The Satterberg Foundation: Young Women’s Freedom Center – Sparking Brilliance

When Jessica Nowlan first came to Young Women’s Freedom Center, she was seventeen years old. “I was living and working on the streets. I’d been incarcerated so many times, and I heard about this organization that hired girls like me.” So she applied. Thinking YWFC was like most employers, Jessica lied about her history of incarceration, job experience, and living situation. “I said all the things I thought you were supposed to say to get a job. I didn’t get a job.” Shortly thereafter, she went back to juvenile hall, where a worker told Jessica that, when she got out, she should reapply and be honest. “The Center hired me as a Community Health Outreach worker,” she recalls. “Being a part of the organization transformed my life.”