About the Organization
At Justice + Joy National Collaborative, our goals are to achieve collective power to advance justice, establish affirming social narratives, and build ecosystems of support with and for girls, young women, and gender-expansive young people of color*.
As a national advocacy organization founded in 1883, we are acutely aware of the invisibility of cis and trans girls, young women and gender-expansive young people, particularly those of color, as a social justice priority for our country. This is driven by equal parts lack of value placed on their needs and potential, and the absence of data that details their exclusion and the barriers they face. In this country there is both a passive and active resistance to investing in and supporting her/them* and national conversations and efforts focused on race/ethnicity and gender justice do not center her/them*.
This must change.
This is a fluid and changing landscape and we are boldly and unapologetically aligning with girls, young women, and gender-expansive young people*.
This is a time of tremendous transformation during which we acknowledge that gender norms are a social construct built on a false binary. We recognize that gender and how we claim our identities is an evolving spectrum. In response, the language we use to describe ourselves continues to transform and grow. As we navigate these changes, together, Justice + Joy National Collaborative will use “girls, young women, and gender-expansive young people*” to emphasize that our shared understanding of gender identity is evolving in resistance to cis- and heteropatriarchal, white-supremacist norms and systems that have for far too long oppressed, marginalized and harmed all cis and trans girls, young women, and gender-expansive young people.
Meet the Team
Multi-racial, Multi-ethnic, Intergenerational, Intersectional
Our team embodies these characteristics, bringing their unique perspectives, histories, goals, and objectives to our mission of social, economic, and political justice for girls, young women and gender-expansive young people of color*.
With headquarters in Portland, Oregon, and offices in Washington, D.C., and New York City, we work collaboratively to advocate, organize, and facilitate change for her/them*.
Meet the Family
The Crittenton Family of Agencies
The Justice + Joy National Collaborative works collaboratively with the Crittenton family of agencies on initiatives spanning advocacy, research and support for the cis and trans girls, young women, gender-expansive young people and their families at both a national and community level across the country. Each agency is an independent nonprofit organization. What binds us is our shared origins and modern belief in the potential of her/them*.
Our Guiding Principles
COMPASSION
We ground ourselves in conscious compassion, which calls on us to be introspective and respond with generosity and empathy to the intricate circumstances of people's lives.
HEALING
We recognize the urgent need for healing to counteract the cumulative impact of historical, cultural, and intergenerational collective and individual trauma.
INTERSECTIONAL
We use an intersectional approach to address the root causes of injustice, understanding the compounding effects of our multilayered identities.
POWER
We believe that building and sustaining collective strength and power with those most impacted, in collaboration with a diverse array of partners, is key to disrupting and eradicating all forms of oppression.
WELLNESS
We realize that the wellness and success of our communities and society are contingent on the health, success, and liberation of the girls and gender-expansive young people who inhabit them.
WISDOM
We center the wisdom inherent in the lived experience of those most impacted by generational chronic adversity, violence, and oppression as fundamental to human dignity and the achievement of social, economic, and political justice.