About

Founded in 1992

RAFHA Inc. was founded in 1992 by visionary Laura Griffin- Greenwood from her own experiences and life challenges as a young woman growing up in the urban community in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Our founder has dedicated her life & career by serving the needs of young women at-risk and creating a safe world in which they will grow and thrive. The Center for Empowering Young Women (CEYW) was created by RAFHA Inc. in order to answer a real need to expand services with the goal to actually empower young women. The center is supported by The South Jersey Empowering Young Women’s Coalition, a group of providers that service young women in 7 South Jersey counties.

Programs

We encourage young women to move beyond survival and become leaders and advocates for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated young women. Although young women and girls represent almost 30% of the total juvenile arrests, they have access to a fraction of the prevention and alternative to incarceration programs available to boys.

Nationwide, they receive only 2% of services. Because of the lack of alternative programs, jobs, and housing, young women and girls find themselves locked up or on probation longer for lesser crimes than their male counterparts.

Our programs offer young women a way to reduce recidivism. Negative experiences in the street economy are turned around with training to produce self-sufficiency, wholeness, and advocacy. We understand that a huge component of this work is self-care and healing which mean many different things to the young women. Each of our programs promotes wellness and healthier living.

Thank you for your interest in our programs. We encourage you to find out more about us and our successes on these pages. Feel free to contact us with your questions and interest as to how you can help us further our cause.