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What We Do
The Brave House is a community of support for young immigrant women and gender-expansive youth, ages 16-24, in New York City, with a focus on those who are survivors of gender-based violence. We provide free legal support, community space, and holistic services, including mentorship, leadership training, one-on-one advocacy, wellness events, job and school assistance, support for new and expecting moms, and much more. Explore Our Services Read more about Our Impact |
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Innovation
As the first and only non-profit in NYC to work specifically with young immigrant women and gender-expansive youth, the Brave House is able to provide tailored services designed for this population. This focus helps facilitate a cohesive community, specialized legal strategies, and impactful events. We distinguish ourselves from other non-profits because the youth we work with co-create, lead, and design our programs. We believe that the impacted population should be at the forefront of decision-making. In addition to our Board of Directors and Advisory Board, consisting primarily of immigrants, people of color, and members of the LGBTQ+ community, we have a Youth Leadership Board consisting of current Brave House members. This board helps us to listen to the voices of our members and implement their ideas into our strategic planning. |
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Our History
Launched in 2018, the Brave House was born out of our founder's work as an immigration attorney at another non-profit in New York, where she gained a unique perspective regarding the complex challenges that immigrant children face and the gaps in access to crucial services such as help with school, health insurance, mental health services, housing, and finding community. |
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Our Services
Holistic Advocacy - Jobs English, and School Advocacy (JESA) - New and Expecting Moms Assistance Program (NEMA) - Mutual Aid -
Legal Advocacy - Mental Health Support - Joy Practices - Community - Mentorship - Youth Leadership Board
Our focus on young immigrant women and gender-expansive youth ages 16-24 allows us to provide tailored, trauma-informed services, facilitate a cohesive community of young people with shared experiences, and hone specialized legal strategies. Having a narrowly focused target population helps ensure that our events and programs are inclusive, accessible, and impactful
Legal Advocacy - Mental Health Support - Joy Practices - Community - Mentorship - Youth Leadership Board
Our focus on young immigrant women and gender-expansive youth ages 16-24 allows us to provide tailored, trauma-informed services, facilitate a cohesive community of young people with shared experiences, and hone specialized legal strategies. Having a narrowly focused target population helps ensure that our events and programs are inclusive, accessible, and impactful
Holistic Advocacy We provide 1-1 case management for member needs with trauma-informed care. We connect our members with immigrant-friendly resources surrounding housing, government benefits, food accessibility, therapy referrals, medical insurance, and more. Our advocacy gives our members the tools and tailored support systems to thrive, lead, and belong in New York City. 
Mutual Aid We offer an in-house donation closet, our “Mercadito Gratuito,” which provides free groceries, clothes, shoes, baby’s clothes, baby food, and more to our members. We also provide emergency aid through emergency rental assistance and food assistance. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic we mobilized our community to provide our members with hot meals, care packages, emergency funding, connection to local health care services, and a supportive community. Read more about our Covid-19 response. 
Joy Practices We emphasize joy practices, or infusions of intentional love and fun, in every aspect of our work at the Brave House. From providing opportunities for lightheartedness at events to celebrating our member’s birthdays and accomplishments, we believe that providing our community with spaces to experience joy, fun, and liveliness plants seeds of worth and possibility in young immigrants. We frequently host events like ice-skating, morning dance parties, virtual game nights, and visits to the beach, the Bronx Zoo, and the Museum of Ice Cream. Self-expression, self-love, and meditation are also at the center of our community events: we host monthly virtual art classes via Instagram live, self-love workshops, wellness events and more. 
Youth Leadership Board This board consists of 10 members who meet monthly with our Executive Director and a trauma-informed coach to participate in leadership training and provide feedback about our services, receiving a stipend for their time and energy. Trainings range from goal setting, to time management, to public speaking. |
Jobs, English, and School Advocacy (JESA) We work 1-on-1 with members to find safe and secure employment opportunities, supporting their independence and personal growth. We provide members with tutoring, English language support, GED/HSE navigation assistance, job applications and interviews, and host Dream Big Workshops, where we pair members with staff and volunteers for on-the-spot career coaching. We frequently leverage our mobile App to share bilingual job opportunities and paid internships. We thoughtfully pair members for one-year terms with vetted mentors to explore career paths and connect with a long-term positive role model. 
Legal Advocacy Our legal advocacy model currently includes:
Community We host 3-4 community events per month, to foster community, listening to the feedback from our members. Our events include workshops on art, nutrition, meditation and financial literacy as well as fun get-togethers such as, baby showers, ice-skating, rock climbing, meditation, astrology workshops, and bowling. Community events are led by volunteer facilitators and/or members themselves. We also connect members with monthly fun events happening throughout the city through the “NYC Events” tab of our Mobile App. Check our our past events. |
New and Expecting Moms Assistance Program (NEMA) Launched in spring 2022, our New and Expecting Moms Initiative supports over 30 new moms with 1-1 advocacy and community, including cash assistance, school and benefits enrollment, therapy for postpartum depression, donations, and a monthly “mama support group” led by a bilingual facilitator. As of July 2023, we have hosted four baby showers, distributed over $24,000 in cash assistance, created a peer group for community and support, and provided new moms with goods such as formula, baby clothes, and strollers. Learn more about our New and Expecting Moms Assistance Program 
Mental Health Support We engage in mental health advocacy from many different angles, from helping members enroll in health insurance as a precursor to therapy, to facilitating therapy registration with our trusted referral partners, to hosting wellness events (such as art therapy and yoga), to responding to emergency texts and calls from members in active mental health crises, to destigmatizing conversations about mental health and addiction, to hosting workshops such as Confidence & Visualization. Our mobile app has a dedicated section providing crisis hotline numbers, meditation apps, and therapy options. Our team receives quarterly professional training on topics from trauma-informed care to suicide awareness. 
Mentorship We started the Mentorship Program in 2020 to help our members explore career paths, build confidence, and have the support of a long-term positive role model. Mentors and Mentees connect at least once a month after mentors complete a robust onboarding process which includes an interview, background check, and a required, in-house Trauma-Informed Care training led by a Licensed Social Worker. Pairs engage in a wide range of activities - from visiting the MoMa, to applying to law school, to meeting up for tacos. Learn more about our Mentorship Program |
Meet Our Team
Team
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Advisors
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Be Brave
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Country Map
Below is a map with all of the members' countries of origin!
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Statement
The Brave House is committed to co-creating spaces where youth from all backgrounds can connect, heal, and grow together. Our community celebrates young people from all over the world, and we welcome youth who identify as female and gender-expansive. We believe that members should be at the forefront of decision-making and determining what programs we offer, how we approach issues that affect their communities, and how the organization is led. We strive to foster belonging for the community we serve and are active in our effort to seek and center diverse perspectives within our team.
