action center
Our 2020 action agenda is here!
Join the movement and take action with us! We advocate for racial justice, women’s economic empowerment, and affordable housing.
Tell your Member of Congress to support the SSI Restoration Act! Approximately 2/3rds of SSI recipients are women, and women are 8 times more likely to age into poverty than men, making this resource critical. Many more older adults needs SSI, but can’t get these payments because they have more than $2,000 in assets. It’s time to update the SSI for today’s time and protect our older adults!
Take Action Today!
Call your Member of Congress by finding their phone number here. Tell them your name and where you live. Then, tell that you want them to prioritize older adults in their COVID-19 negotiations, and that you want to see the SSI Restoration Act passed!
That’s it! One quick phone call in less than five minutes can make a big difference in the lives of older adults and their financial security. Thank you for taking this action!
To learn more about the SSI Restoration Act, check out these brief (1-2 page) resources:
New to taking action? We’re so glad you’re here! Check out our brand new Advocacy 101 Guide.
KNOW YOUR RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES, TAKE ACTION
California passed 3 key pieces of legislation to protect immigrants in 2017: SB 54, AB 291 and AB 450. Prepare yourself and your workplace to respond to raids by scheduling a YWCA trainer to come to your organization.
YWCA STATE ADVOCACY AGENDA – SIGN HERE
The YWCAs of California including: YWCA Berkeley/Oakland, YWCA Contra Costa/ Sacramento, YWCA Glendale, YWCA Greater Los Angeles, YWCA Harbor Area, YWCA Monterey County, YWCA North Orange County, YWCA Pasadena-Foothill Valley, YWCA San Diego County, YWCA San Francisco & Marin, YWCA San Gabriel Valley, YWCA Silicon Valley, and YWCA Watsonville are leveraging our collective and unified voice to advocate for immigrants in the communities we serve. Sign on to our agenda addressing the criminalization of people of color by promoting policies and practices that eliminate unjust deportation and over-surveillance of immigrant communities.
PROTECT THE DREAMERS – SIGN HERE
Immigrants are essential for California. This year we passed the California Values Act (SB 54). “To the millions of undocumented residents pursuing and contributing to the California Dream, the State of California will be your wall of justice should the incoming Administration adopt an inhumane and over-reaching mass-deportation policy,” said Senator de León. “We will not stand by and let the federal government use our state and local agencies to separate mothers from their children.” Click here to urge your Congressperson to support California Values and protect the 800,000 DREAMers.
CALIFORNIA VALUES ACT (SB 54, DE LEÓN), WE WON! TAKE ACTION
We value our immigrant neighbors.
Get trained on the new protections in SB 54 and what to do if ICE comes to your workplace. This bill upholds California’s core values of inclusion, equal treatment, community and family unity by ensuring that California’s police departments, schools, hospitals, and courts remain accessible to all Californians. Xenophobia and fear are not California values and distrust between local police and the community makes our streets more dangerous for everyone. The California Values Act protects people we care about in our community and makes us all safer by drawing a clear line between local policing and federal immigration enforcement.
We advocate for strong family-friendly workplace policies that benefit our whole economy. No one who works full time should live in poverty or have to choose between her health, her family, and her paycheck. Living wages, paid sick days, family and medical leave, and fair scheduling are all key components of making jobs work for women, for people of color, and for the families and communities they support.
EXPANDED DEFINITION OF FAMILY, TAKE ACTION
We all need to be able to take care of family, and have family take care of us. And family is way more than just our parents and children. YWCA believes family leave should apply to the broad range of family members we love and care for. We urge our legislators to expand family leave to include our siblings, in-laws, grandparents, grandchildren, and all the people we call family.
ENDING SEXUAL HARASSMENT, TAKE ACTION
Long overdue, and thanks to the work of countless brave women like Tarana Burke, there are nearly a dozen statewide bills addressing sexual harassment in the workplace this year. For the most up-to-date information and ways to push these bills along, sign up for email alerts below and follow along on facebook and twitter.
NEW PARENT LEAVE (SB 63, JACKSON), WE WON!
The New Parent Leave Act ensures more new parents would have the right to bond with their children and take the paid leave they already contribute to without fear of losing their jobs. SB 63 is an important way to strengthen protections for working families and build a more equitable workplace. It will especially benefit low-income workers, women, and people of color who all have disproportionately little access to job protected leave.
Sample Tweet: We’re so proud of CA for passing #NewParentLeave and a #StrongerCA for all! @YWCASFMarin
$15 MINIMUM WAGE, WE WON!
We were proud to join the Lift Up California coalition in 2016 for a $15 minimum wage and be recognized as a champion community partner. YWCA Advocates collected petition signatures and organized our communities to raise the wages of millions of CA women and people of color. Since 74% of minimum wage workers in California are people of color and over half are women, raising the minimum wage will have an immediate and significant impact on the race- and gender-based wage gaps in our state.
We were proud to join the Lift Up California coalition in 2016 for a $15 minimum wage and be recognized as a champion community partner. YWCA Advocates collected petition signatures and organized our communities to raise the wages of millions of CA women and people of color. Since 74% of minimum wage workers in California are people of color and over half are women, raising the minimum wage will have an immediate and significant impact on the race- and gender-based wage gaps in our state.
Eliminating racism is central to our mission. We advocate for policies and practices that will move the needle on racial inequity, and we invite our communities to join us in this work. If you want to learn more about racial justice, why it matters, and how to get started, check out our resource library here.
TAKE THE INCLUSION INVENTORY
Many organizations recognize the value of diversity but struggle to maintain highly effective multicultural teams. That’s because diversity alone isn’t enough. YWCA’s unique new program, the Inclusion Inventory, bridges the critical gap between diversity and inclusion. We’ll help you create an environment where people can bring their unique experiences and strengths to the table, without minimizing core aspects of their identity or their culture.
STAND AGAINST RACISM, TAKE ACTION
Stand Against Racism is a signature, nation-wide campaign to raise awareness about the negative impact of institutional and structural racism in our communities. This annual event is one part of our larger national strategy to fulfill our mission of eliminating racism. Take the pledge to stand with us!
OUTLAW RACIAL PROFILING IN CALIFORNIA (AB 953), WE WON!
In 2015, we advocated for the passage of AB 953, the Racial and Identity Profiling Act. This landmark legislation requires law enforcement in California to collect data on stops, detentions, and citizen complaints alleging racial profiling. Racial justice advocates have used this kind of information in places like Ferguson to help address institutional racism and transform law enforcement’s disproportionate negative impacts on communities of color
As an affordable housing provider, we know firsthand that safe, affordable housing is central to everyone’s well-being, but we face a local housing crisis of unprecedented proportions. That’s why we’re working with partners and bringing our constituents together to promote creative solutions.
AFFORDABLE HOUSING BOND, ACTION COMING
There will be an effort to place an affordable housing bond on the November 2018 ballot, thanks to legislation passed by our coalition partners at NPH last year (SB 3, Beall). Watch this space! We’ll be calling for volunteers to collect petition signatures and then getting out the word (and the vote) in November.
FLEXIBLE HOUSING & JUNIOR UNITS (AB 2406, BONTA), WE WON!
Stand Against Racism is a signature, nation-wide campaign to raise awareness about the negative impact of institutional and structural racism in our communities. This annual event is one part of our larger national strategy to fulfill our mission of eliminating racism. Take the pledge to stand with us!
Find Your Elected Officials
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