Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Happy New Year and welcome back.

As always, I enjoy returning to campus as we at the Center resume our shared work along with the rest of the larger UW community. With this in mind I am proud to reintroduce our 2024 Leadership Academy and Feminist Scholarship & Activism series. Both the Leadership Academy and the Feminist Scholarship & Activism series are close to our hearts and have done decades of good in the UW and wider Seattle community. The Women's Center services and programming are open to both campus and larger community members, so if any of the events or topics below interest you, please join us! 

In the spirit of the new year and in closing: my biggest wish for 2024 is that peace, love, compassion, and kindness towards one another will live in each of our hearts throughout the year. To quote the esteemed scholar bell hooks, "All the work I do is built on a foundation of loving-kindness. Love illuminates matters.”

Wishing us all illumination,

Sutapa Basu

Upcoming Lifelong Learning Programs

Labor Trafficking: Impact, Solution, and Empowerment

In acknowledgement of anti-human trafficking awareness month, the Women’s Center is excited to present a panel on one of the most pressing topics in the human trafficking field—Forced Labor. Human trafficking is one of the fastest growing underground economies, and the U.S. State Department estimates that 73% of human trafficking victims in 2022 experienced forced labor. Join us to learn how you can contribute to this ongoing movement from anti-labor trafficking experts and activists working on the front lines. Speakers include: Maggie Davis (NW Rights Immigration Project), Igancio Marquez (WA State Department of Agriculture), Hao Nguyen (API Chaya), and Dana Raigrodski (General Law LLC and UW School of Law).

WHEN: Wednesday, January 31, 2024 | 3:30 - 5:30 PM

WHERE: Parrington Hall (PAR)

RSVP for Labor Trafficking Awareness

Safety Across Genders

Join this workshop led by community organizers, educators, and artists with diverse insights, expertise, and stories on what it means to be trans in the US, and the resources available to BIPOC and gender diverse people in Washington state.

With guidance from panelists nikkita oliver (they/them), Ebo Barton (he/him/they/them), Akoth Ombaka (they/them), and Randy Ford (she/her), participants will work to develop a shared understanding of the safety issues and marginalization suffered daily by gender diverse and intersex communities and what we can do to support them.

WHEN: Thursday, February 15, 2024 | 3:30 - 5 PM

WHERE: Parrington Hall (PAR) 360

RSVP for Safety Across Genders

Financial Literacy & Empowerment Series: Finance 101

Learn the psychological, social, and technical skills involved in financial literacy and the importance of financial security. In this educational series wealth managers, Rachel McCracken, Becky Wilcox, and Larissa Vidal will provide participants with a brief introduction to investment and the core factors that go into wise investing: money, time, and energy. Participants will leave the series with basic mathematical calculations of exponential growth, a foundational understanding of the benefits of saving and investing, and an overview of the types of budgeting and investments available to them. All students, staff, and faculty are invited and encouraged to join.

Part 1: Intro to Investments

WHEN: February 1, 2024 | 11:30 AM - 1 PM

WHERE: Allen Library Auditorium

RSVP Part 1

Part 2: Budgeting, Spending, & Saving

WHEN: March 6, 2024 | 11:30 AM - 1 PM

WHERE: Parrington Hall (PAR) 320

RSVP Part 2

Part 3: Building Blocks to our Economy, Interest Rates

WHEN: April 10, 2024 | 11:30 AM - 1 PM

WHERE: Parrington Hall (PAR) 320

RSVP Part 3

Special Events

A Conversation with the First Woman US-Cuban Ambassador

Ambassador Lianys Torres Rivera is the first woman identifying US-Cuban ambassador. External to that, Ambassador Torres has managed Cuba-US Bilateral issues in regards to the economy, regulations, human rights, human trafficking, direct postal services, renewable energy, and banking issues. In this discussion between Ambassador Torres and Associate Professor of Latin American and Caribbean History Dr. Ileana Rodriguez-Silva, we will learn about Cuba's advancement of women's and LGBTQI rights agenda, given the recent Family Code constitutional amendment. We will also discuss the impacts which the climate crisis has had on Cuba, as well as how the embargo continues to impact the economy, democracy, environment, and women and gender rights.

WHEN: February 22, 2024 | 11:30am - 1pm

WHERE: Allen Library Auditorium

RSVP for Cuban Ambassador

21st Annual Women of Color Celebration

For the 21st annual Women of Color Celebration, we continue to celebrate International Women’s Day (March 8th) through a joyful and community-centered celebration. We will shine a light on the pride, leadership, diversity, and power of all women, especially women of color, on our campus. Particularly, all our staff members who are constantly at work to ensure our day-to-day runs smoothly, safely, and with ease. We welcome and encourage all UW students, staff, and faculty to attend. Save the date! More details to come.

WHEN: Monday, March 4, 2024 | 12 – 1:30 PM

RSVP for WOCC

Apply for the Leadership Academy 2024

At the Moris Women’s Center Leadership Academy intersectionality is more than just academic theory—it is also practice. We believe that with the right tools, skills, and support, anyone can be a leader. The Leadership Academy is an intensive program founded on this principle, offering undergraduate and graduate students an opportunity to learn how to become effective civic leaders and/or leaders in the public and private sectors.

Participants will connect, network, and learn from community leaders, academics, and experts from a wide range of fields who will lead them in skill building exercises on topics such as: how to build a powerful network, develop strategies for effective communication, outreach and foundational skills needed for community organizing, purpose driven activism, running for office, community driven policy making, salary negotiation, and financial literacy.

When: Friday afternoons from March 29 through May 31, 2024

Where: Moris Women's Center, Cunningham Hall, UW Seattle campus

Who: Students from all gender identities attending college or university in the Puget Sound region

How to apply: The program is limited to 35 students. Students are invited to apply via this link. Participants will be notified of acceptance once applications have been reviewed by the selection committee.

Apply for the Leadership Academy

Deadline for applications: March 1, 2024 11:59pm PT

For more information or learn how to get involved, contact newlead@uw.edu

Feminist Scholarship & Activism

Early career researchers are current and future influential thinkers, teachers, and knowledge makers. The Women’s Center aims to give light to new research initiatives across diverse disciplines engaging with issues related to gender and race equity, inclusion and representation, and human rights. Here, we will individuals who have dedicated their research to these disciplines. Please meet Rachel Castellano and Ryan Goehrung!

Castellano and Goehrung, PhD candidates in University of Washington’s Political Science department, research the effects of the Victims of Trafficking in Persons (T) nonimmigrant visa (the T-visa) process and how it affects the trafficking victims mental health and the marginalization effects it can have. The T-visa process was designed specifically to help and support human trafficking survivors. Castellano and Goehrung’s research draws primarily on interviews from immigration lawyers, law enforcement personnel, and non-governmental organization service providers routinely involved in T-visa applications to illuminate the failures of the T-visa for the community it is intended to serve. Castellano reports they found that

exploitation takes place because we live in systems that exploit. And then what is justice within that framework? Somebody being incarcerated and somebody receiving services? That’s hardly restorative and it’s not reducing the likelihood of this happening again in the greater world, never mind for this particular survivor and so it’s just … I think there are so many structural factors that need to change before trafficking is ever going to be eradicated.

Read more about their findings and the implications in their 2023 publication Misrecognitions of Victimhood: Discretionary Power of Street-level Bureaucrats in Humanitarian Visas together.

Date, time, and location for the Feminist Scholarship & Activism series to be announced.

Showcasing a Transformational Leader

At the Moris Women’s Center, we believe in the importance of celebrating leaders who have tirelessly worked to contribute their expertise, wisdom, and care to the greater good of our communities.

Justice Mary Yu is a current member of the Washington Supreme Court. First appointed by Jay Inslee in 2014, Mary Yu was the first Latina, Asian, and openly LQBTQ member of Washington's Supreme Court. Yu understands the significance of her representational power, she is quoted saying;

As the first Asian American, first Latina, first woman of color, first LGBTQ+ justice, and only the 11th woman ever to serve on Washington State's Supreme Court, I know that having a bench that reflects and represents diverse perspectives is a cornerstone to achieving a system of justice that lives up to its name. That’s why I continue to mentor young women and men and new attorneys, just as my mentors helped make sure I had opportunities which my parents would never have imagined.

Yu graduated from Dominican University for her undergraduate degree, Loyola for her masters degree, and graduated Notre Dame Law School. Before serving on Washington's Supreme Court, Yu created a substantial resume, by helping her community in a plethora of ways. Including; serving as deputy chief of staff, teaching at Seattle University School of Law, tutoring attorneys and students, serving as the judge for Seattle’s Girls’ mock trial program, dedicated 14 years as a trial court judge in King County Superior Court, and lastly, working with the University of Washington School of Law's Gates Public Service Program. She has also committed herself to being a leader within the Seattle community, serving as co-chair on the Court’s Minority and Justice Commission, co-chairing the Washington State Bar Association’s Leadership Institute, chairing the Board for Judicial Administration’s Public Trust and Confidence, as well as serving on the board of FareStart. Mary Yu has been such an influential member of Seattle University, that she even has a scholarship fund in her name at Seattle University’s School of Law. Yu will remain on the Washington Supreme Court until 2029 when her current term ends. Learn more about Justice Mary Yu here.

·         Washington State Courts - Supreme Court Bios - Justice Mary I. Yu. Welcome to Washington State Courts. (n.d.). https://www.courts.wa.gov/appellate_trial_courts/supreme/bios/?fa=scbios.display_file&fileID=Yu

·         Mary Yu. Ballotpedia. (n.d.). https://ballotpedia.org/Mary_Yu

Did you know?

Despite the activism and prevention efforts to stop human trafficking, we still see the startling facts regarding the presence of human trafficking today, which include;

·         Globally, as of 2018, an estimated 71% of enslaved people are women and girls, while men and boys account for 29%. (Free the Slaves, 2018)

·         Internationally, there are approximately between 20 million to 40 million people in modern slavery today. (International Labour Organization, 2021)

·         The average age a teen enters the sex trade in the US is 12 to 14 years old. Many victims are runaway girls who were sexually abused as children. (Clawson, Dutch, Solomon, and Grace, 2009)

Resources:

·         National Human Trafficking hotline: 888-373-7888 

·         Washington State Anti-Trafficking Response Network (WARN) Hotline: (206) 245-0782

·         Safe Campus (phone: 206-685-7233)

·         API Chaya (Helpline Phone: 1-877-922-4292 (toll-free)/206-325-0325 (Monday-Friday 10am-4pm))

Sponsorships & Donations

The Women’s Center programs are always looking for sustainable and expansive support. Donations and financial contributions go a long way no matter the amount. Please feel free to contribute your financial gift at the link below!

Donate here