About Us
Passionate for equality
Girls are powerful changemakers when allowed to rise. However, often, this opportunity is not presented to many girls due to the negative stereotypes surrounding women and their ability to thrive equally alongside men. When girls facing poverty and homelessness start to internalize the media’s pervasive and negative stereotypes, it becomes easy for them to limit themselves.
Limited resources, like lack of menstruation products and lack of comprehensive maternal healthcare, already put girls and women from low-income backgrounds at a significant disadvantage. Also, systemic discrimination towards women further exacerbates the process of rising above the poverty line, with issues like gender discrimination in the workplace heavily contributing to the rising number of homeless women and girls. More than 53% of homeless mothers do not even have a high school diploma.
We started The Uplift Initiative to ensure that data like this is no longer prevalent for the future generations of women. The Uplift Initiative emerged out of a pursuit to inspire and support the community, and a desire for actions to speak louder than words. We are a youth-led organization driven by progressive ideas, bold actions, and a strong foundation of support. We established a peer-to-peer mentorship model to allow high school students to engage with girls from grades 3-7. In our capacity as high school mentors, our goal is to inspire a passion for learning and education and to instill confidence to help girls break out of the cycle of poverty. Contact us to learn more and get involved.
President
Rujula Vikram
Rujula is a rising senior and an avid activist with a passion for global gender equality and eradicating homelessness. As the founder and president of this initiative, she makes administrative decisions, delegate tasks, and look for new opportunities to engage with our community.