ADVOCACY AGENDA

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 and sexual 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.

Against this backdrop, YWCA calls on all elected officials to act on the following issues:

• Reauthorization of the Family Violence Prevention and Services Reauthorization Act (FVPSA)
• Strengthen and maintain enforcement, oversight, accountability of Violence Against Women (VAWA) and Family Violence Prevention and Services Act (FVPSA) implementation
• 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, inclusive school environments that are free from sexual violence, are supportive of survivors, and that respect and affirm gender identity and expression

Download these resources to learn more:

• Preventing Gun Violence
• VAWA Reauthorization: Preventing Firearm-Related Violence
• VAWA – YWCA Local Impact and Stories
• FVPSA – YWCA Local Impact and Stories

Increase access to quality, affordable childcare and early education programs

Child care and early learning programs are essential for working women and for our nation’s economic future. Unfortunately, systemic barriers have disproportionately impacted marginalized and non-traditional communities, leaving many without access to quality, affordable care. Without additional federal investments that include robust support to hire and retain the child care and early childhood education workforce, families will be left without option and our economy will be in peril. A sustainable childcare infrastructure is pivotal to meeting the needs of all women, families and child care providers.

Guided by the on-the-ground experience and voices of providers, we urge elected officials to:

• Stabilize and build the childcare workforce by increasing access to living wages and skills-based training for child care providers and educators
• Invest in the long-term stabilization of the child care sector to ensure accessible, quality, affordable childcare and early education programs
• Address the mental, behavioral, and emotional health needs of providers and children
• Ensure healthy, equitable, and supportive workplaces for teachers, staff, and the children in their care

Increase Federal Support for Nonprofit Services and Programs

YWCA is on the front lines of communities, strengthening the pillars of economic security for women and families and meeting their needs in moments of crisis. 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.

Faced with ongoing and increased demand for services, YWCA urges Congress to provide robust levels of federal funding for programs and services that:

• Support survivors and prevent gender-based violence particularly through the:
  • Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), particularly VAWA’s Transitional Housing program
  • Family Violence Prevention & Services Act (FVPSA)
• Stabilize and increase child care accessibility specifically through the:
  • Child Care Development Block Grant (CCDBG)
  • Early Head Start and Head Start
• Increase access to emergency and transitional housing, specifically through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD):
  • Continuum of Care program, including the Gender-based violence set-aside
  • Emergency Solutions Grant

Download these resources to learn more:

• Block-Granting Low-Income Programs Leads to Large Funding Declines Over Time, History Shows

Strengthen the health and vitality of the YWCA network

The nonprofit sector is the backbone of our communities and continues to champion on-the-ground programs, human services, and educational activities for families across the country. 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. The need to strengthen the nonprofit sector’s ability to respond and assist in any key recovery efforts – from pandemic to hurricane, power outage to flood – as well as hire and retain workers is more critical than ever.

We urge elected officials to provide relief and recovery for the nonprofit sector including:

• Strengthening and building an equitable nonprofit workforce with the ability to hire and retain a diverse workforce at family sustaining wages
• Restore and expand the above-the-line or universal charitable deduction and other tax policies that incentivize giving

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 impacting a broad range of issues across education, justice, civic engagement, health, and other sectors. YWCA’s intersectional mission to eliminate racism and empower women demands that we advocate against the oppression and inequities that many groups and individuals endure.

YWCA urges bold action by elected officials to advance racial justice to:

• Pass legislation that addresses racism as a public health crisis and marshal resources across sectors to promote health and well-being in communities of color
• Defend and protect equal access to the ballot box
• Enact laws that safeguard people of color from police violence and increase police accountability
• Create safe, equitable educational environments that support learning for all students, especially those most impacted by school discipline and sexual harassment policies and practices
• Increase access to comprehensive youth mental health services that is culturally response, trauma-informed, and recognizes the unique experiences and impacts of youth of color

Download these resources to learn more:

• YWCA Racism is a Public Health Crisis Policy Statement
• YWCA Racial Justice and Police Accountability Policy Statement
• We Still Deserve Safety: Renewing the Call to End the Criminalization of Women and Girls of Color
• We Deserve Safety Report
• We Still Deserve Safety: Executive Summary

Strengthen maternal health services and safe, legal abortion care

For more than fifty years, YWCA USA has supported the reproductive freedom of all people to make fundamental decisions about whether and when to have children. In issuing its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and with it more than 50 years of legal precedent, disproportionately impacting the lives of young women and people of color who are already marginalized in our healthcare system. While racial disparities in health care increase pregnancy concerns for Black women, they also face a maternal health crisis that leaves them at four times greater risk of dying due to a pregnancy-related death, deepening the impacts of the decision in Dobbs. Bodily autonomy and the right to have an abortion are fundamental rights of all persons.

YWCA urges immediate action by elected officials to:

• Codify equal access to safe, legal abortion care for all
• Strengthen maternal health and improve health outcomes for survivors of domestic and sexual violence as well as women of color

Download these resources to learn more:

• YWCA USA amicus brief in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization

Expand opportunities for women’s success

Women are the primary source of financial support for many families and bear significant caretaking responsibilities at home. At YWCA, we believe no one should have to choose between their livelihoods and their health, their family, or their safety. Yet as a result of their dual roles as caregivers and primary breadwinners, many women in the workforce, particularly women of color, are often forced to choose between their family’s economic security and their health when they or their loved ones need care. Moreover, women continue to face the economic barriers of pay inequity, sexual harassment, and discrimination.

YWCA urges immediate action to:

• Work toward equal pay for equal work and pass legislation prohibiting the use of salary history in job interviews and negotiations
• Enact nondiscrimination laws, such as the Equality Act
• Prohibit sexual harassment on the basis of gender and gender identity in the workplace
• Codify paid family and medical leave, paid sick, and safe leave that are inclusive of all families, with strong accountability and job protection requirements