Week of Action

Sunday, October 18th

Organize Your Butterflies – A Special Week Without Violence Series

This year, YWCA is honored to feature several conversations surrounding the multitude of ways that gender-based violence impacts the lives of survivors. Join us in conversation on Organize Your Butterflies as we explore this harmful spectrum and work to empower and uplift the voices of survivors. Continuing our tradition from last year, we are pleased to release this 2nd-ever special mini-series and look forward to sharing the stories of our guests with you beginning on October 18th.

Topics and guests will include Sophie Sandberg, the Founder of CatCalls of NYC and the Chalk Back Movement, and our partners at Allstate as they discuss Moving Ahead from financial and domestic abuse, among others!

Check back soon for more information and to listen to these tailored episodes as we promote a world free from gender-based violence: APPLE PODCASTS  |  GOOGLE PLAY  |  STITCHER  |  SPOTIFY | TUNEIN | RSS

 

Monday, October 19th

Ending Violence Against All Womxn

Womxn experience domestic violence, gender-based violence, and intimate partner violence irrespective of socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, religious affiliation, and sex. While no two cases of abuse are the same, we know that abusers exert power over their partners to achieve and maintain power and control over an intimate partner, such as physical violence, emotional abuse, isolation of the victim, financial and economic abuse, intimidation, coercion, and threats. For survivors who identify as women of color, obstacles in leaving an abusive relationship are often heightened due to existing cultural and institutional barriers, making them less likely to seek help and resources to free themselves from their abusers.

Join us for this virtual panel in which we will engage leaders of partner organizations who are working to eliminate violence against ALL womxn and their communities in a discussion that will provide facts and stats, debunk myths, and provide resources to help survivors thrive.

Speakers include:

  • Saida Agostini, Vice President, Member Services, YWCA USA (moderator)
  • Dani Ayers, Chief Executive Officer, me too. movement
  • Grace Huang, Director of Policy, Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence
  • Rosie Hidalgo, JD, Senior Director of Public Policy, Casa de Esperanza
  • Isa Noyola, Deputy Director, Mijente
  • Megan Simmons, Senior Policy Attorney, Ujima: The National Center on Violence Against Women in the Black Community

Register today for a conversation you won’t want to miss!

 

Tuesday, October 20th

Imagine a World Without Violence

When we envision a world without violence, we begin to build a path to creating that world. Help us raise awareness about gender-based violence, support survivors, and envision a world without violence!

Today, 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 the hashtag #WWV20, and then tag 5 friends and challenge them to do the same! Check out our useful Week Without Violence guide for more info and sample social media posts.
  • Can’t or don’t want to post a photo? Support us! YWCA is the largest network of domestic services providers in the country, and your support is crucial to our work. Every year, we help 500,000 women, girls and families get and stay safe through sexual assault, trafficking, and violence prevention programs. Our YWCAs couldn’t do this critical work without support from people like you!

 

Wednesday, October 21st

Day of Action

Capitol Hill Call-In Day

Strengthening policies that support survivors and help prevent gender-based violence starts with constituents like you! 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 the hashtag #WWV20 and tweeting at your Member of Congress. Together we can paint Capitol Hill persimmon by demanding attention from our elected officials on the important issue of gender-based violence.
Get involved:

Make the Local Focal: Where do Your Elected Officials Stand?

Take action! Collective action requires collective responsibility, and it all starts with YOU! It is critical that we each engage with our local elected officials on the important issue of gender-based violence.  And to really make change we must engage our communities, friends, and colleagues.
Get involved:

  • Call on your friends, family, neighbors, and other community members to sign the Week Without Violence Pledge for Community Members to engage in ending gender-based violence.
  • Call on your local and state elected officials to sign the Week Without Violence Pledge for Policy makers to engage in ending gender-based violence, and/or encourage them to issue a proclamation declaring the third week in October to be YWCA Week Without Violence Week in your community.
  • Hold state and local elected officials accountable: Ask questions and find out what their positions are on policies that support survivors. Ask them how they will work to implement changes to end violence against women and girls, and to better provide support and resources. Use our policy resources to get started and check out more information about ways to take action in your community and with your elected officials on our Act Now page!
  • Write a letter to the editor! Use the template in the toolkit to get the word out to your community about the prevalence of gender-based violence in your community and the importance of building a community and a world free from violence.

Stay connected: Sign up to receive our action alerts

 

Thursday, October 22nd

Virtual Capitol Hill Briefing – YWCA on the Frontlines: Virtual Site Visits of Local Domestic Violence Providers

Join YWCA as we lead Member of Congress through a virtual tour of facilities that are providing trauma-informed services that meet the housing, justice, and economic needs of survivors of violence and abuse.
 
These tours show first-hand how YWCAs are helping survivors and their children thrive using emergency funding received from the CARES Act and annual federal funding supported by the Family Violence Prevention & Services Act (FVPSA) and the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). As the nation’s largest network of domestic and sexual violence service providers, this funding is critical to allow YWCAs to continue to provide critical and necessary services for survivors and their children.
 
Register today to join in on our virtual tour that we hope will inspire and encourage Congress to reprioritize COVID-19 relief funding for FVPSA and VAWA.

 

Friday, October 23rd

#FreedomFriday Instagram Live

Join us for our #FreedomFriday Instagram Live from 2 to 3 p.m. ET, in which our CEO Alejandra Y. Castillo and Kim Pentico, Director of Economic Justice Program, National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV) will have an engaging and informative conversation about violence against womxn and how to best support survivors in the quest for freedom from abuse.

The conversation will be opened and closed with an empowering music set from DJ DOMO that you won’t want to miss!

 

Saturday, October 24th

#SelfCareSaturday       

Service providers, advocates, and activists in the fight to end gender-based violence all care deeply about these issues, and about the survivors they help each and every day. Unfortunately, this work can also cause vicarious trauma for individuals as they work with survivors who have undergone serious trauma or can retraumatize individuals who are survivors themselves.

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 and clients.