GLA Advocacy Blog

YWCA Week Without Violence

2008-08-07T09:30:00.003-04:00

Week Without Violence is October 19-25 This year’s WWV theme will be “ENOUGH!” YWCA USA’s Week Without Violence website is a great place to start gathering information. You can also place a link directly to it from your home page. Look for more information from YWCA USA in your inbox in coming weeks.On Monday August 4th, 15 YWCA staffers from 10 GLA YWCAs joined a “

House Apologies for Slavery and other Racial Justice News

2008-07-30T12:26:00.002-04:00

This week there have been a number of compelling news items on racial justice topics. Take a look:"House Issues An Apology For Slavery"Washington PostThe House yesterday apologized to black Americans, more than 140 years after slavery was abolished, for the "fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality and inhumanity of slavery and Jim Crow" segregation. The resolution, which passed on a voice vote

Foreclosure Bill Includes Funds for Homeless Education

2008-07-29T10:45:00.003-04:00

The Foreclosure Prevention bill (H.R. 3221) passed by the Senate on Saturday includes an amendment that will help children affected by the foreclosure crisis stay in school and get educational assistance. The amendment authorizes funds for school districts through the McKinney-Vento homeless education program to help ensure that students who are forced to move from

YWCA USA Washington Update

2008-07-14T10:36:00.004-04:00

Supplemental Spending Bill Signed Into LawOn June 30th the President signed into law the supplemental spending bill to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In addition to the war funding, the bill provides an extension of unemployment benefits, a delay of six Medicaid regulations, funding for disaster relief, and funding for veteran’s education benefits. Specifically, the bill will provide

Half In Ten Campaign: Take Action for Low-Income Families

2008-07-10T09:29:00.003-04:00

Yesterday, Senator John Edwards spoke to over 1,000 young people at the Campus Progress National Conference in Washington, DC. Senator Edwards asked these 1,000 young activists to pledge their support for Half In Ten and find 10 friends to do the same. Watch him call on these students to form the core of a movement to change this country forever. To grow this movement

Fuel prices have big impact on the poor

2008-07-02T09:00:00.002-04:00

A letter to the editor can be an effective tool to highlight the YWCA mission and to draw attention to priority issues-- especially when they are conspicuously not addressed by mainstream media. YWCA Milwaukee Executive Director Paula Penebaker recently responded to a May 16th cover story in Business Journal of Milwaukee describing how businesses are affected by rising fuel costs.Fuel prices have

House and Senate Appropriations Committees Pass Funding Increases for VAWA and VOCA

2008-07-01T09:48:00.002-04:00

The House Appropriations Committee passed their Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) bill with $35 million in increased funding for the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) programs at the Department of Justice and a $60 million increase for the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) Fund. This is a huge increase in funding over FY 08 and even more funding than VAWA and VOCA received last week when the Senate

YWAct: YWCA USA National Issue Update

2008-06-20T12:43:00.006-04:00

Half in Ten CampaignThe Half in Ten: From Poverty to Prosperity campaign has been launched to help end poverty in America. The Campaign will be spearheaded by four organizations including Coalition on Human Needs (CHN), Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR), ACORN and the Center for American Progress (CAP) and will be chaired by former Presidential Candidate and U.S. Senator John Edwards.

And we wonder why the U.S. Ranks 69th in the world for Women's Poltical Empowerment

2008-06-16T10:02:00.004-04:00

One of GLA's issue priorities is advocating for increased access to political leadership and power for women and for people of color. According to the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap 2007 Report, the United States ranks 69th in the world for women's political empowerment.A new initiative from the Women's Media Center brings the sexism directed at women in the public eye into stark relief

Paid Sick Days Poll

2008-06-11T10:59:00.001-04:00

This weekend, Parade Magazine, the country’s most widely-read magazine, featured a story on paid sick days. Now, Parade is conducting an online poll, asking its readers: “Should employers be required to offer paid sick days?”Help us send the message loud and clear that paid sick days are much-needed—and strongly supported—by taking Parade’s online poll. Parade is distributed by over 400 Sunday

Advocates Make Case for NC Racial Justice Act

2008-06-10T09:59:00.004-04:00

This story is a few weeks old and not from a state in our region, but seemed compelling enough to pass along. North Carolina's House has already approved the "North Carolina Racial Justice Act," and it is now before their state Senate. Racial Justice advocates occassionally struggle with the belief that Civil Rights Era lawsuits and legislation attended to our nation's anti-racism policy needs

News Item: Racism Exists

2008-06-06T10:13:00.004-04:00

GLA is embarking on the exciting work of planning "Catapult 2011," a training initiative aimed at "catapulting" our work to eliminate racism and empower women to its furthest, most transformative end. YW advocates may have thought the the original language of the YWCA One Imperative was bold. In 1971, we proclaimed that the YWCA will thrust its collective power toward the elimination of racism,

Economic Downturn Stories Needed

2008-06-03T09:25:00.005-04:00

YWCA USA is a member of the Coalition on Human Needs (CHN), which works on funding human needs programs and budget and tax issues, including the federal budget and appropriations process. CHN is one of the organizations leading the Half In Ten: Poverty to Prosperity Campaign with former U.S. Senator John Edwards.CHN and the YWCA are working together to collect stories from people who can speak

S.F. schools take on racism, classism

2008-05-29T14:48:00.002-04:00

There have been so many conversations in GLA this year about structural racism's most tenacious problems, including race-based disparities in education and in the criminal justice system. While the road to undoing these conditions will undoubtedly be paved with trial and error, and with policies that may only scratch the surface, it is heartening to see a school district working strategically and

Elkhart cross burning investigated by FBI

2008-05-28T13:59:00.003-04:00

Today GLA hosted the final dialogue conference call it its "Racism and. . ." series. During the call a YWCA staff member from Indiana shared information about a recent incident in Elkhart Indiana where a cross was burned on the front lawn of an interracial couple earlier this month. (If you follow the link, spend a few moments reading the comments posted there, which may provide a stark reality

Postville Raid Brings Sexual Violence Against Immigrant Wokers to Light

2008-05-23T09:54:00.003-04:00

Many racial justice and immigrants rights advocates have been following news of the raids at Agriprocessors Inc. in Postville Iowa last week. On May 12th 697 people were arrested by federal agents in the biggest single-site immigration raid in U.S. history.Among the many dimensions of human rights abuses that advocates seek to remedy through comprehensive immigration reform, sexual and economic

Women Rarely Receive Domestic Violence Services in Welfare Offices

2008-05-21T14:56:00.001-04:00

Women in welfare offices rarely receive domestic violence services, according to a recent University of Washington analysis of the implementation of the Family Violence Option (FVO) (see Taryn Lindhorst, Marcia Meyers, and Erin Casey, Screening for Domestic Violence in Public Welfare Offices: An Analysis of Case Manager and Client Interactions, VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN, Jan. 2008, available at http

Coalition On Human Needs partners to Reduce Poverty

2008-05-21T11:13:00.002-04:00

The message below comes from the Coalition on Human Needs-- a YWCA USA national coalition partner. GLA is eager to join the Half in Ten Campaign!---------------------------------------------Cutting poverty in half in the US over the next decade is an achievable goal.The Coalition on Human Needs is proud to have joined with three vitally important organizations and with former Senator John Edwards

NY Times Articles on Women Running for Office

2008-05-21T11:03:00.003-04:00

On Sunday May 18 the New York Times had a few articles examining the Clinton campaign and the impact it will doubtlessly have on the future for women and politics. While GLA does not endorse any candidate or political party, we advocate for women and people of color to fully engage in civic life through voting, volunteering, and running for offices of their own.Here are two items to consider:THE

New Report on Youth Life Outcomes in Economically Distressed Communities

2008-05-21T10:58:00.000-04:00

So many YWCAs have programs focused on helping youth navigate their social circumstances. This new report from CLASP provides useful thinking about youth development and specific ways community organizations can "be bold" in partnering and leading to advocate for youth.--------------------------A Collective Responsibility, A Collective Work: Supporting the Path to Positive Life Outcomes for Youth

Persimmon Electoral Math

2008-05-21T10:53:00.003-04:00

If the 56 YWCAs in the Great Lakes Region register and mobilize every staff member, board member, and program participant or client whose life we touch, we will see over half a million voters go to the polls in November.Many YWCAs have carried out great voter engagement initiatives without dedicated staff or financial resources. To summarize what one local staff person said about her YWCA's voter

Anonymous Rape Tests Are Going Nationwide

2008-05-21T10:47:00.001-04:00

The Associated Press By KRISTEN WYATT – May 13 2008ELKTON, Md. (AP) — Starting next year across the country, rape victims too afraid or too ashamed to go to police can undergo an emergency-room forensic rape exam, and the evidence gathered will be kept on file in a sealed envelope in case they decide to press charges.The new federal requirement that states pay for "Jane Doe rape kits" is aimed at