ADVOCACY AGENDA
YWCA carries on its long tradition of social action and advocacy to advance our mission – and you are a crucial part of this work. Your voice is critical as we advocate for policies that bring us closer to eliminating racism, empowering women, and ensuring peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all.
Learn more about our policy and advocacy agenda below. Visit our Action Center to join us in taking action on our 2019-2020 legislative priorities.
Protect the Rights and Safety of Marginalized Communities
YWCA’s intersectional mission to eliminate racism and empower women demands that we show up to advocate against the oppression that many groups and individuals endure. We recognize the interconnected experiences of discrimination and disadvantage that women face from their overlapping identities.
What we support:
- A full and fair census
- Restoration of the full protections of the Voting Rights Act of 1965
- Legal protections for LGTBQ+ people
- Equal rights amendment
Download these resources to learn more:
Improve Women’s Economic Security
Removing barriers and expanding opportunities for women’s successful workplace participation is at the heart of YWCA’s mission to empower women. No one should have to choose between their livelihood and their health, their family, or their safety. Yet far too many women and families, particularly women and families of color, must make this choice every day.
What we support:
- Fair wages and equal pay
- Safe, fair, and inclusive workplaces free of discrimination and harassment
- Job-protected safe leave, paid sick leave, and paid family leave
- Quality, affordable child care and early education programs
- Access to workforce development and STEM opportunities
- Safe, decent, affordable, and fair housing
Download these resources to learn more:
Increase Federal Support for Programs and Communities
YWCA is on the front lines fostering opportunities for women, children and families to achieve economic security and stability. Every day, we see first-hand the critical difference that federal funding for housing, childcare, domestic violence, workforce development, and other services makes in communities served by YWCAs.
What we support:
- Full funding for the Family Violence Prevention & Services Act (FVPSA) and for the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)
- Strengthening the pillars of economic security for women and families by increasing federal funding for workforce training and development, STEM careers, safe and affordable child care, and housing
- Programs like SNAP, WIC, LIHEAP that help families meet basic human needs when economic challenges arise
Download these resources to learn more:
Prevent Gender-Based Violence and Support Survivors
Women and girls of all ages, income levels, racial and ethnic communities, sexual orientations, gender identities, and religious affiliations continue to experience violence in the form of domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, stalking, and trafficking. As the largest network of domestic violence service providers in the United States, YWCA works for practical solutions to protect survivors, hold perpetrators accountable, and eradicate all forms of gender-based violence.
What we support:
- Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)
- Reauthorization of the Family Violence Prevention and Services Reauthorization Act (FVPSA)
- Preserve and increase the cap of the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) fund
- Common-sense solutions that decrease the threat of domestic violence gun homicide
- Job-protected “safe leave” to enable survivors to seek medical and legal support
- Safe school environments free from sexual violence
Download these resources to learn more:
Ensure health care for women, girls, and marginalized people
Quality, affordable, culturally-competent health care is critical to everyone, but for many women, children, people of color, and trauma survivors, getting the medical care and insurance coverage they need is a struggle. Moreover, unequal access to health care is a driving factor in racial disparities in maternal and other health outcomes in the U.S.
What we support:
- The Affordable Care Act
- Trauma-informed care
- Comprehensive reproductive health services
- Improved maternal health outcomes for women of color
- Elimination of health disparities
Download these resources to learn more:
Protect Immigrant Women, Children, and Families
YWCA is committed to ensuring that those seeking safety and opportunity in the U.S. can arrive and live without fear, harm, or discrimination. Current immigration policies, however, have retraumatized survivors of violence, heightened fears, and exacerbated discrimination against immigrant communities. Any discussion of immigration must prioritize the safety of immigrant women, children, and families who often have experienced violence, trafficking, extreme poverty, and other threats to their safety and health.
What we support:
- The DREAM Act
- An end to family separation and family detention
- Asylum for survivors of violence
- Full and fair immigration and asylum proceedings
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Eliminate policies and practices that criminalize people of color
YWCA is committed to ensuring that everyone is afforded equal opportunity and equal protection under the law. Too often, however, stereotypes, biases, and racial power dynamics are embedded in our laws and public policies. They are also reflected in the use of racial profiling, heightened surveillance tactics, targeted enforcement strategies, and other practices that increase policing of certain racial and ethnic communities (but not others) and criminalize people of color.
What we support:
- The End Racial and Religious Profiling Act
- Ending school discipline disparities and the “school to prison pipeline”
- Ending mass incarceration
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Strengthen the health and vitality of the YWCA network
YWCA is a national leader along with other charitable partners in supporting policies that contribute to a strong civic society and culture of giving so that we can better serve women, girls, and their families. We support policies such as tax incentives that promote charitable giving and efforts to strengthen our democratic society.
What we support:
- Protection of the Johnson Amendment, which maintains nonpartisanship among nonprofit organizations
- IRA Legacy Act to expand the IRA charitable rollover for middle-income seniors
- Incentivizing charitable giving
Download these resources to learn more:
- Reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) and the Family Violence Prevention & Services Act (FVPSA)
- Advance opportunities to promote and support economic security for survivors of gender-based violence
- Pass the End Racial (and Religious) Profiling Act (ERRPA) and advance other opportunities to end the criminalization of people of color
- Support trauma-informed care for children and families exposed to violence and abuse
- Secure federal funding to support the workforce development, gender-based violence, STEM, child care, and housing work of YWCAs