Our Herstory
In 2014 THE African American Policy Forum (AAPF) launched a national town hall series focused on elevating the stories and experiences of womxn and girls of color. AAPF’s commitment in hosting town hall hearings was to bring the circumstances facing many womxn of color out of the shadows and squarely into public policy debates, while helping community leaders develop and advance local agendas for gender inclusive racial justice. Specifically the #SayHerName campaign and town halls were to highlight the lives of cis and trans Black womxn and girls who had been murdered by police and State Sanctioned violence and to speak into the silences that said that the stories of Black womxn and girls didn’t matter. Black Womxn Matter.
Launched as an Advisory Committee created to organize and produce Oakland’s Breaking the Silence Town Hall, the Girls and Womxn of Color Collaborative* began in he summer of 2015. As the #SayHerName movement was spreading across the country unmasking the experiences of womxn and girls of color in relation to state violence, GWOCC co-founding members Ashara Ekundayo and Jihan McDonald answered the AAPF’s call to attend the “Breaking the Silence Artivist Summer Camp” at Vassar College in communion and collaboration with other Black Indigenous People Of Color (BIPOC) womxn organizers, artists, and activists from around the country with a mandate to bring back the learnings from the camp to serve as the foundations for the 10th Breaking the Silence Town Hall. What happened in Oakland was an incredible Diaspora of girls and womxn who came together to create two town hall events that redefined what it means to call a community together for healing, accountability, and justice.
Core VALUES that Guide our Work
Documentation for our VISIBILITY
INTEGRATED LGBTQ leadership
CLASS DIVERSE leadership and participation
INTEGRATED Health and Wellness in our gatherings and the Town Hall
Being willing to look at PLEASURE as apart of the conversation
Intentionally INTERGENERATIONAL
Cultivating BELONGING
Multi-Ethnic/Multi-Cultural SOLIDARITY
Identifying ISSUES and clarifying who is most IMPACTED by the issue
Not in COMPETITION with Boys Of Color/Men Of Color (BOC/MOC) programs
ALIGNMENT of resources is about ADDING funding to support Girls Of Color / Women Of Color (GOC/WOC)
Using these core values as a model for integrating this work in a myriad of safe spaces
*Girls and womxn of color is an inclusive term reflecting all those who were assigned and/or identify as female. *“Girls” refers to gender expansive youth (cis girls, trans girls, non-binary youth, gender non-conforming youth, gender queer youth and any girl-identified youth).
About Us
Bay Area Breaking the Silence Town Hall (#BTSBayArea) was a space to Amplify, Educate, and Advocate in support of *girls and womxn of color in surrounding communities. The #BTSBayArea provided a multi-faceted opportunity for local decision makers to listen to the challenges and daily experiences of our friends, parents, siblings, and children by elevating their unique experiences and centering their leadership.
Education
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Cis/trans girls and womxn of color in education are often faced with body policing, profiling and discrimination in the classroom, workplace and in policy.
Educational institutions from K-12 to higher education may not always provide safe spaces for cis/trans girls and womxn of color to thrive.
Partners: At The Red Door, Oakland Public Conservatory of Music ,
Black Girls Brilliance
Housing & Gentrification
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Examine systems of housing and gentrification and how they uniquely impact the health and well-being of girls and womxn of color in the Bay Area.
Additionally, GWOCC and our collaborators work in direct services to examine the ways in which housing insecurity creates disproportionate impacts on the experiences of intergenerational stress, trauma, and decreased life expectancy for girls and womxn of color
Partner: East Oakland Collective
Violence
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In the United States, cis and trans girls and womxn of color, particularly Black girls and womxn, experience higher rates of interpersonal violence and are more susceptible to police profiling and arrests than their white counterparts. GWOCC and our collaborators work in direct response to the circumstances that sanction and perpetuate violence against girls and womxn by creating and employing a complex set of survival mechanisms.
Partners: Alliance for Girls, House/Full of Black Women, Regina’s Door
Health & Healing
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Womxn of color often suffer with mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual health issues in silence while being culturally and systemically neglected as they fulfill their expected roles as ‘super womxn’. GWOCC and our collaborators investigate and act to dismantle the systems and relationships ability to change and create health and healing for the womxn in our communities.
“It’s not about supplication, it’s about power. It’s not about asking, it’s about demanding. It’s not about convincing those who are currently in power, it’s about changing the very face of power itself.”
dr. kimberlÉ crenshaw |
We met the call and hosted a town hall in Oakland.
SUPPORT OUR WORK - We Invite You To Be: Financial Sponsors, Exhibit Space Partners, Equipment Donors & Creative Collaborators
GWOCC is a fiscally sponsored project of the Marcus Foster Education Institute.
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