be role models to the young women around us. It means being available for informal discussions, being willing to have personal (not just professional) relationships and affirming the young women regularly for who they are and what they dare to do. It also means creating/providing opportunities for them to push themselves/be challenged in a safe environment with high expectations and a soft landing.