The HER foundation is a community organization dedicated to empowering girls, strengthening families and breaking cycles through education, prevention, connection and community support. 

We believe girls deserve the knowledge and confidence to understand their boundaries, recognize warning signs, speak up, ask for help and know they will be believed. 

We believe parents and trusted adults deserve the tools to have difficult conversations, recognize warning signs, and respond appropriately when a child or teen needs them. 

HER stands for more than the girls we serve.

HER represents the girls they are today, the women they will become, the women who teach and guide them, the women who survived, and the women who didn't. 

HER is for every woman who has ever been scared to speak up and for the ones who tried but whose voices were never heard.

The world we live in can be very scary for girls and women. All you have to do is turn on the news or scroll social media to know something MUST change. Our generation grew up being taught these conversations needed to happen behind closed doors. 

We were taught to be afraid and take extra precaution because we are girls.

 No dark alleys at night.

 Always have a buddy system, never go anywhere alone. 

Never leave your drink unattended.

 Hold your keys a certain way. 

The list goes on and on and on.

 All of this is good advice and there's nothing wrong with any of it. The only problem is, if we give our girls a list of rules they must live by to avoid being hurt, what happens if they do everything right and get hurt anyway?

 The shame and guilt most feel after an assault is because women will convince ourselves we must have forgotten one of the rules. We must have done or said something to cause this. We convince ourselves not to say anything because we are probably just overreacting, I mean, we've been told our whole lives we are just emotional girls and our hormones make us crazy, right? Maybe it wasn't as bad as we think it was. Maybe I'm remembering it different. Maybe they didn't mean it. What if I'm wrong? What will happen to me next? What will happen to the other person?  What if this ruins their life? What if they get arrested? What if they don't get arrested? Will I be safe? What will people say?  What if the other person lies? What if they say I'm lying? What if people believe them? What if nobody believes me? 

For many women, this internal battle rage begins after an assault. Some may struggle with this for a very long time.  Especially because 78% of female rap/assault victimizations involved a family member, intimate partner, friend, or acquaintance. 

(Source: Bureau of Justice statistics, National Crime Victimization Survey, 2005-2010. Historical data.)

 These aren't strangers. We know them. We may love them. Our lives might be intertwined. 

We believe knowledge can change what comes next.

We want every girl to know with complete confidence that they could NEVER be the reason someone hurt them.

It's not because of anything they did. It's not because of anything they didn't do.

They didn't deserve it. They didn't have it coming. 

Speaking up and getting help should never mean getting interrogated by the person you trusted enough to tell.  Asking what they were doing, wearing, drinking, saying or whether they were flirting can imply that any of those things contributed to why the assault happened. 

LISTEN. LOVE. REPORT. SUPPORT.

From 2023-2024:

NATIONALLY

6.996 MILLION (6,996,000)

 women experienced contact sexual violence in the previous 12 months.

1.362 MILLION (1,362,000) 

women experienced rape (completed or attempted) in the previous 12 months.

57.748 MILLION (57,748,000) 

women experienced contact sexual violence in their lifetime.

26.827 MILLION (26,827,000)

 women experienced rape during their lifetime. 

TEXAS 

3.842 MILLION (3,842,000)

 women experienced contact sexual violence in their lifetime.

1.741 MILLION (1,741,000)  

women experienced rape during their lifetime.

source: CDC 2023/2024 National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS) 

BUT IT'S NOT JUST WOMEN.

17% of female high school students in the United States experienced sexual violence by anyone within the previous 12 months.

That is approximately 1 in 6 girls. 

source: CDC Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 2023 High school Students, not an exact ages 13-18 population.

MILLIONS ANNUALLY.

M-I-L-L-O-N-S

17%

1 IN 6

THESE ARE OUR DAUGHTERS, SISTERS, NIECES.

OUR MOTHERS, BEST FRIENDS, AUNTS.

THIS IS US. EVERY SINGLE DAY.  

MILLIONS OF WOMEN AND GIRLS.

THIS IS FOR THEM. WE ARE THEM. THEY ARE US. 

WE ARE HER.