As we head into the holiday weekend, I’d like nothing more than to be able to wish you a happy long Labor Day weekend, accompanied by a cheery message toasting our nation’s workers and reflecting on the many invaluable contributions and hard-won victories the labor movement has achieved. But with 40 million people unemployed, 185,000 dead from COVID and Black people continuing to be attacked by police and the criminal justice system, the sentiment rings hollow and disconnected from our daily reality.
It's overwhelming right now and we’re all exhausted. That is why even though it’s important to make space for ourselves and others to express tension, pain, grief and fear - it’s equally important that we prioritize investing in our own, and collective, wellbeing.
While we’ve increasingly come to understand self-care as critical to our health and wellbeing, even embracing the concept of self-care as a necessary form of resistance, practicing community care takes the idea one step further by broadening the focus toward meeting the needs of others in service of the collective wellbeing of our communities. Community care consists of both small- and large-scale actions that we can take to show support. Defined another way, community care is “people committed to leveraging their privilege to be there for one another in various ways."
Community care can take many forms, including protest, volunteering, or even just checking in with a friend or loved one. Depending on each of our roles and positions, the way we give care may look different. I invite you to spend some time thinking about and identifying the forms of care you can provide for others that both feed your own sense of wellbeing and allow you to care for others.
As the adage goes, you cannot pour from an empty cup. This weekend, I hope we all can be intentional about taking time to rest, reconnect, restore. As leaders, you have the power and obligation to demonstrate the value of investing in resilience.
This Labor Day weekend let’s encourage our staff, and our colleagues, to take a break from our jobs – to be present in our life’s work: our family, our friends, our communities.
Together, we can create and cultivate a new culture within the social change sector. One, that will enable us to increase our capacity for innovation and collaboration, which will ultimately lead to more effective solutions and strategies.
Thank you for all that you do.
Yours for equity and justice,
Elizabeth Barajas-Román
Women’s Funding Network
President & CEO
WFN MEMBER INITIATIVES
Michelle Legaspi Sanchez, Executive Director of Chester County Fund for Women and Girls, has written an op-edon seeking solutions and finding a balance for working moms as the school year begins amidst a global pandemic.
Global Fund for Women has released their new Strategic Plan to fund and strengthen bold and ambitious gender justice movements to create lasting change. Their three-year strategic priorities support their shift of work to their new movement-led approach, equipping movements with flexible financing and resources to maximize their impact and drive meaningful change.
Women's Foundation of Greater St. Louis welcomes their new Executive Director, Keri Walton Koehler. With an extensive background in community engagement and partnership building, Koehler is well-prepared to direct WFSTL’s strategic initiatives, which require thoughtful collaboration to achieve transformative change. Read more about her here!
Join NewMexicoWomen.Org for "Represent! The Politics of Gender Justice & Healing", a virtual evening with Aimee Allison, Founder of She the People, and Congresswoman Deb Haaland.
This month and through the fall, Ms. Foundation for Women and Brooklyn Historical Society will be hosting a multi-part virtual series, Women + Power: 100 Years After the 19th Amendment, which will reflect on the triumphs and shortcomings of the passage of the 19th Amendment, with discussions on the relationship between gender, power, and the ongoing struggle for equality. The next program in the series will feature a conversation on the status of equal empowerment, compensation, and resources for all genders.
Women + Power: ECONOMIC POWER
September 9, 7:30 pm ET
Free Admission
The Women's Foundation of Colorado (WFCO) will be releasing their latest research on the economic realities of Colorado women on September 16 at 4:00pm. Register for the research release webinar here!
In their next CHAT4CHANGE, on September 23 from 5:30-7:00pm, WFCO will be honoring three women, Yolanda Avila, Mary Lou Makepeace, and June Waller, for their contributions to the founding of The Women’s Foundation of Colorado and Pikes Peak Women. Register here!
The Women's Fund of Greater Birmingham will be hosting its annual Smart Party this year virtually. This year's Smart Party will feature a conversation between Valerie B. Jarrett and Melanie R. Bridgeforth, President & CEO of The Women's Fund of Greater Birmingham, about the influence and power of women and the critical role women's political and civic participation plays in building an equitable society.
Thursday, October 8 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
Register here!
Women's Fund of Rhode Island will be hosting its premier virtual fundraiser, "Women Leading Change." This year's theme is Civic Engagement, and the event will highlight the work women have done to get us where we are today and how much more work there is to do. General admission is free, and the event will include live and silent auctions.
Please join The Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts and Berkshire Community College as they celebrate 25 years since the Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing by the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women.
Friday, September 11 at 3:00pm
This virtual event will feature a conversation with Silke Staab, Research Specialist at UN Women, Dr.Valerie M. Hudson, Author, Professor, and expert on national security policy and gender, and Dr. Kathleen Szegda, Director of Community Research and Evaluation at the Public Health Institute of Western Massachusetts. These prominent experts will speak to progress toward peace, power, and prosperity for women, girls, and thus for communities.
Justice For Migrant Women will be hosting a "Tribute to Essential Workers," a live-streamed event celebrating Labor Day by paying tribute to the workers risking it all. The Tribute will feature musical performances, tributes to essential workers, live events in cities across the country, and special celebrity guests.
A Philanthropic Partnership for Black Communities (ABFE) and The Bridgespan Group have released "Guiding a Giving Response to Anti-Black Injustice." The memo offers funders potential paths to invest in organizations and movements within the Black-led racial justice ecosystem.
Plan It! With Kisha Zullo. Training for planning your online events. This class is for anyone currently planning an online event or aspire to plan one for themselves or an organization. Find out more here!
WEEKLY READ
Education reform must account for the value extracted by racism towards families of color. Schools predominated by students of color receive an annual $23 billion less than majority-white institutions. - Education Week
A McKinsey & Company report finds that U.S. Hispanics and Latinos have borne a disproportionate share of the pandemic's health and economic damage. Targeted interventions are required to improve their health and economic outcomes.
New York's Central Park unvieled a statue of women's rights pionners Susan B. Ahtony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Sojourner Truth, making the park's statute of real-life women. - CNN
UN Chief António Guterres called protecting the rights of women and girls during the global pandemic a top priority, highlighting the disproportionate socio-economic impact of COVID-19 on women and girls globally. - UN News
Supermajority, a women's group founded by progressive leaders, is launching a campaign this fall to spur female turnout for Democrats. - Politico
Read an opinion piece from Hillary Clinton about the fight for women and girls rights. "Women’s rights are human rights. But rights are nothing without the power to claim them."
Meet the women on Fortune's 40 Under 40 List, highlighting 40 influential people in five categories: finance, technology, healthcare, government and politics, and media and entertainment.
In Afghanistan, citizens will soon have their mothers' names printed along with their fathers' on their national identification cards, a step in normalizing women's public presence in a country where it remains taboo. - New York Times
WATCH: The passage of the 19th Amendment is heralded as a victory for the women's suffrage movement. However, the work of Black women suffragettes has been overlooked in history. These women explain the impact women of color had on women's suffrage.
