Celebrating 25 Years of YWOC, a Program for Young Women and Nonbinary Activists
We’re celebrating 25 years of our YWOC Program (Young Women and Nonbinary People of Color for Reproductive Justice)! Over the last 25 years, YWOC members have mobilized, engaged, and educated thousands about reproductive health, rights, and justice. We need your help to continue supporting their efforts. Donations fund training and seed grants for YWOC members working for change in their communities.
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About the Council
In 2001, AFY’s Executive VP Jennifer Augustine saw a dire need to deeply invest in young women of color’s leadership, and in its first decade the program launched with focus on HIV and STI prevention, pushed the field to focus on and invest in communities on the margins. After its first decade from 2010 – 2020, YWOC established councils of young women of color in universities and cities across the US, leading STI and HIV prevention, contraception access advocacy, and peer education to ensure young WOC’s sexual and reproductive health needs were centered and uplifted, as well as launching the YWOC collective. YWOC welcomed nonbinary members as well as WOC in 2020, and in this latest era we’ve been advocating for menstrual equity, birth justice, abortion access, LGBTQ rights, and more innovative work at the intersections – we need your support to continue this vital work!
This is a politically bleak moment, and donating to YWOC is a tangible step to invest in youth of color who have and will continue to lead the fight for RJ and fight back! Make a donation today here, or purchase our Radical Self Love, Radical Self Care merch to support our next 25 years.
Stories from YWOC Alumni
YWOC has been active as a leadership development program for women and nonbinary activists of color for 25 years, and this is a pivotal moment for the reproductive justice movement – check out testimonials from program alumni below:
Mariah, Member in 2017
Joining YWOC allowed me to be around young people of color who understood the intersectionality in activism. It gave me a space to discover feminist literature in an open environment that encouraged exploration and self-discovery. It truly felt like a siblinghood, and it remains one of the most meaningful experiences of my young adult life. Without YWOC, I wouldn’t have the education and experience I needed to reach my personal educational goals. They have opened doors I never imagined were possible, and I am forever thankful for my time with the group. During my time in YWOC, I successfully wrote proclamations for Virginia Sexual Health Awareness Day, participated in abortion storytelling through photography, created a public art installation centered on gentrification in Norfolk, Virginia, presented my research on patriarchy in horror and black feminism, and prepared for national conferences. Additionally, I hosted free condom drives, free HIV testing, and sexual health awareness events on my campus. Thank you for always working so hard to provide opportunities for young activists.
Brianna, Member in 2014
YWOC was a fantastic opportunity for me to connect with other young people who were particularly interested in Black feminist approaches to organizing and solidarity-building for reproductive justice. YWOC gave me access to peers and mentors in the reproductive health space who were extremely generous with their insights. Their presence in my life helped to support my growth into an organizer, social worker, and researcher whose work remains connected to reproductive justice. I got an MSW and am about to receive my PhD in Social Work! I have supported three different abortion funds (Eastern MA, NY, and Chicago) and am also in community with organizers from the National Network of Abortion Funds.
Sarah, Member in 2022
YWOC taught me to ground my work in reproductive justice, organize across generations, and always center community. During my time in YWOC I was honored to help lead a policy campaign to win autonomous parental rights for LGBTQ+ parents in Hawai’i and support the expansion of sex ed curriculum in my local school district. After my time in YWOC I would launch a thriving full-spectrum doula practice, train over 100 doulas and begin a midwifery apprenticeship. After leaving YWOC & AFY’s programs I went on to pursue midwifery education to become a licensed midwife. I currently attend the National College of Midwifery and plan to graduate in 2028. I provide prenatal, birth, postpartum and well-person care for people in racially, ethnically, religiously and geographically diverse communities across Southern California. Thank you for fighting for YWOC!
Aimaloghi, Member in 2019
YWOC taught me how to organize with others and find community in the fight. I was drawn to YWOC because of the wide range of issues that are covered under reproductive justice: racial justice, food justice, environmental justice, reproductive health, abolition, etc. I gained a lot of knowledge in various topics of political education and many great comrades and lifelong friends. Creating the Care Not Cages virtual campaign + the abolitionist readings and resources linked on the TransformHarm.org site and leading a guided meditation during the pandemic were huge highlights for me while in YWOC. Being a Black queer woman in academia pursuing my PhD is also a huge highlight that would not have been possible if not more my time with YWOC. I am on AFY Board of Directors and very honored to occupy this position. I have now moved on to pursuing my PhD in clinical psychology working with underserved patients with severe mental illness and mothers in the postpartum period in NYC. Thank you all for everything. I owe you so much.
Ramya, Member in 2023
I was drawn to YWOC as a community for Womxn of Color to collaborate and share knowledge, experience, and difficulties amidst organizing for reproductive justice. As a part of YWOC, I not only had peers to learn with, but also incredible mentorship and support from the Advocates for Youth team and network. Being a part of YWOC reinforced the work I was doing with the Reproductive Justice Collective (RJC) at Columbia University/NYC to build abortion support networks through a doula collective, and expanding abortion access throughout the city and state. During my time as a YWOC member, RJC successfully won its on-campus medication abortion campaign — Columbia University now offers medication abortion on campus, with no additional cost to all eligible students. I’m currently a Fulbright-Nehru research scholar based in Hyderabad, India. I’m studying the religiopolitics of fertility, specifically looking at religious and medical approaches to infertility in the context of global power structures and religious nationalism. I’m going onto a Master of Theological Studies at Harvard Divinity School this fall.
Karla, Member in 2024
YWOC taught me ways to be an advocate as a newcomer into the field on RJ, to learn within like minded individuals from different backgrounds and current works; small or big are all wins. I was drawn into the program as being a young parent, living at a shelter in California. I finally learned the framework of RJ in a young parent council group. I wanted to expand my knowledge as I grew an interested in this work and had little to no opportunities. I gained so much from YWOC: memories, mentors, connections, exploration, hope… and so much more. My successes have been being able to join other movements such as the NYHAAD, Period Pills, in other cohorts such as pregnant and parenting council and my time in Colombia and being able to table at events. I was able to be hired on again as a young parent leader with my original org twice where I was able to present our survey findings at the ICFP conference in Colombia. Aside from work, I added more to my daily life by continuing to apply to opportunities and be in spaces within community and expanded my common grounds of TAY parenting into further sexual wellness.
Rose’Leigh, Member in 2021
Being a member of Advocates For Youth, specifically YWOC taught me that I have far more power than I realize. My opportunities of going to speak with my representatives and sit down with them, taught me that my voice DOES matter, but I have to utilize it. I also gained a community and friends that I still have today. I currently continue with my work as a doula, and I now travel for work as well. I moved to a new country and advocate for reproductive health here. There’s been so many opportunities for me to see how much better reproductive health should be and could be around the world. For a couple of years I also worked as a medical assistant in The Bahamas, Puerto Rico, Jamaica and Haiti, where my family hails from. It has been beautiful to see birth all over the world. YWOC pushed me to continue with my studies and become a Midwife, Lactation consultant and Doula. The highlight of my life was probably when I got to catch my first baby and watch as a younger Black mother breastfed her child for the first time, after many healthcare workers thought she wouldn’t be able to breastfeed. It’s one thing to speak about all of the disparities Black mother’s face; it’s another thing to actually get up and do something about it.