Message from the Executive Director
I’ve been thinking a lot about a Clarissa Pinkola Estés’ essay Letter to a Young Activist During Troubled Times recently; about how frustrating it is when change comes so slowly, or we seem to be losing ground. It can be tempting to call it quits and sink into despair when it feels like nothing is changing, at least not for the better. But then I remember that apathy isn’t a luxury we can afford; and I think about the ways our grantees persevere.
You may have heard that in January of this year, grantee organization Women’s Law Project had a big win in the form of a ruling by the PA Supreme Court allowing abortion seekers and providers to challenge Pennsylvania’s ban on the use of state Medicaid dollars for abortion. What you probably don’t know is that that decision was the result of decades of planning and strategizing, seeking the perfect moment and the right arguments to sway the court. This is a marathon, not a sprint.
In this issue of the newsletter, we feature the work of the PA Chapter of the National Domestic Worker Alliance and Philadelphia Coalition for Affordable Communities. Both groups have an impressive track record of multi-year organizing and have seen victories in the form of a Domestic Worker Bill of Rights and guaranteed funding for the Housing Trust Fund. However, they still have more work to do, and both are launching campaigns that build on their previous successes.
The path to change is neither linear nor smooth. In her essay, Estés says:
"What is needed for dramatic change is an accumulation of acts, adding, adding to, adding more, continuing. We know that it does not take everyone on Earth to bring justice and peace, but only a small, determined group who will not give up during the first, second, or hundredth gale."
At GJF, we are honored and inspired to work with and support organizations who don't give up. We understand that change doesn't happen overnight and have seen first-hand that the impact of our actions many not truly be seen until months, years, or even further into the future. We hope you'll join us in rejecting apathy: join an organization, vote, donate, make your voice heard. Democracy hangs in the balance and our rights are being eroded; now is the time to be a part of the solution.
Executive Director |
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TRANS RESILIENCE FUND
 The application period for the fourth round of the Trans Resilience Fund opens on May 20. Thanks to this year’s funding partners: the Claneil Foundation, Collective Future Fund, the Homeless Assistance Fund, and the Valentine Foundation, and to Bread and Roses Community Fund for their ongoing support of this project. Visit our website for more information.
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ConsentFest
GJF is excited to sponsor the third annual ConsentFest, put on by grantee Your Empowered Sexuality (YES!). ConsentFest is an outdoors, all-ages celebration of consent and bodily autonomy in all its forms and takes place on Saturday May 18 from noon to 4:00 pm in Clark Park. We'll have a booth at the event and hope to see you there! |
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Grantee Spotlight:National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA-PA)
Gender Justice Fund has supported the work of the Pennsylvania Chapter of the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA-PA) since 2020. NDWA-PA is a member-driven organization with a base of nannies, house cleaners, and caregivers who organize to win safe and dignified working conditions. They are part of a national domestic worker movement to ensure that every domestic work job is a living wage job with benefits by 2030. They advocate for better wages and improved protections for all low-wage workers, building the political power and visibility of domestic workers across diasporas. Almost all members are women from across the Caribbean and Latin America, with an increasing African immigrant base. NDWA-PA is home to a chapter of We Dream in Black, an initiative of the National Domestic Workers Alliance to help center and elevate the voices and experiences of Black, Afro-Latina and Afro-descendant domestic workers.
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Members of NDWA-PA at a press conference on March 13 where they discussed the city budget and the need to fund the Office of Worker Protections. Photo courtesy of NDWA-PA
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NDWA-PA had a big victory with the passage of the Philadelphia Domestic Workers Bill of Rights (DWBOR) in 2019. They were also part of a successful campaign to create a permanent Department of Labor within the Philadelphia government and have advocated alongside their partners for increased funding for the City’s Office of Worker Protections within that Department. However, their work is not yet done. As more workers have begun to assert their rights, NDWA-PA has identified retaliation as a major factor still limiting progress for domestic and other low-wage workers.
In response, NDWA-PA and its partners will be launching an Anti-Retaliation Campaign, calling for increased protections against employer retaliation and improved enforcement of Philadelphia’s existing labor laws. NDWA-PA’s campaign partners include Community Legal Services of Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Black Workers Project, the Philadelphia AFL-CIO, 215 People’s Alliance, El Comité de Trabajadorxs, and the Sheller Center at Temple Law School. NDWA-PA hopes that this campaign will address the serious challenges that workers continue to face, ensuring more significant consequences for retaliation, backlash, blacklisting, and repeat abuse by employers, while giving the Office of Worker Protection greater enforcement authority. In addition to this new legislation, NDWA-PA is fighting for a fully funded Office of Worker Protections in the city's budget.
To learn more about the important work of NDWA-PA and their ongoing Anti-Retaliation Campaign, visit them on Facebook.
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Issue Spotlight: Affordable Housing
While housing might seem like a gender-neutral issue, the uneven distribution of wealth and economic power across genders means that women, trans, and gender non-conforming people are disproportionately impacted by affordability issues. In December 2023, news outlets across the country reported that homelessness was at the highest level ever recorded in the United States, primarily due to rising rental costs.
Data from the Eviction Lab at Princeton University indicates that women – particularly Black and Latina women – face eviction at a much greater rate than their male counterparts. Eviction has the unique distinction of being both a cause and result of economic instability and is particularly destabilizing for caregivers of small children – who again, are disproportionately women. A 2020 study from the Williams Institute at UCLA found that transgender adults were significantly more likely to have experienced homelessness (8%) in the prior year than straight, cisgender adults (1%). LGBTQIA youth in general, and trans youth in particular, also face enormous challenges finding stable housing due to their relatively low earning power and lack of family support. A report from the Trevor Project indicates that over 35% of trans nonbinary youth may experience homelessness at some point.
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Members of the Philadelphia Coalition for Affordable Communities at an event in October 2023. Photo courtesy of WCRP.
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GJF grantee Women’s Community Revitalization Project is the anchor organization for the Philadelphia Coalition for Affordable Communities (PCAC), a coalition of over 75 organizations united around a commitment to advocate for affordable housing. PCAC recently launched a housing justice campaign with a goal of pushing the City of Philadelphia to commit to spending half its funding for housing on the households that need them most. As part of this campaign, they recently released a report which details the urgent need for local action to address the housing crisis locally. The report includes insightful data on just how expensive housing is for the average local family and how the city's affordable housing programs, tied to Area Median Income, leave some of the neediest Philadelphians behind. You can read the full report here and follow PCAC on Facebook or Instagram.
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