Photo of US Congresswoman Gwen Moore (center) flanked by Antonia Vann and Asha Staff/Advocates.

With your help we can hire victims of domestic and sexual violence and sex trafficking to receive compassionate hands-on-job training and skill building! We need help to open Sistahs' Cafe' & Deli to employ and train survivors in employer desired soft skills - excellence in customer service. We will help survivors build employable work histories.

My name is Antonia Drew Vann. I thank you for considering our call for help and I am deeply thankful for those who have sent financial gifts.  We Are Almost There!! Our goal is within reach!

I have worked with some really great and dedicated people at Asha Family Services, Inc. (Asha) for over 28 years. Today, in order to continue our work, we need your help. Asha is a small non-profit and charitable organization located at 3719 W. Center Street * Milwaukee, WI 53210.  Asha is dedicated to working with victims and survivors of domestic and sexual violence and sex trafficking, who reside in fragile, impoverished communities and those housed within prisons. Services are broad and include for example, crisis intervention, counseling, safety planning, care management, education, advocacy, mentorship, coaching and healing.


The people we love to work with experience a variety of complex and competing challenges - simultaneously, and often, due to culturally related issues, will not seek help outside their community; thus, victims remain locked within their communities. Many lack the information and informed support to alleviate the pain and trauma of victimization as well as the  frustrations poverty, neglect, indifference and a lack of information brings.  We help people change their lives for the better and our successes are countless.
(Photo of Asha Advocates)

Sistah's Cafe & Deli is two-fold. It provides jobs and job training for victims of domestic violence and sex trafficking as well as sustainability for Asha's community-based victim services. We need your help to  continue services and finally re-open Sistahs' Cafe that provides hands-on job training to help surviors achieve self-sufficiency. 

Reopening Sistah's Cafe (which is nearly complete), will not only allow us to increase Asha revenue to help sustain services but will also employ survivors at livable wages.  We want for the agency what we want for survivors--economic independence, self-sufficiency, security and less dependance on city and federal government funds. 

 Help us, help others change their lives.
                            
Your donation for this immediate goal will help critical operation needs and to acquire the LAST piece of equipment needed to re-open Sistahs Cafe & Deli after extensive renovations. We also recently learned that we must replace our existing Hot Water Heater with a new one that costs between $900 and $1,000! The City has changed its requirement. Due to new regulations like the Hot Water Heater, and increases in costs, recovery is a long and hard challenge. We faced severe storm damage and flooded basements as well as  a damaged roof.  We have a new roof and are at the end of the tunnel and need your help to make it to a Grand Opening. Below, please take a few minutes to see the 6 min video PBS Black Nouveau filmed on Sistahs Cafe. As well, you will meet some of the survivors who worked at Sistahs' before the storms delayed this project. 
We are truly grateful and thankful for any level of support you can give. 

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Please watch this video for more information about Sistah's Cafe and Deli.

 

It is my hope that after watching the video on our work in this special project, that you are inspired to help us continue efforts toward our self sufficiency dream that allows us to keep unique victim services based within the community it was created to serve. In the video, you saw what Sistahs' Cafe looked like before the remodeling. Below you will view a few early pics that feature the make-over work of the new Sistahs' Cafe.  




We are almost there! We need your help that brings it all together and will launch our dream. Will you help make it happen?