WYSE Says "I'm Tired Of It!" FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 4, 2002 (Los Angeles) Striking back against many of the world's 'ism's,' Los Angeles-based non-profit Women and Youth Supporting Each Other (WYSE) is launching today the new national campaign "I'm Tired Of It." Words like sexism, racism, ageism, classism, among others, are dizzying to all say much less deal with. But these discriminatory forces are often stifling to young women - people whose lives WYSE has committed to improving. Kicking off at various Los Angeles junior high schools, including Mar Vista's Mark Twain Middle School and Downtown's Los Angeles Academy Middle School, "I'm Tired Of It" will center around a poster-making event. Participating students will fill blank posters with the 'isms' that anger them the most. The girls will later discuss with WYSE organizers ways in which they can fight back against these negative words on their own. "WYSE wants to bring to light just how difficult it is to be a teen girl growing up in our current society," says Mina Kim, executive director of WYSE "We want to start a dialogue that will inspire the girls and others to not be afraid to stand up, wipe their brow, and yell 'I'm tired of it!'" The campaign comes on the heels of February's "Love Yourself Week," WYSE's first ever drive to encourage women to cherish their bodies. Especially during Valentine's Day, women often needlessly feel pressured to change the way they look in order to attract a romantic partner. A curriculum-based group and one-on-one mentorship program, WYSE pairs college women with middle school and high school girls. WYSE programs are found at universities across the nation, including UC Berkeley, Yale University and NYU. The program originated at UCLA in 1992, and serves middle schools and high schools in under-resourced communities. WYSE can be found at ten universities with a Board of Directors that include Congressperson Loretta Sanchez. For more information on the WYSE National Movement, please contact Soraya Hussain, 213-488-4942 or soraya@wyse.org