Weekly Round-Up: Grantees Making Waves Nationwide

How are the Ms. Foundation's grantees igniting change this week? Take a gander below to find out.

• To commemorate the 38th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, Ms. Foundation grantee Choice USA  brought together six young reproductive justice leaders for a "royal rumble" over the future of reproductive rights. The event -- called We are the Champions -- featured three rounds of intense debate around youth activism and advocacy, abortion access and funding, and the 2012 elections, among other topics. Missed attending in person? Not to worry -- video footage of this exciting event is now available online. Check it out!

• In addition to planning much needed events like the one above, Choice USA has also recently partnered with  RH Reality Check (another Ms. Foundation grantee) to cultivate an intergenerational op-ed series on reproductive justice. The series aims to engage young activists and more established members of the movement in an ongoing dialogue to broaden the base of support and lift up the voices and leadership of youth. “We have realized that we as a movement need to figure out successful ways to work together across generations in order to be sustainable and garner bigger wins,” says Kierra Johnson, ED of Choice USA. The series' first installment, "From Generation Roe to Generation Now,” written by Andrew Jenkins, is up on RH Reality Check now.

• An article on MSNBC.com about women and the economy featured expert analysis from grantees the National Women’s Law Center and Wider Opportunities for Women. The piece, “After 'mancession,' women falling behind,” highlights the much ignored fact that as the economy improves, women remain at a disadvantage when it comes to finding jobs, gaining back just 1 in 10 of the jobs added to the economy in 2010 -- despite having lost 1 in 3 jobs in 2008/2009. “The whole idea of this ‘mancession’ has always been so interesting because it is definitely true that we saw huge job losses in the [male-dominated] building trades … but it never meant that women were doing well,” Mary Gatta of WOW told MSNBC. Learn more about how WOW partnered with another Ms. Foundation grantee, Moore Community House, to help women in the Gulf Coast weather the economic crisis by accessing quality jobs in construction.

• The National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health unveiled their analysis of what the 2010 Midterm elections will mean for Latinas and reproductive justice. While predicting that the 112th Congress will be one of the most difficult environment advocates for Latinas have faced in decades, with attacks on immigration reform and choice a foregone conclusion, the NLIRH report also highlights important legislative opportunities that will exist in this congressional term -- particularly around immigration, where the Latino influence at the polls may play a role in convincing lawmakers to consider comprehensive and humane immigration reform, rather than cruel and discriminatory scare tactics.

• The “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act” (or H.R. 3) got a stiff rebuff from two Ms. Foundation grantees -- the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum and the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health -- and the Reproductive Health Technologies Project. Together, these organizations issued a joint press release strongly opposing the legislation, which would go much further than the current Hyde Amendment in restricting women's access to reproductive health services. Low-income women and women of color would be particularly impacted by passage of the bill; to learn more about how this legislation could affect you or someone you love, read this take on the bill, featured on Daily Kos.

• On January 20, low-income members of Community Voices Heard (CVH) and VOCAL New York offered a public rebuke to a special interest group pushing for tax breaks for the rich. Their organizing led dozens of protesters to converge on the reception for the Real Estate Board of New York’s (REBNY) annual gala, where activists called on attendees to pay their fair share to help get the state through tough economic times (REBNY is a major backer of the Committee to Save New York, a "coalition of powerful special interests pushing for a millionaire's tax break and reactionary budget cuts"). Read the press release and learn more on the CVH website. 

• Save the Date! On February 10 2011, the National Domestic Workers Alliance will be hosting an important Women’s Advocacy Day in Washington, D.C. The day will feature both a Women's Advocacy Exchange, which will run from 10 am - 1pm, and an ad-hoc congressional hearing --  "Emerging Issues in Ending Violence Against Immigrant Women" -- running from 2 pm - 3 pm in the Longworth Building (Room TBD). We'll post more information about the event as it becomes available.

• SPARK Reproductive Justice Now! published an update on their successful 2010 FYRE Youth Media Camp, which brought nine, dynamic LGBTQ youth of color leaders together for four days to think critically about reproductive and media justice issues.The participants learned how to shoot, edit, and broadcast short films, and re-imagined a world where media is used to promote positive change – for “our resilience, our lives, and our communities. “ Stay tuned -- the films will be posted online as early as February.