creating individual success through communal connections

Family Independence Initiative The Family Independence Initiative (FII) collaborates with groups of families who are committed to helping one another leave poverty. The Initiative is grounded in a belief that most families strive for leadership, community, opportunity, and control over their own lives. FII aims to break the cycle of poverty by: (1) investing directly in families who take the initiative to increase their economic and social assets and forge self-defined and culturally relevant pathways to self-sufficiency and (2) taking what it learns from those families to change social and economic systems to acknowledge and encourage community initiative and self-determination.

FII is catalyzing such self-help networks within communities throughout Oakland and Alameda County. One participant, Aishah Bashir, is testimony for the success of this unique partnership. Through her affiliation with FII, Aishah organized the Bay Area's first grassroots and highly successful Black Women's Health & Healing Conference. Aisha notes, "I've connected with people and ideas that can help make my dreams a reality and I've strengthened communal bonds among people who have similar goals and aspirations." Aisha is planning a second Black Women's Health and Healing Conference and plans to use the income generated from the event to open a center for the health and healing of Black Women in the Bay Area.