ABOUT US
Sisters Nurturing Sisters, Inc. (SNS) is a nonprofit organization established in November 1999, to provide comprehensive services to women who are recovering from chemical dependency, battery, homelessness, poverty, physical and mental disabilities, including former incarceration. The program is designed to help empower socially disadvantaged women to become productive citizens by addressing, holistically, the multi-faceted challenges that they face in this rapidly growing economy.
Since opening its’ doors in November 1999, SNS has focused on enhancing the holistic needs of homeless women through our case management services. SNS has referred our clientele for GED classes, adult literacy education, employment readiness, substance abuse treatment, mental health services, and transitional and permanent housing via agencies with whom we have established a collaborative partnership. SNS provides effective professional, benevolent and charitable services through a process of screening, comprehensive assessments and service planning to assist the women in achieving self-sufficiency.
SNS has been working diligently to address the at-risk circumstances of women and women with children across the helping professional continuum by addressing their needs, with the help of our supporters, directly and indirectly based on referrals to collaborative agencies for stabilization and positive self-regard.
What We Do
Our focus is to alleviate four Key Barriers prohibiting self-sufficiency:
Social Support--access to individual and family counseling, parenting classes, health and wellness education, domestic violence services and mentoring.
Support for Children--access to adequate nutritional meals, daycare/childcare, school supplies and uniforms, counseling, tutoring and socialization.
Spiritual Nurturing--an understanding of the vital importance in identifying and connecting with the inner self and spiritual well-being of one's choosing.
Affordable Housing--insufficient income, migration, abusive environment, chemical dependency or former incarceration.
About the Founder
Dorothy Collins, known in the Islamic community as Sister Habibah, has spent most of the past decade providing support services for women. Her passion for this work stems from her own experiences of need. Up until 1995, Dorothy experienced the reality of poverty and chemical dependence herself; she shared the lifestyle of many whom she now seeks to help and experienced the problems, trials, challenges, and low self-esteem engendered by a life of poverty and addiction.
Because she sought out treatment and help and was able to find the supportive services she needed, Dorothy was able to put that life behind her. Her experiences of peril and suffering and her own process of reclamation along with a commitment and devotion to The Creator have inspired Dorothy to commit her life to giving back to those, like her, who have had such experiences. She has sought to give of her self as a token of her gratitude and appreciation for the saving of her life. Because she feels a kinship with and an understanding of women in similar circumstances, she has used her 20 years of sobriety and formal training to sponsor other women in recovery programs to help them recreate the lives that would otherwise be destroyed.
In September of 1999, Dorothy envisioned a program that would provide a large amount of support services for women in a variety of problem circumstances; she dreamed of an organization that could help victims of domestic violence/abuse, indigence, and chemical dependence, or who had problems such as being formerly incarcerated or dealing with mental health or HIV issues. Dorothy's ideal program guidelines would include the ability to offer transitional and permanent housing, individual and family counseling, chemical dependence support, transportation, case management and referral capabilities to deal with the myriad issues surrounding the problems faced by these women. Because of her inspiration and with the help of other genuinely caring and concerned individuals such as her husband, Husain Abdul Aziz and long-time family friend Dr. Amir Al-Islam as co-founders, her program -- Sisters Nurturing Sisters -- was incorporated in 1999.
We service a diverse population of women.
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