YWCA Week Without Violence

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 4^th, 15 YWCA staffers from 10 GLA YWCAs joined a “Week Without Violence Planning and Sharing” conference call. The result of their collective wisdom is a giant list of activity ideas and resources that can be replicated to suit a range of audience and community needs.

We want to know what you’re doing to observe Week Without Violence! Visit the GLA Advocacy Blog to post a comment in the Week Without Violence post about your activities.

Week Without Violence Topic Areas

• Bullying
• Child Abuse
• Domestic Violence
• Gang Violence
• Hate Crimes
• Healing
• International Violence Against Women Issues
• Peace
• Racial Injustice
• Safety
• Sexual Assault
• Stalking
• Trafficking

Activities for Communities

• Radio and TV PSAs/ announcements about WWV Topics
• Peace Picnic
• Pancakes for Peace breakfast with tabling/ children’s activities/ etc.
• Peace Garden
• Peace Walk/ Unity Walk—like a peaceful protest march. In “Unity Walk” community members begin a separate places in different parts of town and converge in the middle for a shared celebration.
• Candlelight Vigils to honor victims and survivors of violence
• A community –wide “Gun turn-in program” where individuals may turn in weapons with no questions asked; organized in partnership with local law enforcement and city/ county officials
• Clothesline project and “letters to abusers” displays
• Make displays about non-violence for your YWCA lobby or traveling displays for tabling events
• Provide voter information throughout WWV events and activities, including information on early voting, voting safely for survivors of domestic violence, and postcards to remind community members that November 4^th is election day.

Activities aimed at youth/ young children

• Reading books about peace and safety at local libraries and pre-schools (examples “Hands are not for Hitting” and “The Peace Book”)
• Partnering with schools doing “Red Ribbon Week” campaigns (often the same week) to discuss how themes of violence relate to drug and alcohol use
• Focusing on bullying
• Art contest “When I’m Angry;” winner’s art is used on next year’s poster/ brochure
• High School Essay contest on Racial Justice relating to WWV topics. Prizes for top essays; winner will be published in local newspaper
• Peace pledges for school aged kids (see St. Louis Institute of Peace and Justice for examples)
• Organize a finger print clinic with local law enforcement—provides a finger print record for families
• Violent Toy turn-in Drive: kids turn in violent toys and receive peaceful toys in exchange

Activities for College Audiences

• Take Back the Night
• Movie night (examples:”Waitress,” “Batterers Will Kill” from YWCA Cincinnati)
• Theater performances
• Host a guest speaker on a related topic (example TJ Leyden, former white supremacist who speaks on hate/ tolerance issues)
• “Chalk the Quad”: Students chalk messages about peace/ violence against women/ etc. at the center of campus

News Item: Racism Exists

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, wherever it exists, and by any means necessary.

This radical statement was only the beginning. Now, in 2008, we are practically and strategically aiming to fling ourselves miles further.

In preparing background materials for this initiative, we needed common language about our core values to get us started. At our absolute foundation, YWCAs share a belief that racism exists. This may sound obvious, but we've all heard the disclaimers and counter arguments-- sometimes from our own colleagues, board members, and families. Indeed, one YWCA staffer recently discussed a conversation she had with an individual who tried to tell her that "Sexism is real. Racism is just a concept."

The NAACP's Research Department has a slew of Fact Sheets that describe conditions for African Americans in Education, Health, Criminal Justice, and Economic Empowerment. In addition, their November 2007 report "State of Emergency: Stemming the Tide of Injustice Against African Americans" gives some of the starkest evidence that the playing field is not even where race is concerned.

If we are to go boldly forward, thrusting our collective power all the way, there will always be some for whom proof is needed. I'm sure many have favorite resources that pin down some of the most egregious manifestations of racism-- feel free to leave a comment with yours.

--Rebecca

Women Rarely Receive Domestic Violence Services in Welfare Offices

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://vaw.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/14/1/5). High rates of domestic violence are known among welfare recipients, and the welfare office is a vital location for providing women with resources toward financial independence.

A state option in the 1996 federal welfare reform law, the FVO helps domestic violence survivors move from welfare to work. The FVO allows states increased flexibility in applying the requirements of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program to families affected by domestic violence without states being penalized financially. When states adopt the FVO, they are agreeing to

• screen applicants and recipients of TANF for domestic violence while maintaining confidentiality;
• provide referrals to counseling and supportive services;
• and make good-cause waivers from TANF program requirements.

Waivers are to be granted where the requirements would make it harder for TANF recipients to escape domestic violence or where the requirements would unfairly penalize past, present, or potential victims of domestic violence. Program requirements that may be waived include the 60-month lifetime limit on receiving TANF assistance and mandatory work requirements.

See the full article from the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law.

New Report on Youth Life Outcomes in Economically Distressed Communities

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 in Economically Distressed Communities by Rhonda Tsoi-A-Fatt. This paper presents a picture of risk and challenge for youth in distressed communities and outlines how these communities can band together to create a continuum of supportive activities to bolster youth’s success in school and life. As youth grow and develop, individualized support and exposure to new experiences has a significant impact on their life trajectory. Youth in economically distressed communities deserve to have access to these types of opportunities, which are much more readily available to their peers in other communities. This investment in youth can have a positive effect on academic success, future life earnings, family stability, and the livelihood of the community. This paper may be helpful in guiding a community’s thinking about how to get started in creating a sustainable support system for all of its youth. 32 pages. 5/16/2008

Persimmon Electoral Math

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 engagement initiatives recently, "We had a cake to celebrate election day and let our residents know that we would help them get to the polls. It's not rocket science."

For advocates who want to know everything there is to know about voter engagement, GLA is hosting "Voter Engagement Academy" at it's June Staff Leadership Institute in Madison. Visit the Staff Leadership Institute page to learn more.

For those who are looking for a few basic ideas to get you started, the Western States Center has compiled an outstanding guide that is broken down into easy activities that can work with a range of audiences from organizing a "Meet the Candidates" event to holding a "Mock Election" to highlight how the process works and how easily disenfranchised groups can be shut out of the political process.

Building Grassroots Power - Western States Center's 195-page curriculum, Building Grassroots Power: An Introduction to Electoral Politics, is designed to support the eletoral organizing efforts of groups with 501(C)(3) or 501(C)(4) tax-exempt status.