Mission:

The YWCA core advocacy issues reflect our mission and the values of our organization: The YWCA is dedicated to eliminating racism, empowering women and promoting peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all. 

 

Elimination of Racism:

The YWCA supports policies that contribute to the elimination of racism. This includes but is not limited to policies that eliminate racial profiling, increase immigrant rights, retain and strengthen affirmative action, reduce hate crimes and result in increased education on racism and its elimination.

Affirmative Action:

The YWCA supports the maintenance and strengthening of affirmative action laws to protect people from discrimination on the basis of race and gender.

Hate Crimes:

The YWCA supports the passage of Hate Crimes legislation that protects people from harassment, violence and other crimes on the basis of race, sex, gender, religion, ethnicity, age, disability, or sexual orientation.

Violence Against Women:

The YWCA supports anti-violence policies that protect victims, hold perpetrators accountable, and work to eradicate sexual assault and domestic violence, trafficking of women, and dating violence. Specifically, we support the continuance and increased funding for the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) and Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). The YWCA also supports legislation that ensures employment stability and economic security for victims of violence against women.

Increasing Women’s Income:

The YWCA supports initiatives to increase the income of women, including policies that raise the minimum wage, protect overtime, strengthen equal pay, maintain the earned income tax credit, oppose the privatization of social security, and expand non-traditional training for women from all socioeconomic and racial backgrounds

Welfare Reform:

The YWCA supports an anti-poverty approach to welfare reform that increases education and training opportunities, opposes marriage promotion/incentives, opposes religious discrimination in hiring, restores benefits to legal immigrants, addresses barriers to self-sufficiency such as domestic violence and substance abuse, and provides affordable and accessible child care.

Early Childhood Education:

The YWCA supports quality, affordable and accessible early childhood education that assists adults in moving towards economic independence and provides children with culturally sensitive, developmentally appropriate activities that enable children to succeed in school.