Cultivating Young Women Leaders in Northern CA

Women's Health Specialists Outreach and Education Department continues to be successful at developing connections with community members and partner organizations. The outreach team includes the Director of Public Relations and several Peer Outreach Workers between the age of 15-29. These folks work together agency wide to promote Women's Health Specialists mission and bring visibility to clinic services and programs, advocacy and leadership development.

This year Women's Health Specialists has participated in several events and activities that have reached a diverse group of community members at the local events. The outreach team has developed new partnerships and successfully organized opportunities for youth engagement and leadership development. Peer Outreach Workers continue to lead the outreach efforts and have a non-judgmental and positive approach to developing connections with the community. 

The outreach team has an important role when it comes to community events. Often, the outreach team is the first person a community member speaks to about their reproductive healthcare and where to get services. The outreach team are folks who have a passion for sharing information and meeting people where they are. Outreach is inviting, engaging and informative. They share information and welcome folks to take information, shop for condom supplies, sign up to volunteer or play spin the wheel, a fun game that informs folks on sexual and reproductive health. 

Peer Outreach Workers developed new ways to hold conversations about each individual event topic, and how it is intersectional to reproductive health, reproductive rights and justice. Together the team creates new ideas and opportunities to expand community outreach. 

Enjoy these photos of community events, Pride Festival, Earth Day, Juneteenth and the Women's March! Thank you for supporting our work and the leadership of young people in our communities. 

Let’s Talk About Sex

Women’s Health Specialists Young Women’s Leadership program recently had the opportunity to support 7 participants to attend the Let’s Talk About Sex Conference in Atlanta. This is the largest Reproductive Justice conference that features panelists, speakers, activists, entertainers, and leaders throughout various social justice movements and across sectors who are unapologetic about standing up for our reproductive and sexual freedom. This conference is organized by SisterSong a Reproductive Justice organization. 

Our program participants each applied for a scholarship opportunity to attend to expand their knowledge around the Reproductive Justice movement, learn about accountability, transcendence, and liberation. Participants were eager to learn and bring back what they learned at the conference to their work, community and everyday lives. 

 Here is a report from one of our participants:

“On day of the conference we participated in an opening ceremony where we would cleanse our minds and prepare ourselves for the heavy conversations we would encounter throughout the day. Allowing us to come in with an open mind and heart to absorb the information and reflect on what we have learned.  Each day we would have a panel open the conference, the panel would discuss three of the following topics, on day one: accountability, on day two: transcendence, and on day three: liberation. The panel would discuss their own personal experiences and relate the conversation to the Reproductive Justice movement helping us expand our knowledge on the challenges and obstacles we still must face. Applying the knowledge we learned from the panels back to Women’s Health Specialists, could help make our approach more equitable intersectional, and better prepare ourselves for the many hurdles we face as a grassroots reproductive health clinic.”

Over the three days of this conference there were several workshops that folks attended that related to immigration, LGBTQ, Palestine, decriminalization, policy work, abortion, sex work, reproductive health, youth leadership, trauma, trust black women, queer youth and more. It was a powerful space for our young leaders.

Women’s Health Specialists believes it is important to invest in our young people and work to provide opportunities to expand educational and training opportunities. We look forward to continuing to support young women's leadership. 

Thank you to our donors and supporters for helping make this possible. 

Best,

WHS Staff