Change the landscape: treatment not incarceration

By Adriann Barboa and Micaela Cadena

[This piece is authored by the leaders of Young Women United (YWU), a close partner of ACRJ. Last month, we shared their powerful piece about 11 women from Albuquerque who were killed and discovered years later, buried on the mesa outside of town. Many of those women had struggled with substance use. Join us in supporting four important bills promoting substance use treatment over incarceration. YWU has been working hard to get these bills passed through the NM Legislature, and they now sit on New Mexico Governor Susanah Martinez's desk, awaiting her signature. The photos below were all taken at YWU's event, Weaving Ourselves Whole, a community speak-out that brought together local women, YWU members, and women in recovery. All photo credits YWU.]

As people who work with young women in Albuquerque every day, we are intimately familiar with the landscape of addiction. It’s twisting curves, jagged peaks, and endless valleys. In many ways, addiction is the white noise we hear at night, and the background music playing in our earphones by day. It is everywhere.

What does it mean to live in a state where you are more likely to be impacted by addiction than you are to earn a living wage or to graduate from college? It means that virtually every person we know who was born and raised here has a story to tell about how substance use impacted their lives: their own struggles with drugs, or the struggles of their parents, siblings, partners and friends. Weekly we hear stories of custody struggles, sexual violence, poverty, and death. But we also hear stories of hope, healing, unity and recovery.

ACRJ seeking Communications Director and Executive Assistant

ACRJ is growing and hiring!

We are now looking for a Communications Director and an  Executive Assistant, in addition to the Grantwriting Specialist and Grassroots Fundraising Coordinator positions we blogged about recently. To read more and download the job announcements, go to our Jobs page. And please, spread the word.

The self-determination of ACRJ

By Amanda Wake, Youth Organizer

SAFIRE youth Judy Wu facilitating a workshop

When I think of self-determination, the image I get in my mind is Malcolm X and his call for Black self-determination “by any means necessary.” I think of the people of Egypt who are determining their own destiny at this very moment. I think of the farmers in Haiti who recently burned all the genetically modified and pesticide treated seeds “donated” by Monsanto in protest to keep the country’s biodiversity intact. And I think of what I tell the SAFIRE youth all the time, “Reproductive justice will happen when everyone has self-determination over their bodies, gender, sexuality and health for themselves, their family and their community.”

It is not accurate to compare the magnitude of self-determination I teach in SAFIRE to the other historical and incredibly courageous examples I gave previously. But I do so to show the power that comes when we strive for self-determination and especially when it is achieved. I teach self-determination to the SAFIRE youth because when I see them realize that they do not have to walk down the path that has been laid out, that they can determine for themselves the direction of their lives, their whole being begins to shift.

An incredible story of family survival

Amidst the unbelievable devastation of the earthquake, tsunami and radiation exposure that has impacted Northern Japan, one remarkable event revealed a glimmer of hope.  An 80-year old woman and her 16-year old grandson were rescued after being trapped for nine days in a collapsed house in Miyago Prefecture, the hardest hit area in the region. What an incredible story of human strength and resilience that will forever be ingrained in the collective memory of this amazing family!  Read the article on The Japan Times Online.

ACRJ is hiring for our development team

Spread the word: ACRJ is hiring!

We are seeking a Grantwriting Specialist and a Grassroots Fundraising Coordinator. To read more and download the job announcements, go to our Jobs page.

Standing up for a family-friendly economy

Wondering how the union fight in Wisconsin is affecting families? Check out this recent article by the Labor Project for Working Families' Carol Joyner.

The former director of 1199 SEIU Employer Child Care Fund, Carol has a long history in the labor movement and is LPWF's newest staff member!

Witnessing the people's victory

By Heba Gamal

My friend Nora writing her demands on a sign: "No Mubarak,
No Suleiman, No Emergency Law, Armed Forces maintains
law and security. Civilian committee to be formed NOW."

The day my last blog post was published, the plane I was on, landed in the Cairo International Airport a little after 9pm on Thursday. Despite the crispy cool weather, tension was high in the air in Cairo. As I listened to the disappointing speech of the former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak in the car with my mother and a friend I met on the plane, I started thinking about how much longer this was going to take, how many more lives would have to be lost, how many businesses and schools would have to remain closed, and how much longer the world was going to pay attention to what was going on in Egypt.

I could hardly sleep that night. I kept thinking about what could the following morning hold for the Egyptian people. How violent was this ruthless government going to get in hopes to stay in power!

I remember hugging and kissing my mom goodbye in the morning. I could see in her youthful eyes her strong desire to be on the streets with us. She kept reminding me “to be careful” and “not to do anything crazy.”

SAFIRE Alumnae Kick-off: family, love, happiness and success

By Ngoc-Y Mai, SAFIRE Alumni Intern

If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, then success must be felt by the individual who lived through the accomplishment. Was the SAFIRE Alumnae Kick-off event a success? YES! I KNOW so and can vouch for it!

We had a good amount of SAFIRE Alumnae and a couple of ACRJ staff come out to join the event last Saturday, which turned out to be a great and successful event, and an even bigger accomplishment for myself, as this was my very first big project, here at ACRJ. The day started with warm greetings from old and new friends (AND with yummy, personally catered food by some alumnae). This was followed by a comical and playful speed-date activity that did a great job breaking away the awkward, "Hi, I don't know you" tension between SAFIRE alumnae who didn't know each other and current ACRJ staff. The icebreaker was able to bring the alumnae to ease and be comfortable with each other, which was the perfect condition for the main activity, since the recipe for sharing stories called for lots of trust and comfortableness.

Making families count in Idaho

Recently, one of our partner organizations, Western States Center posted up a post by Dina Flores-Brewer of the Women of Color Alliance based in Idaho about the attacks on the most vulnerable families,

 ...families are struggling to keep it together... The State of Idaho has constructed a network of resources using public funding to create safety nets – public schools, public healthcare, and public safety agencies—and these resources are being yanked out from underneath vulnerable families at a time when there is nothing to replace them.

With fiscal budgets shrinking in every state, Idaho's plight is not unique but with the fierce organizing work of the Women of Color Alliance, they are keeping women of color and their families on the legislator's radar.

Click here to read the rest of the post.

Wisconsin: an attack on collective bargaining is an attack on women

Check out this great Huffington Post article that draws a link between the workers' fight in Wisconsin, women workers and International Women's Day!

Leo Gerard, president of United Steelworkers, recounts the labor roots of International Women's Day, then notes about the current battle:

"In the state and local public sector unions that these governors are trying to enfeeble, members are more likely to be women—teachers, librarians, nurses, and public health workers. On the state level, 52 percent of workers are women; on the local level, it's 61 percent."

Fighting black anti-choice campaigns

Check out this great article by Loretta Ross from SisterSong on fighting the black anti-choice campaign by supporting the Trust Black Women national initiative!

"Climate change is the greatest public health challenge of this century"

By Dana Ginn Paredes

“Climate change is the greatest public health challenge of this century.” – Alameda County public health staff at the Oakland City Council meeting (March 1, 2011)

“We have achieved a global state failure to transform our economies and negotiate a global plan to mitigate climate change. And so, what is left is ONLY to prepare our communities. This responsibility must start with local action.” – Visiting professor from Durban, South Africa at the Oakland City Council meeting (March 1, 2011

Last night, the Oakland City Council passed its Energy and Climate Action Plan (ECAP) which is designed to reach the most aggressive target reduction of any major city in the country (reduce green house gas emissions 36% below 2005 levels by 2020). Many would call this a victory—which it IS—and one that would not have happened without the two years of involvement and pressure by local organizations and communities led by the Oakland Climate Action Coalition.

ACRJ published in a book on gender and climate change

By Dana Ginn Paredes

It's here! It's here! After several months of edits and emailing, ACRJ's analysis and work on gender and climate change has been featured in a newly released book on the topic: Gender and Climate Change: An Introduction.

Our story presented in this book is a shorter version of our EMERJ Momentum Series report, Looking Both Ways: Women at the Crossroads of Reproductive Justice and Climate Justice, which was a partnership with the New Orleans Women's Health and Justice Initiative. Read more about Gender and Climate Change and how to order it at Earthscan!