MISSSEY

MISSSEY is co-creating a world where girls and gender expansive youth are safe from sexual exploitation and know their power.

MISSSEY PROGRAMS

Intensive Case Management

MISSSEY’s Case Management aims to be a zero-barrier service, so any youth affected by sexual violence or exploitation can receive 1:1 support and coaching towards goals they set for themselves.
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STaR Center

Our STaR (Sisters Transforming and Rising) Drop-in Center is dedicated to being a safe space for commercially sexually exploited (CSE) girls, femme and non-binary youth ages 12 to 25 in Oakland.
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Thrive Initiative

For more than 14 years, MISSSEY has provided healing and pathways out of sexual exploitation for thousands of young people. Young survivors of sexual exploitation know best what kinds of support will help them to heal and thrive. Our job is to listen to them and provide the resources they need while lifting up their voices and leadership.
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Community Volunteers

Volunteering is a beneficial way to make a difference in a young person’s life. MISSSEY Community Volunteers are trained to assist our drop-in staff in supporting youth who come to the STaR Center.
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Training Institute

Informed by survivors, the mission of MISSSEY’s training institute is to cultivate communities that are compassionate, confident, and armed with the tools necessary to address the complex issues impacting victims and survivors of sexual violence.
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The Firsthand Framework
Process

Click each step to learn more

We partnered with six organizations to reach nine different communities of Oakland residents

defined across 

  • geography (e.g., neighborhoods, housing developments, proximity to parks)
  • identity (e.g., shared race, ethnicity, nationality and/or language)
  • association (e.g., membership in institutions like churches or civil society organizations)
  • and shared experiences (e.g., formerly incarcerated, violent crime survivor, refugee)

 

Alongside our partners, we conducted 24 focus groups with a total of 330 participants.

Each focus group invited residents to discuss the signs and signals that they are already using to assess both the presence and absence of public safety in their community.

Next, we convened larger town halls with each community, totaling about 550 participants. 

During town halls, we presented the full list of indicators and asked participants to vote for those that most closely reflected their own experiences of safety.

We coded and analyzed these Firsthand Indicators to paint a vivid and multi-dimensional picture of community safety.

Together, the Indicators reveal the interdependent processes that promote and hinder safety at the community level. 

Together with Oakland’s Department of Violence Prevention (DVP), we are using the Firsthand Indicators to identify promising points of intervention.

The Indicators can help DVP promote solutions that differ from traditional public safety policies, which are focused primarily on policing and incarceration.

Finally, we will work with DVP to deploy the Firsthand Indicators as quantitative measures to track progress and evaluate reforms. 

The Indicators can be measured using a combination of observational, survey, and administrative data, providing alternatives to top-down metrics of what constitutes “success.”

Explore MISSSEY Data

Click here to Explore the Firsthand Framework Interactive