WOCN National Call to Action Institute and Conference  

  In Partnership with Office for Victims of Crime

Other partners include:

• Family Violence Prevention and Services Office - Department of Health and Human Services
• A Call to Men
• People's Institute of Survival and Beyond
• National Resource Center on Domestic Violence

This is an OVW-approved event.

CONFERENCE OVERVIEW:

The Women of Color Network (WOCN) is hosting the 1st National Call to Action Institute and Conference: Supporting Women of Color Advocates and Activists Working to End Violence Against Women and Families on May 10-14, 2010 at the Westin Canal Place in New Orleans, Louisiana.

This National Institute and Conference is the result of over 25 national Call to Action Calls that began in April 2007 with over 700 women of color, male and mainstream advocates across the country to raise awareness regarding the workplace challenges that women of color advocates and activists face in their violence against women programs and the lack of women of color leadership within the anti-violence against women movement as a whole.

WOCN received seed funding from the Office for Victims of Crime to bring together victim advocates, activists, allies, and professionals from across the U.S. to:

1. Challenge those restrictions that prevent women of color from being more fully acknowledged in their abilities to reach their communities and more fully utilized in the work; and
2. Forge a stronger alliance between advocates of color and mainstream advocates in serving communities.

 The National Institute and Conference will be held in New Orleans, Louisiana, one of the Gulf region cities still impacted after Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, the most devastating natural and man-made disaster in the history of the United States.[1]  Louisiana as a whole is a site of increased violence against women - a report released by Violence Policy Center on September 22, 2009 indicates that Louisiana ranks first in the nation in the rate of women killed by men.[2]  Out of 57 female homicide victims, 31 were African American, 25 were white, and 1 was Asian or Pacific Islander; 90% were murdered by someone they knew. [3]

Women of Asian, African, Native and Latin cultures share common factors such as isolation and lack of cultural understanding within programs that may further reinforce under-reporting and decrease help-seeking within these demographics. This historic event will allow attendees to look at these barriers.

The goals of this Institute and Conference are to:

• To highlight the additional barriers that women of color victims of violence face, with particular focus upon Louisiana as a state affected by natural disaster and increased violence.
• To build and enhance the professional capacity and leadership of women of color advocates reaching and serving women of color victims.
• To build and enhance the capacity of aspiring male and mainstream/white allies to support women of color advocates and to establish a commitment to insist upon racial, gender and class equity within anti-violence against women programs.
• To establish a framework for women of color advocates and white/mainstream and male advocates to work collaboratively to better reach and serve women of color victims.
• To support, maintain and strengthen collaborations that emerge from the National Call to Action Institute and the National Call to Action Conference

The expected outcomes are:

• Women of color participants will increase their professional capacity and understanding of leadership in serving and reaching women of color victims.
• Participants will increase their understanding of societal and cultural factors that effect women of color victims of violence.
• Participants will have a greater sense of the challenges that women of color advocates face in providing culturally-relevant services to women of color victims within programs and within the anti-violence against women movement as a whole.
• Participants will improve their understanding of what it means and how to serve as an aspiring ally to women of color.
• Participants will return to their local, state and national programs and initiatives with an individual and collective plan to make their service delivery and advocacy more responsive to women of color victims/survivors, and will utilize the resources and tools shared during the event in their daily work.
  

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[1] Quarantelli, E.L. 2005.  “Catastrophes are Different from Disasters.”  Retrieved June 7, 2007, from http://understandingkatrina.ssrc.org/Quarant974/.

[2] When Men Murder Women:  An Analysis of 2007 Homicide Data, Females Murdered by Males in Single Victim/Single Offender Incidents.  The Violence Policy Center.  September 2009.

[3] Ibid.

 

Programs:  

As stated above, this is an OVW-approved event.

State domestic violence, sexual assault, and dual coalitions funded by the Office on Violence Against Women are authorized to use their set-aside training funds to attend the conference. We strongly encourage state coalitions to sponsor state teams comprised of at least one man, one mainstream woman, and one woman of color. 

Local domestic violence and sexual assault programs, and other allied organizations are recommended to sponsor at least two staff from their programs, if possible.

National groups are encouraged to sponsor at least one individual from their program, sponsor state, and local individuals who might not otherwise be able to attend.

Community-based organizations are encouraged to send at least one person from their programs. 

 

HIGHLIGHTS: 

Below are just some of the topics that will be offered during the Institutes and Conference.  For further details, call the WOCN office at (800) 537-2238.

The WOC Institute will feature four Workshop Tracks, including:

1. Leadership and Capacity Building Track with such topics as WOC Caucus Development, Introductory and Advanced Leadership
2. Culturally-Specific Approaches Track with workshops on Reaching and Serving Asian and Pacific Islander, Latina, Indigenous, and African American women
3. Economic Empowerment Track with such topics as Economics for Advocates/Economic Empowerment for Survivors
4. Intersections Track with workshops on LGBTQ populations, Faith and Spirituality, and Reproductive Justice

 

*Also will feature an optional main Interactive Track in the Ballroom with panel discussions and exercises addressing Program Development, Workplace Development, Internalized Racism/Internalized Response, and Self-Care.

The Mainstream/White Women’s Institute will include large and small group dialogue on such topics as white privilege, institutional racism, and applying a field audit to your community.

 The Men’s Institute will also include large group and breakout group sessions examining the individual and societal impact of race and gender, and will look at the positioning of men of color and mainstream/white men within the anti-violence against women movement. 

 

The 2-Day Conference features six workshop tracks, including:

1. Ally Leadership, WOC Leadership and Capacity Building Track with such topics as Planning the Next Generation of WOC Leaders in the VAW Movement, and Recruiting, Sustaining and Serving as an Ally to WOC Staff 
2. Culturally-Specific Approaches Track including 51 Proven Strategies to Engaging Communities of Color in the Fight Against Domestic and Sexual Violence 
3. Economic Empowerment Track including Economic Advocacy and Serving Communities of Color 
4. Intersections Track, including At the Intersection of Street Harrassment: How to Address Race, Sexual Orientation and Gender, and Disabilities, Deaf Culture and Addressing the Intersections of Race, Class and Gender 
5. Working with and Engaging Men Track, including Momma's Boys: Raising Boys Who Have Witnessed DV, and The Color of Prisoner Re-Entry: Men Returning Home, Issues of Race and Class 
6. Undoing Racism Track sponsored by the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond, including breakouts with women of color, mainstream/white women and men.

*Also will feature an optional main Interactive Track in the Ballroom with panel discussions and exercises, Cultural Café, and a focus on innovative service and community-based approaches in Louisiana and Mississippi.

Institute and Conference Speakers include:

• Sumayya Coleman, WOC Institute and Conference Coordinator, WOCN Mentor and Advisor, Share Time Wisely Consulting
• Tony Porter, Men’s Institute Coordinator, Executive Director and Co-Founder, A Call to Men
• Jane Ralph, Mainstream/White Women’s Institute Co-Coordinator, Clarina Howard Nichols Center
• Rob Valente, Mainstream/White Women’s Institute Co-Coordinator, National Network to End Domestic Violence
• Dr. Carolyn West, University of Washington
• Sujata Warrier, Asian Pacific Islander Institute on Domestic Violence Steering Committee
• Loretta Ross and Serena Garcia, Sistersong, Inc.
• Terri Pease, National Center on DV Trauma and Mental Health    
• Darlene Torres,  NY Coalition of Anti Violence Programs
• Kalyn Risker, Sisters Acquiring Financial Financial Empowerment
• Ellen Yin Wycoff and Cindy Marroquin, CALCASA
• Lizz Toledo, Angels of Recovery
• Rose Williams and Pamela Smith Chambers, New Jersey Coalition for Battered Women
• Nicole Gee, Montana Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence
• Karen Arias, 30^th Judicial District, DV/SA Alliance
• Meg Wills, Enlace Communitario
• Kourou Pich, HarborCov
• Rosa Luna, Texas Coalition Against Sexual Assault
• Kassandra Edwards, VA Dept of Criminal Justice Services
• Rev. Dr. Aleese Moore-Orbih, FaithTrust Institute
• Salma Abugidieri, Peaceful Families
• Clarita Lindstrom, Independent
• Joyce Brown, CANDI
• Kathy Ferguson, Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assault
• Legal Momentum
• Shirley Williams and Wanda Merriweather, Women of Color Caucus from Michigan Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence
• Oliver Williams, Institute on Domestic Violence in the African American Community
• Ted Bunch, A Call to Men
• Rus Funk, MENSWORK
• Juan Ramos, Safe Horizon Domestic Violence Services 
• Etiony Aldorando, University of Miami, FL
• David Lee, California Coalition Against Sexual Assault
• David Garvin, Batterer Intervention Services Coalition of Michigan, MI
• Wayne Barnes, A Call to Men
• Pheng Thao, Asian Women United of Minnesota
• Laurie Holmes, Holmes Co. Development and Consulting
• Lisa Nitsch, House of Ruth
• Chani Waterhouse, Vermont Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence
• Jill Groblewski, Center for Family Policy and Practice
• People's Institute of Survival and Beyond, including Kimberley Richards, Ronald V. Chisom, Sheryl Boman, Renee Corrigan, Diana Dunn, Mary Capps, and Bayard Love

 WOCN Staff and Advisors Serving as Presenters

• Tonya Lovelace, WOCN Project Manager
• Angela Sutton, WOCN Project Specialist
• Sumayya Coleman, Share Time Wisely Consulting, Conference Coordinator and WOCN Mentor and Advisor
• Ho-Thanh Nguyen, WOCN Administrative Support, WOCN Advisor
• Desiree Allen Cruz, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, WOCN Lead Advisor
• Alice Lynch, Prevent Child Abuse Minnesota, WOCN Lead Advisor
• Ruby White, National Council for Juvenile and Family Court Judges, WOCN Advisor
• Rose Pulliam, Independent Consultant, WOCN Advisor
• Nicole Sengkhammee, South East Asian Families and School Together, WOCN Advisor

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