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After nearly 28 years, The Communication Initiative (The CI) Global is entering a new chapter. Following a period of transition, the global website has been transferred to the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in South Africa, where it will be administered by the Social and Behaviour Change Communication Division. Wits' commitment to social change and justice makes it a trusted steward for The CI's legacy and future.
 
Co-founder Victoria Martin is pleased to see this work continue under Wits' leadership. Victoria knows that co-founder Warren Feek (1953–2024) would have felt deep pride in The CI Global's Africa-led direction.
 
We honour the team and partners who sustained The CI for decades. Meanwhile, La Iniciativa de Comunicación (CILA) continues independently at lainiciativadecomunicacion.com and is linked with The CI Global site.
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Women on the Rise!

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Launched in 2004 by the Museum of Contemporary Art in Miama, Florida in the United States, Women on the Rise! is an outreach programme designed for at-risk, teenage girls. The programme consists of workshops in contemporary art, art history, and creative writing that present contemporary female artists as positive role models in order to boost participants' self-esteem and critical thinking skills.
Communication Strategies
The outreach programme was introduced at six centres for teenage girls coping with juvenile detention, drug abuse, sexual and physical violence or emotional disorders. The four two-hour workshops centre around women artists such as Ana Mendieta, Wangechi Mutu, Shirin Neshat and Ellen Gallagher. The aim of the programme is to present positive role models in order to boost participants' self-esteem, encourage self-expression, and build critical thinking skills.

Each workshop begins with an art history lesson with an overview of the artists being discussed, slides of examples of the artist's work and then group discussion. In the second hour, the girls work on an art project inspired by an artist they have just studied. This may involve photography, performance art or collage.

Artwork and writing created by participants are featured in the MOCA'zine, MOCA's teen arts journal. Featuing art criticism, poetry, essays, and original artwork, each 12-page issue is written and edited by MOCA Junior Docents and high school students fom throughout Miami-Dade County.

The programme also includes field trips to MOCA to view exhibitions that feature women artists.
Development Issues
Youth
Partners

PACE Center for Girls, Gladstone Center for Girls, Girls Advocacy Project at the Miami-Dade Juvenile Detention Center, The Village Residential Treatment Center, Robert Renick Educational Center, Girls Empowered and Motivated for Success (GEMS) Club at North Miami Beach Senior High School

Sources

The New York Times article, June 2005;
MOCA website, March 10 2006; and email from Jillian Hernandez to The Communication Initiative on August 17 2007