Category: Social Justice

Week Without Violence 2023

Posted on Updated on by Willow Stewart

About Week Without Violence

YWCA is on a mission to eliminate racism, empower women, stand up for social justice, help families, and strengthen communities. For more than 20 years, we have set aside one week in October as a Week Without Violence – a week to raise awareness and engage action to end the broad spectrum of violence – as part of a global movement with World YWCA to end violence against women and girls— we will educate our community and raise awareness that centers around tech-facilitated gender-based violence, such as the use of social media in online harassment and stalking. 
VIEW WEEK WITHOUT VIOLENCE 2023 SLIDESHOW

Week of Action

•Supply Drive All Week

Bring in a cleaning, hygiene, or feminine product for Wise Women Gathering Place, and receive a free clothing item coupon for the Madison Street Boutique.

Monday, October 16

Imagine a World Without Violence

•Social Media Challenge – All Day

Join us for a social media blast envisioning a world without violence

Today and all through the week we ask you to take a Week Without Violence campaign selfie (or group photo) using one of our customizable signs, tag us on social and use #WWV23, and then tag five friends and challenge them to do the same!

At YWCA, we know that not all violence is acknowledged or responded to equally and that some victims go unrecognized altogether. That’s why we focus on ending gender-based violence, including domestic violence, intimate partner violence, sexual assault, trafficking, and harassment.

•Leaders Are Readers – 9:30-10:00am

Robyn Gruner, AT&T

Local leaders read with our childcare students – listen along on Facebook Live

Reading to children at a young age enriches their understanding of the world around them, enhances cognitive development, and helps them gain the language they need to express themselves. By reading to our children, we prepare them for future success, while building a foundation of empathy for others. Each day during Week Without Violence a different community leader will spend time reading to our childcare students. Everyone is invited to attend each reading virtually via Facebook livestream – follow us on Facebook to read along.

Tuesday, October 17

Impact & Advocacy Day

•Capital Hill Day

Engage your Members of Congress by taking action online

This Capitol Hill Call-In Day, we invite you to engage your Members of Congress by taking action online; calling your legislators; and engaging with these discussions on social media, using #WWV23 and tweeting at your Member of Congress.

•Leaders Are Readers – 3:30-4:00pm

Aisha Morales, WBAY-TV

Local leaders read with our childcare students – listen along on Facebook Live

Reading to children at a young age enriches their understanding of the world around them, enhances cognitive development, and helps them gain the language they need to express themselves. By reading to our children, we prepare them for future success, while building a foundation of empathy for others. Each day during Week Without Violence a different community leader will spend time reading to our childcare students. Everyone is invited to attend each reading virtually via Facebook livestream – follow us on Facebook to read along.

•Moving Ahead... Financial Workshop 5:30pm

REGISTER FOR THIS WORKSHOP HERE!

Hosted by Laura Sinclair, BankFirst, snacks and raffle prizes

   

Learn about resources, financial safety planning and starting over, with the help of Laura Sinclair from Bank First. Learn the skills that makes sense to your situation, and move forward into financial independence. This workshop has been designed to help women achieve financial independence and rebuild their lives. The workshop covers a variety of important financial topics including budgeting, managing debt and improving credit and has been proven to help women and survivors move from short-term safety to long-term security. There will be snacks and raffle prizes along with opportunities to connect with other YWCA services and support groups.

Wednesday, October 18

Day of Action

•Leaders Are Readers – 9:30-10:00am

Amy Schaeuble, Executive Director of YWCA Greater Green Bay

Local leaders read with our childcare students – listen along on Facebook Live

Reading to children at a young age enriches their understanding of the world around them, enhances cognitive development, and helps them gain the language they need to express themselves. By reading to our children, we prepare them for future success, while building a foundation of empathy for others. Each day during Week Without Violence a different community leader will spend time reading to our childcare students. Everyone is invited to attend each reading virtually via Facebook livestream – follow us on Facebook to listen along.

•Community Conversations – 4:00pm

Digital Safety with Wise Women Gathering – Virtual Event

Please be sure to tune in at 4pm today to hear Tessa Lybert from Wise Women Gathering Place discuss digital safety with Andrea in the YWCA Community Conversation Series!

Thursday, October 19

Building Resilient Communities

•Leaders Are Readers – 3:30-4:00pm

Kathy Larkin, The Doug & Kathy Show 98.5 FM

Local leaders read with our childcare students – listen along on Facebook Live

Reading to children at a young age enriches their understanding of the world around them, enhances cognitive development, and helps them gain the language they need to express themselves. By reading to our children, we prepare them for future success, while building a foundation of empathy for others. Each day during Week Without Violence a different community leader will spend time reading to our childcare students. Everyone is invited to attend each reading virtually via Facebook livestream – follow us on Facebook to read along.

•YWCA National Town Hall  

Join YWCA USA for a dynamic discussion

More details will be coming soon.

•Social Media Storm

Join us for an engaging social media storm from 2:00-3:00 p.m. ET, hosted by our team at @YWCAUSA!

On Twitter we will be discussing tech-facilitated gender-based violence, the harm it causes offline, and how to promote and ensure online safety. Participate in the conversation on social media by tagging us at @YWCAUSA and using #WWV23 (plus #WeekWithoutViolence or #WeekWithoutViolence2023 if spacing permits).

•Self Defense Workshop – 5:30-6:30pm

REGISTER FOR THIS WORKSHOP HERE!

Learn from experts at the Green Bay Police Department who will lead this workshop empowering women to be safe

This self defense workshop is a program of realistic, self-defense tactics and techniques. This program is a comprehensive course for women and girls that begins with awareness, prevention, risk reduction and avoidance, while progressing on to the basics of hands-on defense training. It is not a Martial Arts program.

Safety and survival in today’s world requires a definite course of action. The Police Department facilitators provide effective options by teaching women and girls to take an active role in their own self-defense and psychological well being. Register by October 18.

Friday, October 20

Stronger Together

•Leaders Are Readers – 9:30-10:00am

Jamie Tramte Brassfield, Family Childcare Resources of NEW

Local leaders read with our childcare students – listen along on Facebook Live

Reading to children at a young age enriches their understanding of the world around them, enhances cognitive development, and helps them gain the language they need to express themselves. By reading to our children, we prepare them for future success, while building a foundation of empathy for others. Each day during Week Without Violence a different community leader will spend time reading to our childcare students. Everyone is invited to attend each reading virtually via Facebook livestream – follow us on Facebook to read along.

Saturday, October 21

#SelfCareSaturday

•Strength, Cycling, and Yoga – 9:00am-12:00pm

Specialty exercise classes for the community.

Taking the time to engage in healing and self-care as a provider, advocate, activist, or survivor is an integral part of your own mental and physical well-being and will help make you an even more powerful advocate for your causes, clients, friends, and family members.

30 min. Strength class led by Personal Trainer Caitlyn Shebesta 8:30-9:00am 

Join Caitlin for a 30-minute strength-based class. With the use of ones own bodyweight, this class is suitable for all stages of fitness and will give you an effective full-body workout feeling empowered, strong, and confident, no matter what your goal is.

30 min. Cycling class with Regan Dahnert 9:15-9:45am

Join Regan for a 30-minute endurance ride appropriate for all levels! The ride will have a “power of positive thinking” theme. Whether you are a novice or seasoned cyclist, this class is for you.

   

90 min. Yoga & Meditation with Jaime Lee from Crazy Heart Yoga 10:00-11:30am

Join Jaime for an empowering yoga class building self confidence as you flow through life in-person and online. Learn to trust and listen to your inner voice and set boundaries to keep your heart safe.

These classes will be followed by light refreshments, and conversation. If you are a provider, advocate, survivor, or activist please join us for this free event. Space is limited, please register by October 20.

REGISTER FOR FREE CLASSES HERE!

•Self-Care Shopping Day – 10:00am-12:30pm

Special shopping hours this Saturday only at The Madison Street Boutique – 2nd floor of YWCA

Fishbowl of deals! Kick off your holiday shopping, engage with others, and feel the support of local women. 

If you have items in your closet you would like to donate bring them in!

Thank You to Partners and Participants for a Successful Event!

Until Justice Just Is 2023

Posted on Updated on by Willow Stewart

Until Justice Just Is provides the opportunity for communities across the United States to unite their voices to educate, advocate, and promote racial justice. Our campaign will feature a Racial Justice challenge that builds effective social justice habits; webinars aimed at guiding a society that encourages diversity; and an interactive life size board game called The Pursuit of Justice for individuals and groups to participate in. Our collective efforts can root out injustice, transform institutions, and create a world that sees women, girls, and people of color the way we see them: Equal. Powerful. Unstoppable.

Events

April 13 - 15

The Game of Equity

Pursuit of Justice: The Music Edition

Each spring we create a life size interactive board game in Jackson Square Park. Participants are invited to walk through the park, play the game, and learn about race and gender equity. In 2023, we are playing Pursuit of Justice: The Music Edition.

Each stop on the game ‘board’ is a trivia question and each answer is a song written in the pursuit of justice. Answers are given in a QR code, so bring your smart phone or device. Challenge your friends’ trivia knowledge, uncover new perspectives on race and gender justice, find a new song for your playlist or gain a new understanding of an old favorite!

April 5, 12, 19 and 26

Leaders Are Readers

Reading to children at a young age enriches their understanding of the world around them, enhances cognitive development, and helps them gain the language they need to express themselves. By reading to our children, we prepare them for future success, while building a foundation of empathy for others. Each week during Until Justice Just Is, a community leader will volunteer time reading to our childcare students. Everyone is invited to attend each reading virtually via Facebook livestream – follow us on Facebook to read along as we choose books on Kindness with a justice lens.

Schreiber Foods

April 5 – 3:15PM

Oneida Nation

April 12 – 3:15PM

Aging and Disability Resource Center

April 19 – 3:15PM

St. John’s Ministries

April 26 – 3:15PM

Thursday, April 13 at 2pm

YWCA USA Virtual Town Hall

Diving Deep into all Things Racial Justice

Advancing Justice: Ensuring Equity for All
YWCA USA will host a virtual event on April 13th, featuring an array of experts, community leaders, and elected officials to discuss the intersections between racism and housing disparities, how disability and mental health challenges increase the impacts of these disparities, and what we can do to address the most critical issues impacting communities of color today.  
 

Speakers

Margaret Mitchell

CEO YWCA USA

Condace Pressley

Director of Community
& Public Affairs at WBS-TV

Tina Herrera

YWCA USA Board Chair

Lisa Rice

National Fair Housing Alliance President & CEO

Dara Starr Tucker

Musician, Social
Commentator, and Influencer

Michelle Wu

Mayor of Boston

REGISTER HERE

DISABILITY

Explore the history of Eugenics, the Disability Rights Movement, the intersection of race, gender, and disability, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on those with differing abilities.

HOUSING

Learn how redlining continues to impact communities, who can access housing, and how racism, homophobia, and transphobia have become drivers of homelessness and its criminalization.

MENTAL HEALTH

Dive into how psychology has been used as a tool of marginalization, access to mental healthcare, and discrimination’s impact on mental health outcomes.

MUSIC

Discover the legacy of musician activists, racism in the music industry, cultural appropriation, how music pushes against gender stereotypes, and access to music education.

April 17 - May 15

Racial Justice Challenge

The YWCA Racial Justice Challenge designed to create dedicated time and space to build more effective social justice habits, particularly those dealing with issues of race, power, privilege, and leadership. The Challenge works to foster personal reflection, encourage social responsibility, and motivate participants to identify and act on ways to dismantle racism and other forms of discrimination.

For four weeks, daily challenge activities (reading an article, listening to a podcast, reflecting on personal experience, etc.) are posted in the Challenge app and website, allowing participants to connect with one another, discover how racial and social injustice impact our community, and identify ways to dismantle racism and other forms of discrimination. Each week covers a different topic related to equity and social justice. Daily activities are not posted on the weekends.

The Racial Justice Challenge is your chance to address systemic racism head on. Build your own tools for dealing with issues of race, power, privilege, and leadership – Register to take the challenge.

Once you register for the challenge, there are a few steps to complete the registration including to select the Welcome – Start Here tab and complete the pre-event survey.  On the survey, make sure to select that you are participating in the challenge with YWCA Greater Green Bay so you can be invited to our local activities for participants.

For questions and help with registration and steps for registering, please email Andrea Huggenvik at:  [email protected]

 

Until Justice Just Is Pledge

YWCA is on a mission to eliminate racism, empower women, stand up for social justice, help families, and strengthen communities. I am joining the movement for racial justice with YWCA and hundreds of thousands of people across the country. Join us and YWCA in advancing justice — until justice just is.

Stop By our Location to Sign Our Pledge or Click on the Link Below to Sign Electronically:

YWCA Greater Green Bay
230 S. Madison Street, Green Bay, WI 54301
CLICK HERE

YWCA Launches “Until Justice Just Is” Campaign

Posted on Updated on by Willow Stewart

YWCA Greater Green Bay, in partnership with YWCA USA, the nation’s oldest and largest women’s organization, launched their 2023 Until Justice Just Is (UJJI) campaign – formerly known as Stand Against Racism – which will run throughout the month of April and is intended to raise awareness of systematic racism and how each of us can take action to advance justice.

YWCA’s first Director of Racial Justice, Dr. Dorothy Height, built a legacy of racial and gender justice that helped shape the civil rights movement. To carry forth her momentum in the movement for racial justice, YWCA USA introduced Until Justice Just Is to bring awareness to the pervasiveness of systemic racism and to act as a roadmap for how individuals, communities, and corporations can take actionable steps to eliminate racism. 

The theme for this year’s Until Justice Just Is campaign is Advancing Justice: Ensuring Equity for All and will feature two main components at the national level: a virtual event on April 13 and the 2023 YWCA Racial Justice Challenge, which will run from April 17-May 15. 

Locally, YWCA Greater Green Bay will also be hosting Pursuit of Justice: The Music Edition from April 13-15. Each stop on the game board is a trivia question, and each answer is a song written in the pursuit of justice. Answers are given in a QR code, so bring your smartphone or device. Leaders are Readers, every Wednesday in April at 3:15 pm on Facebook Live, are events where community leaders volunteer their time to read to our childcare students.

YWCA USA’s virtual Until Justice Just Is Town Hall on April 13 will feature an array of experts, community leaders, and elected officials to discuss the intersections between racism and housing disparities, how disability and mental health challenges increase the impacts of these disparities, and what we can do to address the most critical issues impacting communities of color today. 

The YWCA Racial Justice Challenge is a virtual community of growth and learning that is open to anyone and will provide daily challenges such as reading an article, listening to a podcast, reflecting on personal experiences, and so much more to help participants build more effective social justice habits, particularly those dealing with issues of race, power, privilege, and leadership. Weekly topics for this year’s YWCA Racial Justice Challenge will include disability, housing, music, and mental health. YWCA’s Racial Justice Challenge content was designed and curated by YWCA Greater Cleveland, and music week was created in partnership with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. 

“We invite our community to join us in Jackson Square Park to participate in the Pursuit of Justice game and to register for the Racial Justice Challenge, where you can build your own tools for dealing with issues of race, power, privilege, and leadership,” stated Amy Schaeuble, Executive Director of YWCA Greater Green Bay.

More information about YWCA’s Until Justice Just Is campaigns can be found at justice.ywca.org and ywcagreenbay.org. 

Green Bay Press Gazette – YWCA Greater Green Bay transforms Jackson Park into giant ‘equity’ board game as part of Stand Against Racism event

Posted on Updated on by Willow Stewart
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GREEN BAY – The game piece you might choose at this Green Bay YWCA event depicts a 52-year-old Indigenous woman with no children who took time off from her career to pursue a PhD.

After returning to her profession as an executive in the finance and insurance industry, the character featured in this game earns 71 cents for every dollar earned by a white man.

Except, it isn’t really a game. Her salary was calculated using reports from the 2022 State of the Gender Pay Gap Report and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

The “Game of Equity” is one activity in the four-day signature event called Stand Against Racism, organized by YWCA Greater Green Bay. The event at Jackson Park started Thursday and continues through Sunday.

Depending on the piece you play, the game invites you to imagine what life could be like as a 27-year-old white woman with a young child and a bachelor’s degree, a 36-year-old Hispanic woman without children and a master’s degree in business, the aforementioned Indigenous woman, or a 40-year-old Black woman with two children and a master’s degree.

Their circumstances change the outcome of their wages, explained Amy Schaeuble, executive director of YWCA Greater Green Bay, depending on whether they’re a mother, if they took time away from work, their age and their race or ethnicity. 

Stand Against Racism 2022

Posted on Updated on by Willow Stewart

Have you ever heard terms like: Wage Gap, Gender Pay Gap, or the Motherhood Penalty? Have you ever wondered why women tend to earn less than men, especially women of color? At YWCA Greater Green Bay we held our 2022 Stand Against Racism Community Campaign April 28 – May 1, 2022 to educate our community and spark action related to these issues. 

Over the course of four days, we gave community members the opportunity to learn and take action against racism and sexism by signing pledges, viewing webinars, and walking through our life-size board game. Participants gained tools to talk with their friends, family, and colleagues about the persistent barriers women and people of color face to equal pay and actions we can all take to close the gap.

The event began with a proclamation by Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich! Leaders and community members participated by visiting the event and/or signing pledges, including Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes, US Senator Tammy Baldwin, and Wisconsin Representative Kristina Shelton.

The Game of Equity

Our life-sized board game took place in Jackson Square Park. The game was an educational experience that helped participants see how existing gaps in pay affect members of our community, while also providing action steps to get involved and make a difference.

Among other actions and contributions, a number of children’s books were donated to the YWCA with stories reflecting the diversity of experiences of children in our childcare program so that everyone has the opportunity to see themselves reflected in the books they read.