Empower NYC high school girls through indoor and outdoor rock climbing adventures that build community, cultivate confidence, nurture leadership skills and foster a deep respect for the natural world.
Leader
Sydney Alexis Krauss
Location
11-11 44th Dr Long Island City, NY 11101
Young Women Who Crush (YWWC) is a climbing and leadership development program that provides opportunities for high school girls in NYC to experience the physical, mental, and emotional benefits of rock climbing through mentorship. YWWC's curriculum is designed to help young women recognize their own strength and realize their potential through a discipline they may not have experienced before: climbing. The YWWC program empowers girls to become not just climbers, but leaders in both their communities and the outdoors. We believe that the lessons learned through YWWC extend far beyond climbing walls and have the potential to have long lasting, positive impacts on students’ lives.
YWWC is committed to diversity, equity and inclusion. We currently serve 35 young women from 10 New York City public schools and have built a community that provides a safe space for dialogue around issues related to gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality and other dimensions of identity. YWWC believes in gender inclusivity and our program is open to gender expansive youth. YWWC encourages and promotes community empowerment through service, stewardship and advocacy of social and environmental justice.
All of our YWWC programs are free and all of our mentors are volunteer. In order to get our participants and our volunteer mentor team climbing outside we must fundraise our entire operating budget. We want to equip our climbers with professional Wilderness First Aid certifications so they can stay safe outside. In addition to the 9 months of indoor instruction we provide at the Cliffs in LIC we take our climbers on two outdoor climbing trips to the Shawangunk Mountains in New York State's Hudson Valley. These trips require transportation, licensed guides, climbing gear, food and our overnight trip requires camping equipment, permits and provisions.
April 2020: Wilderness First Aid Course
June 4th: Outdoor Climbing Trip
June 25th-26th: Outdoor Climbing and Camping Overnight.
June 26th: Stewardship Project in partnership with the Mohonk Preserve
YWWC is an extraordinary program that is actively working to make both climbing gyms and the outdoors more inclusive and welcoming spaces for young women, especially young women of color and young immigrants. Through expert coaching, mentorship and outdoor education, YWWC has provided more than 40 New York City public high school girls with unparalleled opportunities to develop themselves not just as athletes and climbers but as the next generation of community and outdoor leaders. Since its inception in 2017, YWWC has grown from working with 10 girls from Manhattan's Central Park East High School to over 40 students from 10 NYC public high schools.
Over the course of a school year, our girls transform into strong and confident rock climbers capable of scaling cliffs the size of city buildings. They learn to support each other and communicate effectively, and are given the opportunity to experience the outdoors in a truly unique and meaningful way.
For many participants, this is the their first foray into the outdoors (beyond city parks and green spaces). These trips provide opportunities for the young women to showcase their climbing skills, tackle new physical and mental challenges, work cooperatively, overcome fears and develop close and trusting relationships with each other and their mentors. In addition to teaching climbing, Young Women Who Crush fosters a respect for the natural world through deep nature connection, Leave No Trace ethics and stewardship projects. Our girls enter into their college years with a newfound respect for our planet and a desire to promote sustainability and environmental justice.