21ST CENTURY FEMALE
Building female self-esteem through arts & community projects
Community Interest Company (CIC)
21st Century Female (21CF) is the organisation through which we fund and deliver life-changing social programmes for young women in the UK today. Building community among young women of diverse backgrounds brings them together to learn from each other and about themselves.
We seek to give teen girls and young women alike both the agency and the tools needed to not only survive but also to thrive in our fast-paced and pressured modern world.
Female society today can be dominated by social and other media, appearance, judgement, and economic pressures; we encourage finding yourself and fulfilment alongside traditional educational achievement and financial security. In life’s journey finding your role and reason to be, helping others besides yourself, and saving the planet, are all goals we support through exciting twenty-first century heart-centred enterprises.
Corina Best
“I think what we do works because we genuinely care about every individual, we create programmes that are relatable to them.”
Our Vivid programmes provided through 21CF are tailored to young women at different ages offering diverse practical means to find their inner strength and enhance their wellbeing. Speaking about the challenges of 21st century life Nick Harrop of YoungMinds says:
“Teenage girls today face a huge range of pressures. Stress at school, body image worries, early sexualisation, bullying on and offline and uncertainty about the future after school are all piling on the stress. Social media also puts pressure on girls to live their lives in the public domain, to present a personal ‘brand’ from a young age, and to seek reassurance in the form of likes and shares.” – Nick Harrop, YoungMinds
Encourage and
Empower
21st Century Female aims to empower and encourage young female aspiration, providing mentoring and motivation as they grow in confidence and courage to be ambitious about themselves and for the social good of others.
“At 17, I became homeless. 21CF gave me a positive outlet to stay focused on my goals to be in a better place…Having the support and guidance of the people at 21CF has allowed me to pursue my dreams and not go through the stereotypical hostel life with no aspirations. I really believe this programme has so much potential and can change the lives of many women. It has for me anyway. If I didn’t have that outlet then I wouldn’t be where I am now.‘” – Taslima
Projects
One of our recent projects: Vivid 21 Programme, Borehamwood 2016-17
Ethical Social Entrepreneurship
“Being an entrepreneur allows me to stay true to my purpose for doing this work. I choose my own targets and work in partnership with others whose ethos matches my own. It allows me to deliver the work I want to, rather than being controlled by the criteria of funding bodies.” – Corina Best, interview with UnLtd, supporters of social entrepreneurs in the UK
21CF is always looking for new partners, supporters and opportunities to further its work among young women and girls. According to a Ypulse survey, 91% of Millennials and teens buy products from companies that support causes they believe in, showing that they notice positive brand association and corporate investment in ethical and social benefit enterprises. Please get in touch.
Our ability to build confidence and self-esteem in young women is attributed to the fact that working with young women is our sole focus and we treat each one as a unique individual with something of value to offer the world. All of our Vivid programmes, further development academy, and online community, are designed to bring this forth from the young women and teen girls that we have the privilege to work with.
We have a consistent track record, since early 2013, of delivering successful Vivid programmes, via our Community Interest Company – 21st Century Female, for a range of partners within the community sector, consistently hitting targets of recruitment and retention. Our results indicate that all girls who commit to our programmes report an increase in self-esteem and confidence, develop a feeling of greater control of their body and are more confident both socially and in doing physical activity. This makes us an invaluable partner in the delivery of this area of work.
Corina can deliver year-round programmes or bespoke one-off workshops – see a sample workshop.